Brittish Actors
Richard O’Callaghan.
Richard O’Callaghan was born in 1940 in London. He is the son of actress Patricia Hayes. He made his film debut in 1968 in “The Bofors Gun”. He made some Carry On films and became a staple in quality British television dramas. He is married to American actress Elizabeth Quinn. 
John Cairney was born in Glasgow in 1930. He came to prominence in the late 50’s on British films. His films include “Ill Met by Moonlight” in 1957, “Miracle in Soho”, “Windom’s Way”, “A Night to Remember” and “Shake Hands With the Devil”. His website here.
His IMDB entry:
John Cairney made his stage debut at the Park Theatre, Glasgow, before enrolling at the RSAMD in Glasgow. After graduation, he joined the Wilson Barrett Company as Snake in “The School for Scandal”. A season at the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre followed before going on to the Bristol Old Vic where he appeared in the British premiere of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”. He returned to the Citizens from time to time, most notably as Hamlet in 1960. He also appeared in the premiere of John Arden’s “Armstrong’s Last Goodnight” in 1964. Other stage work until 1991 included King Humanitie in “The Thrie Estaites” for Tyrone Guthrie at the Edinburgh Festival, Archie Rice in “The Entertainer” at Dundee (1972), Cyrano de Bergerac at Newcastle (1974), Becket in “Murder in the Cathedral” at the Edinburgh Festival of 1986 and Macbeth in the same Festival in 1989. He also wrote and appeared in his own productions of “An Edinburgh Salon”, “At Your Service”, “The Ivor Novello Story” and “A Mackintosh Experience” while continuing to tour the world in his solo “The Robert Burns Story”.
His association with Burns began in 1965 with Tom Wright’s solo play “There Was A Man” at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, and at the Arts Theatre, London. The solo was televised twice nationally and was also an album recording for REL Records, Edinburgh, as well as a video for Green Place Productions, Glasgow. From Burns he moved on to other solos on William McGonagall, Robert Service and Robert Louis Stevenson until he worked with New Zealand actress, _Alannah O’Sullivan_, at the Edinburgh Festival of 1978. They married in 1980. As Two For A Theatre they toured the world for P&O Cruises and the British Council as well as the Keedick Lecture Bureau, New York, with programmes on Byron, Wilde and Dorothy Parker until 1986. Cairney’s first film was Night Ambush (1957) for the Rank Organisation, followed by Windom’s Way (1957), Shake Hands with the Devil (1959), Victim (1961)and many more including Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Cleopatra (1963), The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964) and A Study in Terror(1965). His many television parts include Branwell Bronte, Edgar Allan Poe and Robert, the Bruce and he has featured in all the main series: _”Dr. Finlay’s Casebook” …. Tim O’Shea (1 episode, 1963)_, Secret Agent (1964),The Avengers (1961), “Jackanory” (1971)_, Elizabeth R (1971), _”Taggart”(1969)_ etc. He also starred in BBC2’s “This Man Craig” …. Ian Craig (52 episodes, 1966-1967) In addition, he wrote and recorded his own songs for EMI at Abbey Road.
As a writer, Cairney has published two autobiographies and a novel, “Worlds Apart” as well as “A Scottish Football Hall of Fame” and “Heroes Are Forever” for Mainstream Publishing (Edinburgh) and “A Year Out In New Zealand” for Tandem Press, NZ. He wrote three Burns books for Luath Press in Edinburgh as well as biographies of R.L. Stevenson and C.R. Mackintosh and a book of essays on Glasgow entitled “Glasgow by the way, but”. His second novel, “Flashback Forward”, was published for Random House, NZ, and his book on acting, “Greasepaint Monkey” is due for publication by Luath Press, Edinburgh in 2010.
Dr Cairney gained an M.Litt from Glasgow University for a “History of Solo Theatre” in 1988 and, in 1994, a PhD from Victoria University, Wellington, for his study of Stevenson and Theatre. Having spent the last seventeen years in New Zealand, John and Alannah have now returned to live again in Scotland.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: John Cairney
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
Susan Stephen was born in 1931 in London. Her film debut was in 1952 in “His Excellency”. She starred with Diana Dors in “Value for Money” in 1955, “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” with Jennifer Jones and “Carry on Nurse” with Shirley Eaton in 1959. She was at one time married to the film director Nicholas Roeg. She died in 2000.
Her “Independent” obituary:
A WIDE-EYED beauty with a demure yet lively personality, Susan Stephen was a star of British cinema in the Fifties, appearing as leading lady to such stars as Alan Ladd and Dirk Bogarde. Though her career diminished towards the end of the decade, she provided a welcome dash of sparkle and vivacity to the films in which she appeared.
Born in London in 1931, she was the daughter of the civil engineer Major Frederick Stephen, MC, who built railroads in South America and bridges across the Blue Nile – he was given the Order of the Nile by King Farouk. Susan’s mother died when she was very young, and she was raised by her father (plus nannies and housekeepers). She spent much of her childhood in Egypt, where her father was working, and on their estate in Scotland, but returned to England to study at Moira House in Eastbourne.
She then trained at Rada in London, and when appearing in a graduate class show was discovered by Cecil Madden, then controller of BBC television. He cast her in a television adaptation of Little Women in 1950 (the Laurie was David Jacobs) and other television shows, which led to her being signed in 1951 to make a movie in Italy, Fanciulle di lusso (Luxury Girls), the story of four girls from different countries at a finishing school – Marina Vlady was the French girl. Also in the cast was the handsome actor Lawrence Ward, who became Stephen’s first husband. Later, he was successful (as Michael Ward) in a second career as a photographer for the Sunday Times.
Her first British film was His Excellency (1951), an adaptation of a West End hit starring Eric Portman as a former union leader who is appointed governor of a British island colony. Stephen played Portman’s daughter, and though the film was not very successful, she attracted favourable comment.
After supporting roles in the melodrama Stolen Face (1952) with two Hollywood stars, Paul Henried and Lizabeth Scott, and two more stage adaptations, Treasure Hunt (1952) and Father’s Doing Fine (1952), Stephen was given the part of a parachute-packer who provides romance for a paratrooper (Alan Ladd) in The Red Beret (1953). The film was produced by Irving Allen and Albert Broccoli, and Stephen used to laugh in later years about the advertising they devised which put the drawing of a voluptuous body underneath her face on the posters.
The following year Stephen had one of her best roles, as a young girl who marries a jobless university graduate (Dirk Bogarde) to the dismay of her parents (Cecil Parker and Eileen Herlie) in For Better, For Worse. It was a charming domestic comedy with accomplished performances from its fine cast (which also included Athene Seyler, Dennis Price and Thora Hird). Stephen and Bogarde became firm friends, and in later years she would be a frequent guest at his home in the South of France.
In As Long As They’re Happy (1955), a satire on the teenage hysteria for the “crying” singer Johnnie Ray, Stephen was one of Jack Buchanan’s three daughters who were all mad about an American crooner, and in Value For Money (1955) she was a North Country lass whose rag millionaire boy- friend (John Gregson) goes off for a fling in London after they quarrel.
Stephen’s last good starring role was in Pacific Destiny (1956), based on Sir Arthur Grimble’s book A Pattern of Islands, which recounted his early experiences of serving in the South Seas. Stephen played Grimble’s wife, who starts a baby clinic for the natives. One of her co-stars, Michael Hordern, later suggested that the book’s more specific title might have given the excellent film the popularity it deserved.
Shot in Samoa, it was later cited by Stephen as her favourite film, possibly because during its making she fell in love with the assistant cameraman, Nicholas Roeg, who later became a film director. In 1957 she and Roeg were married. Stephen and Roeg had four sons during their 20- year marriage, and though they divorced in 1977 because, said Roeg, of professional pressures and the long periods spent apart, they remained close friends and would usually spend Christmas together with their children.
After Pacific Destiny Stephen had good roles as the flirtatious Belle in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957) and as an enterprising nurse who makes audacious use of a daffodil in Carry On Nurse (1959), but they were supporting parts, and her leading roles were in B movies such as The Court Martial of Major Keller and Return of the Stranger (both 1961) produced by the low- budget specialists the Danziger Brothers. Stephen told the historian Jim Simpson, “That was about as low as you could go, so I decided to retire from films.”
Though she had a town house, she loved country life and spent most of her time in Sussex, where she raised her children, kept four dogs and indulged a passion for riding – she was a fine horsewoman. When I mentioned to Nicholas Roeg that Michael Hordern once confessed that during the shooting of Pacific Destiny, he had developed a hopeless passion for Stephen, Roeg commented, “Everybody fell in love with Susan. She was hugely popular within the profession and charmed everybody who came into contact with her.”
Susan Stephen, actress: born London 16 July 1931; married first Lawrence Ward (marriage dissolved), second 1957 Nicholas Roeg (fours sons; marriage dissolved 1977); died 24 May 2000.
Tom Vallance The Independent 29 May 2000
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
Born 1931 in London, 50s film actress Susan Stephen made her film debut with His Excellency (1952). Her demure, slightly elfin loveliness seemed to coincide with the duteous daughters and/or faithful wives she played. Although mainly confined to “B” level films, Susan’s more noticeable co-star roles occurred with Cocktails in the Kitchen(1954) and Value for Money (1955). Her movie career took a back seat in 1957 following her marriage to director Nicolas Roeg in 1957, which gently phased itself out within a few years. The couple later divorced in 1977 and he subsequently married Hollywood actressTheresa Russell. Susan died in England in 2000.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
Anthony Booth was born in 1931 in Liverpool. He is best known for his part in the iconic 60’s British television series “Till Death Do Us Part” as the layabout son of Alf Garnett. His film roles include “Confessions of a Driving Instructor” and in 1984 “Priest”. He is the father of Cherie Blair, wife of former British PM Tony Blair.
Anthony Forwood was born in 1915 in Weymouth. His movie debut came in 1949 in “Men in Black”. Other films include “Colonel March Investigates”, “The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men” and “Knights of the Round Table”. His son was the actor Gareth Forwood from his marriage to Glynis Johns. Anthony Forwood died in 1988.
Isla Blair was born in Bangalore, India in 1944. Her movie debut was in “Dr Terro’s House of Horrors” in 1965. Her other films include “A Flea in her Ear” and “Taste the Blood of Dracula”. She has guest starred in most of the major British television dramas over the years. She is married to actor Julian Glover.
Jim Carter was born in 1948 in Harrowgate, Yorkshire. His first appearance in a television series was in “Fox” in 1980. His movie debut was in “Flash Gordon”. His film appearances include “The Company of Wolves”, “A Private Function” and “Ella Enchanted”. His most recent appearance was in the very popular mini-series “Downton Abbey” with Maggie Smith. He is married to actress Imelda Staunton.
Jon Finch was born in 1942 in Surrey. He had a featured role with Peter Finch in “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” in 1970. The following year, he had the title role in Roman Polanski’s “Macbeth” opposite Francesca Annis. In 1972, he was the leading man in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Frenzy”. In 1978 he was part of the all-star cast of “Death On The Nile”. He died in 2012.
Ronald Bergan’s “Guardian” obituary:
In the 1970s, it seemed a sure bet that the actor Jon Finch, who has died aged 70, would become a durable film star of some magnitude. He had the dark good looks, the voice, the charisma and the opportunities. At the beginning of his film career, he played the title role in Roman Polanski’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971) and starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972). Around the same time he was offered the chance to replace Sean Connery as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973). The fact that Finch turned the part down stupefied many commentators.
That Finch never achieved the level of stardom that was anticipated may be attributed to his dislike of the kind of media publicity that goes with it and his self-proclaimed lack of ambition. “I never wanted to be a big star,” Finch once said. “I usually do one film a year, so I always have enough money to enjoy myself and keep myself out of the public eye. It’s a very pleasant life, not one of great ambition.” Actually, leaving aside the great expectations, Finch’s career was a reasonably successful one by normal standards.
Finch was born in Caterham, Surrey, the son of a merchant banker. He first started acting at school, later gaining experience in amateur theatre groups. After serving in a parachute regiment during his military service, he joined an SAS reserve regiment. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the SAS and I’m still very proud of having been a member,” he recalled. “But eventually I had to leave because I was becoming more and more involved in the theatre and the SAS demands most of your weekends and several nights a week.”
Finch had started acting professionally with several different repertory companies around the UK before he got a part in Crossroads, the popular daytime soap, during its first run in 1964. Finch then appeared in Z-Cars (1967-68) and in 10 episodes of Counterstrike (1969), a short-lived BBC sci-fi series about an alien (Finch) sent to Earth to save it from extinction.
Jon Finch was born in 1942 in Surrey. He had a featured role with Peter Finch in “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” in 1970. The following year, he had the title role in Roman Polanski’s “Macbeth” opposite Francesca Annis. In 1972, he was the leading man in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Frenzy”. In 1978 he was part of the all-star cast of “Death On The Nile”. He died in 2012.
Ronald Bergan’s “Guardian” obituary:
In the 1970s, it seemed a sure bet that the actor Jon Finch, who has died aged 70, would become a durable film star of some magnitude. He had the dark good looks, the voice, the charisma and the opportunities. At the beginning of his film career, he played the title role in Roman Polanski’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971) and starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy (1972). Around the same time he was offered the chance to replace Sean Connery as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973). The fact that Finch turned the part down stupefied many commentators.
That Finch never achieved the level of stardom that was anticipated may be attributed to his dislike of the kind of media publicity that goes with it and his self-proclaimed lack of ambition. “I never wanted to be a big star,” Finch once said. “I usually do one film a year, so I always have enough money to enjoy myself and keep myself out of the public eye. It’s a very pleasant life, not one of great ambition.” Actually, leaving aside the great expectations, Finch’s career was a reasonably successful one by normal standards.
Finch was born in Caterham, Surrey, the son of a merchant banker. He first started acting at school, later gaining experience in amateur theatre groups. After serving in a parachute regiment during his military service, he joined an SAS reserve regiment. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the SAS and I’m still very proud of having been a member,” he recalled. “But eventually I had to leave because I was becoming more and more involved in the theatre and the SAS demands most of your weekends and several nights a week.”
Finch had started acting professionally with several different repertory companies around the UK before he got a part in Crossroads, the popular daytime soap, during its first run in 1964. Finch then appeared in Z-Cars (1967-68) and in 10 episodes of Counterstrike (1969), a short-lived BBC sci-fi series about an alien (Finch) sent to Earth to save it from extinction.
His film career began in two hammy Hammer horrors, The Vampire Lovers and The Horror of Frankenstein (both 1970). Polanski, who had made his own comic horror movie, The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), thought Finch had the credentials to play Macbeth.
There were those who thought it in bad taste that Polanski made a film of the most blood-soaked of all Shakespeare’s plays just two years after his wife, Sharon Tate, had been murdered by the followers of Charles Manson. Finch and Francesca Annis, as the Macbeths, were impressively youthful, tortured and impassioned.
Equally outraged and baffled as a bitter ex-RAF hero down on his luck, Finch subtly avoided the temptation to be sympathetic as “the wrong man” accused of being the “neck-tie strangler” in Frenzy, Hitchcock’s first film shot in England for 16 years.
He was quietly authoritative as the cuckolded politician Lord Melbourne in Robert Bolt’s Lady Caroline Lamb (1973), in a role that had first been offered to Timothy Dalton, a future James Bond. Around the same time, Finch declined the Bond offer, as well as one from Richard Lester to play Aramis in The Three Musketeers. He preferred real-life derring-do – motor racing and parachuting.
But in 1976, Finch discovered that he had diabetes. A few years later, he remarked: “I am over all the trauma of it now and, apart from motor racing, parachuting and a few other things, I can still do what I want. I have plenty of energy for the parts I play and I just thank God for the discovery of insulin, otherwise I’d be dead.”
Although he turned down the part of Doyle (eventually taken by Martin Shaw) in London Weekend’s The Professionals (1977), claiming curiously that he “couldn’t possibly play a policeman,” Finch continued to appear regularly on television and in films. These included Death on the Nile (1978), based on Agatha Christie, in which he played a Marxist who resents the wealth of some of the other suspects. However, he had to drop out when he fell ill on the first day of filming of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and was replaced by John Hurt.
Regarded by Finch as the highlight of his career was his powerful portrayal of Henry Bolingbroke in Richard II (1978), and Henry IV (parts one and two) (1979) in the BBC’s Shakespeare History Cycle. He was later a nobly played and spoken Don Pedro in the BBC’s Much Ado About Nothing (1984).
In 1980, Finch married the actor Catriona MacColl, with whom he co-starred in a minor Spanish film, Power Game (1983). They divorced in 1987. Finch was seen in various television series throughout the 90s. His last film role was as the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven (2005); in which he finally got to work for Ridley Scott.
Finch is survived by his daughter, Holly.
• Jon Finch, actor, born 2 March 1942; found dead 28 December 2012
• This article was amended on 13 and 14 January 2013. A reference to “a severe attack of diabetes” was replaced by one to Finch falling ill. His year of birth was initially given as 1941.
Also”The Guardian” Obituary on Jon Finch, please click here.
Jon Finch
His film career began in two hammy Hammer horrors, The Vampire Lovers and The Horror of Frankenstein (both 1970). Polanski, who had made his own comic horror movie, The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), thought Finch had the credentials to play Macbeth.
There were those who thought it in bad taste that Polanski made a film of the most blood-soaked of all Shakespeare’s plays just two years after his wife, Sharon Tate, had been murdered by the followers of Charles Manson. Finch and Francesca Annis, as the Macbeths, were impressively youthful, tortured and impassioned.
Equally outraged and baffled as a bitter ex-RAF hero down on his luck, Finch subtly avoided the temptation to be sympathetic as “the wrong man” accused of being the “neck-tie strangler” in Frenzy, Hitchcock’s first film shot in England for 16 years.
He was quietly authoritative as the cuckolded politician Lord Melbourne in Robert Bolt’s Lady Caroline Lamb (1973), in a role that had first been offered to Timothy Dalton, a future James Bond. Around the same time, Finch declined the Bond offer, as well as one from Richard Lester to play Aramis in The Three Musketeers. He preferred real-life derring-do – motor racing and parachuting.
But in 1976, Finch discovered that he had diabetes. A few years later, he remarked: “I am over all the trauma of it now and, apart from motor racing, parachuting and a few other things, I can still do what I want. I have plenty of energy for the parts I play and I just thank God for the discovery of insulin, otherwise I’d be dead.”
Although he turned down the part of Doyle (eventually taken by Martin Shaw) in London Weekend’s The Professionals (1977), claiming curiously that he “couldn’t possibly play a policeman,” Finch continued to appear regularly on television and in films. These included Death on the Nile (1978), based on Agatha Christie, in which he played a Marxist who resents the wealth of some of the other suspects. However, he had to drop out when he fell ill on the first day of filming of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and was replaced by John Hurt.
Regarded by Finch as the highlight of his career was his powerful portrayal of Henry Bolingbroke in Richard II (1978), and Henry IV (parts one and two) (1979) in the BBC’s Shakespeare History Cycle. He was later a nobly played and spoken Don Pedro in the BBC’s Much Ado About Nothing (1984).
In 1980, Finch married the actor Catriona MacColl, with whom he co-starred in a minor Spanish film, Power Game (1983). They divorced in 1987. Finch was seen in various television series throughout the 90s. His last film role was as the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven (2005); in which he finally got to work for Ridley Scott.
Finch is survived by his daughter, Holly.
• Jon Finch, actor, born 2 March 1942; found dead 28 December 2012
• This article was amended on 13 and 14 January 2013. A reference to “a severe attack of diabetes” was replaced by one to Finch falling ill. His year of birth was initially given as 1941.
Also”The Guardian” Obituary on Jon Finch, please click here.
Jon Finch
Joseph Fiennes was born in 1970 in Wiltshire. He is the younger brother of Ralph Fiennes. In 1973 he moved to Ireland with his family and was educated there for some years. His film debut was in 1996 in “Stealing Beauty”. His other films include “Shakespeare in Love”, “Elizabeth””Killing Me Softly” and “The Darwin Award
Despite the long shadow cast by his older brother, Ralph Fiennes, actor Joseph Fiennes carved out a comfortable niche in compelling independent and foreign features. Like many actors from England, Fiennes studied theater, particularly Shakespeare, where he delved into the finer nuances of his craft while performing the classics. He did struggle, however, in those early years, living hand-to-mouth while performing on the stage for the Royal Shakespeare Company. But he finally emerged to become an international star with his winsome portrayal of a young and lovesick Bard in “Shakespeare in Love” (1998). The Oscar-winning film propelled his profile into the stratosphere, giving Fiennes his pick of projects at that time. But instead of enhancing his newfound stardom, he followed his own path by returning to the stage while churning out a string of often little-seen independents, only to occasionally emerge in larger films like “Enemy at the Gates” (2001), “The Great Raid” (2005) and “Running with Scissors” (2006). Ironically, Fiennes often found himself accosted by the tabloid press for his exploits with various models and actresses, including Naomi Campbell and Catherine McCormack, despite being intensely private; perhaps a result of him casting off the typical trappings of being a successful and talented performer.
Born on May 27, 1970 in Salisbury, Whiltshire, England, Fiennes was the youngest of six siblings and one half of fraternal twins born to Mark, a farmer and photographer, and his mother, Jini (a.k.a. Jennifer Lash), author of The Burial (1961), The Dust Collector (1979) and Blood Ties (1998). The Fiennes family moved around the British Isles quite a bit, which included a stay in West Cork, Ireland. By his own count, Fiennes had changed schools some 14-odd times. When he was 16, he finished school and attended art college in Suffolk, only to switch to working at the National Theatre as a dresser and eventually performing with the Young Vic Youth Theatre. Fiennes received a grant to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and after graduating in 1993, embarked on his performing career in earnest. He spent two seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which proved to be a mixed blessing. While receiving excellent notices for his performances, including a portrayal of Jesus Christ in Dennis Potter’s “Son of Man” (1995), Fiennes was suffering financial distress, paying out more than he was taking in.
Despite the early struggle, he managed to advance his career with turns opposite Helen Mirren in “A Month in the Country” (1994) and Bernard Hill in “A View From the Bridge” (1995). He finally began to climb out from his doldrums with his television acting debut on “The Vacillations of Poppy Carew” (ITV, 1995), which he followed with a noted performance as a young gay man in Bernardo Bertolucci’s romantic drama “Stealing Beauty” (1996). Following well-regarded theatrical turns as Troilus in “Troilus and Cressida” (1996) and Silvius in “As You Like It” (1996), Fiennes gained some much-needed momentum when he landed leading roles in three high profile features. In “The Very Thought of You/Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence” (1998), a low-budget comedy about three friends who fall for an American expatriate, he was cast as the sensitive Laurence, who passes his time teaching elderly women how to play bridge. He followed as Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who is the childhood love of the eventual Queen of England (Cate Blanchett) in the somewhat controversial biopic “Elizabeth” (1998). In this version, directed by Shekhar Kapur, the relationship between the monarch and her favorite is depicted as a carnal one, which belied the established history.
Fiennes was launched to international stardom with his next film, “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), in which he played a lovesick William Shakespeare struggling to write “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirates Daughter” while embarking on a forbidden love with the daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow) of a wealthy merchant. Written by acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard, “Shakespeare in Love” won a surprise Academy Award for Best Picture. But instead of capitalizing on the film’s success, the atypical star balked at major Hollywood features and instead returned to the London stage to star in “Real Classy Affair” (1998). He rounded out a banner year with a starring role in the romantic comedy of errors, “The Very Thought of You” (1998), but suffered a creative step back with the outlandish comedy thriller “Rancid Aluminum” (2000). Following another acclaimed return to the stage in the title role of Christopher Marlowe’s “Edward II” (2001) at the Crucible Theatre, Fiennes was cast opposite Jude Law and Rachel Weisz to form a triangular romance in the WWII-era drama “Enemy at the Gates” (2001). Playing a Russian soldier adept at propaganda, who uses Law’s exploits as a marksman to create a hero during the siege of Stalingrad, the actor handled a difficult role with aplomb. He was better served with a leading role in the erotically-charged drama of sexual obsession “Killing Me Softly” (2001).
After strong turns playing a recently released political prisoner in the long-delayed British-made drama “Leo” (2002), Fiennes returned to the historical biopic when he played the German monk and activist Martin Luther in the European production of “Luther” (2003). Expanding his horizons to animation, he voiced Prince Proteus, the best friend of the legendary sailor “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas” (2003). After portraying Berowne in Trevor Nunn’s superb production of “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (2003) for the Royal National Theatre, Fiennes made a welcome return to the world of Shakespeare on the big screen, adroitly playing the role of Bassanio opposite Al Pacino’s Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice” (2004). He next played an army officer stricken by disease after surviving the Bataan Death March in “The Great Raid” (2005), based on the true story of the liberation of the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in the Philippines during World War II. In “Running With Scissors” (2006), he was the 33-year-old son of an unorthodox psychiatrist (Brian Cox) who enters into a sexual relationship with a young boy (Joseph Cross) sent to live with them after leaving his dysfunctional family.
Continuing to take on roles in independent films rather than reach for superstardom, Fiennes starred in “The Darwin Awards” (2007), playing a paranoid obsessive-compulsive former detective a la “Monk” who becomes an insurance assessor and falls in love with his partner (Winona Ryder) while investigating a series of bizarre accidents. Following a turn as the real-life James Gregory, the censor officer and prison guard for Nelson Mandela (Dennis Haysbert) in “Goodbye Bafana” (2007), he played a tough, but muted convict who helps a career criminal (Brian Cox) bust out of prison in the intelligent, but little-seen crime thriller “The Escapist” (2009). That fall, Fiennes made a surprising move to American primetime on “FlashForward” (ABC, 2009-2010), a sci-fi series starring Fiennes as the head of an FBI unit investigating the cause of a mass time travel incident that has shaken up the planet. After that show was canceled following large scale promotion declaring it the next “Lost,” Fiennes starred as Merlin on “Camelot” (Starz, 2011), a well-received retelling of the King Arthur tale that was not renewed due to the cable network’s logistical challenges with production. Undeterred, Fiennes stayed on the small screen and joined the second season of Ryan Murphy’s popular horror series, “American Horror Story: Asylum” (FX, 2012- ), where played an ambitious priest in 1964 who founded a sanitarium run by a sadistic nun (Jessica Lange).
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
Anyone who knows me are aware that I am a bit of a movie buff. Over the past few years I have been collecting signed photographs of my favourite actors. Since I like movies so much there are many actors whose work I like.