This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for biographical information. Please help by adding additional, reliable sources for verification. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2007)

Kenneth Colley (born 7 December 1937) is an English actor. A long-time character actor, he came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Unlike the other ill-fated officers who appeared alongside him in The Empire Strikes Back, Colley was the only actor to play an Imperial officer more than 1 Star Wars film.

Colley was born in Manchester, Lancashire. He played Jesus (very briefly indeed) in The Life of Brian, having also appeared in the earlier Monty Python-related production Ripping Yarns episode "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite" alongside Michael Palin. As a Shakespearean actor he played the Duke of Vienna in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Measure for Measure in 1979.

Colley also held an important role in the Clint Eastwood film Firefox, where he played a Soviet Colonel tasked with the protection of the Firefox and its secrets.

Colley went on to play SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel in the World War II drama War and Remembrance. His character was charged with hiding the evidence of the Holocaust, and putting dead victims through "Economic Processing".

He has directed one film to date: Greetings, a 2007 horror film starring Kirsty Cox, Henry Dunn and Ben Shockley. He also directed a short film entitled Alligator (featuring fellow Star Wars alum Richard LeParmentier) in the same year. He has also recently starred in BBC's HolbyBlue as a drunk and violent father, grandfather and father-in-law.

According to comments Terry Gilliam (who directed him in Jabberwocky and co-starred with him in Life of Brian) made in the DVD audio commentaries for both films, Colley is a terrible stammerer in real life. When he had a role in a film, however, he could recite the lines perfectly. Stuttering is a character trait, however, in his role as the "Accordion Man" in the 1978 BBC television drama, Pennies from Heaven.

He currently lives at Hythe in Kent.

Filmography[link]

• How I Won the War (1967) ... 2nd Replacement
• The Blood Beast Terror (1968) ... James
• Performance (1970) ... Tony Farrell
• The Music Lovers (1970) ... Modeste Tchaikovsky
• Fall of Eagles (1974) ... Father Gapon
• Lord Peter Wimsey "The Nine Tailors" episode (1974) ... Potty Peake
• Juggernaut (1974) ... Detective Brown
• Lisztomania (1975) ... Frédéric Chopin
• Ripping Yarns "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite" episode (1977) ... Arthur
• Jabberwocky (1977) ... 1st Fanatic
• Pennies from Heaven (1978) (TV) ... 'The Accordion Man'
• Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) ... Jesus
• Measure For Measure (1979) ... 'Duke of Vienna'
• The Empire Strikes Back (1980) ... Admiral Piett
• Peter and Paul (1981) ... Theodotus
• Giro City (1982) ... Martin
• I Remember Nelson (1982 miniseries) (TV) ... Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson
• Firefox (1982) ... Colonel Kontarsky
• The Scarlet and the Black (1983) ... Captain Hirsch
• Return of the Jedi (1983) ... Admiral Piett
• Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985) (TV) ... Adolf Eichmann
• Return to Waterloo (1985) ... 'The Traveller'
• Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985) (TV) ... King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
• Return to Treasure Island (1986) (TV) ... Ben Gunn
• The Whistle Blower (1987) ...Bill Pickett
• War and Remembrance (1988) (TV) ... SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel
• The Rainbow (1989) ... Mr. Brunt
• I Hired a Contract Killer (1990) ... 'The Killer'
• The Plot to Kill Hitler (1990) ... Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel
• Prisoner of Honor (1991) (TV) ... Captain Alfred Dreyfus
• Moving Story (1994-5) (TV) ... Ken Uttley
• Brassed Off (1996) ... Greasley
• Shadow Run (1997) ... Larcombe
• Casualty 1909 (2009) (TV) ... Dr. Frederick Smith

External links[link]

• Kenneth Colley at the Internet Movie Database

This article about an English film actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Ray Davies
Ray Davies performing in Toronto, 1977
Background information
Birth name	Raymond Douglas Davies
Born	(1944-06-21) 21 June 1944 (age 68) Fortis Green, London England, United Kingdom
Genres	Rock, pop, hard rock
Occupations	Songwriter, Musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, piano
Years active	1963—
Associated acts	The Kinks
Website	www.raydavies.info

Raymond Douglas "Ray" Davies, CBE ( /ˈdeɪvɨz/ DAY-viz;^[1] born 21 June 1944) is an English rock musician. He is best known as lead singer and songwriter for The Kinks, which he led with his younger brother, Dave. He has also acted, directed and produced shows for theatre and television.

Since the dissolution of the Kinks in 1996, Ray Davies has embarked on a solo career as a singer-songwriter.

Biography[link]

6 Denmark Terrace, birthplace of the Davies brothers

Davies was born at 6 Denmark Terrace, Fortis Green in Muswell Hill, North London, England. He is the seventh of eight children born to Fred and Annie Davies, including six older sisters and younger brother Dave Davies. He went to William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School (now called Fortismere School).^[2]

Davies was an art student at Hornsey College of Art in London in 1962–1963, when the Kinks developed into a professional performing band. After the Kinks obtained a recording contract in early 1964, Davies emerged as the chief songwriter and de facto leader of the band, especially after the band's breakthrough success with his early composition "You Really Got Me", which was released as the band's third single in August of that year.

Davies led the Kinks through a period of musical experimentation between 1966 and 1975, with notable artistic achievements and commercial success. Between 1976 and their break-up twenty years later, Davies and the group reverted to their earlier mainstream rock format and enjoyed a second peak of success, with other hit songs, like "Destroyer", "Come Dancing" and "Do It Again". The Kinks disbanded in 1996, and Ray Davies has performed solo since then.

In 1973, Davies attempted suicide by overdose following the breakup of his first marriage; he was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.^[3]

Davies has had a tempestuous relationship with younger brother Dave (the band's lead guitarist) that dominated the Kinks' career as a band. He has been married three times and has four daughters: Louisa, Victoria, Natalie and Eva. Davies was romantically involved with Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders during the 1980s, and Natalie is a product of that relationship.

In 1990, Davies was inducted, with the Kinks, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, in 2005, into the UK Music Hall of Fame.

On 4 January 2004, Davies was shot in the leg while chasing thieves who had snatched the purse of his companion as they walked in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.^[4] The shooting came less than a week after Davies was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

Work[link]

The Kinks: 1963–1996[link]

Early style (1964-65)[link]

The Kinks' early recordings of 1964 ranged from covers of R&B standards like "Long Tall Sally" and "Got Love If You Want It"; to the chiming, melodic beat music of Ray Davies' earliest original compositions for the band, "You Still Want Me" and "Something Better Beginning"; to the more influential proto-metal, protopunk, power chord-based hard rock of the band's first two hit singles, "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night".

However, by 1965, this raucous, hard-driving early style gradually gave way to the softer and more introspective sound of "Tired of Waiting for You", "Nothin' in the World Can Stop Me Worryin' 'Bout That Girl", "Set Me Free", "I Go to Sleep" and "Ring the Bells". With the eerie, droning "See My Friends"—inspired by the untimely death of the Davies brothers' older sister Rene in June 1957—the band began to show signs of expanding their musical palette even further. A rare foray into early psychedelic rock, it is credited by Jonathan Bellman as the first Western pop song to integrate Indian raga sounds—being released six months before the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood".^[5]

The classic mid-period (1965-75)[link]

Beginning with "A Well Respected Man" and "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" (both recorded in the summer of 1965), Ray Davies' lyrics assumed a new sociological character. He began to explore the aspirations and frustrations of common working class people, with particular emphasis on the psychological effects of the British class system. Face to Face (1966), the first Kinks album comprised solely of original material, was a creative breakthrough. As the band began to experiment with theatrical sound effects and baroque musical arrangements (Nicky Hopkins played harpsichord on several tracks), Davies' songwriting fully acquired its distinctive elements of narrative, observation and wry social commentary. His topical songs took aim at the complacency and indolence of wealthy playboys and the upper class ("A House in the Country", "Sunny Afternoon"), the heedless ostentation of a self-indulgent spendthrift nouveau riche ("Most Exclusive Residence For Sale"), and even the mercenary nature of the music business itself ("Session Man").

By late 1966, Davies was addressing the bleakness of life at the lower end of the social spectrum: released together as the complementary A-B sides of a single, "Dead End Street" and "Big Black Smoke" were powerful neo-Dickensian sketches of urban poverty. Other songs like "Situation Vacant" (1967) and "Shangri-La" (1969) hinted at the helpless sense of insecurity and emptiness underlying the materialistic values adopted by the English working class. In a similar vein, "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (1966) wittily satirized the consumerism and celebrity worship of Carnaby Street and 'Swinging London', while "David Watts" (1967) humorously expressed the wounded feelings of a plain schoolboy who envies the grace and privileges enjoyed by a charismatic upper class student.

Davies' mid-period work for the Kinks also showed signs of an emerging social conscience. For example, "Holiday in Waikiki" (1966) deplored the vulgar commercialization of a once unspoiled indigenous culture. Similarly, "God's Children" and "Apeman" (both 1970), and the songs "20th Century Man", "Complicated Life" and "Here Come the People in Grey" from Muswell Hillbillies (1971), passionately decried industrialization and bureaucracy in favour of simple pastoral living. Perhaps most significantly, the band's acclaimed 1968 concept album The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society gave an affectionate embrace to "Merry England" nostalgia and advocated for the preservation of traditional English country village and hamlet life.

A definitive testament to Ray Davies' reputation as a songwriter of insight, empathy and wit can be heard on the Kinks' landmark 1969 album Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). The band's first rock opera affectionately chronicled the trials and tribulations of a working class everyman and his family from the very end of the Victorian era through World War I and World War II, the postwar austerity years, and up to the 1960s. The overall theme of the record was partly inspired by the life of Ray and Dave Davies' brother-in-law, Arthur Anning, who had married their older sister, Rose—herself the subject of an earlier Kinks song, "Rosie Won't You Please Come Home" (1966)—and had emigrated to Australia after the war.^[6] Over the course of a dozen evocative songs, Arthur fulfils its ambitious subtitle as Davies embellishes an intimate family chronicle with satirical observations about the shifting mores of the English working class in response to the declining fortunes of the British Empire.

The Kinks have been called "the most adamantly British of the Brit Invasion bands"^[7] on account of Ray Davies' abiding fascination with England's imperial past and his tender, bittersweet evocations of "a vanishing, romanticized world of village greens, pubs and public schools".^[7] During the band's mid-period, he wrote many cheerfully eccentric—and often ironic—celebrations of traditional English culture and living: "Village Green" (1966), "Afternoon Tea" and "Autumn Almanac" (both 1967), "The Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" (1968), "Victoria" (1969), "Have a Cuppa Tea" (1971) and "Cricket" (1973).

It was also during this time that Davies began composing songs in the style of British music hall, vaudeville and trad jazz. These include "Dedicated Follower of Fashion", "Sunny Afternoon", "Dandy" and "Little Miss Queen of Darkness" (all 1966); "Mister Pleasant" and "End of the Season" (both 1967); "Sitting By the Riverside" and "All of My Friends Were There" (both 1968); "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina" (1969); "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues" and "Alcohol" (both 1971); "Look a Little on the Sunny Side" (1972); and "Holiday Romance" (1975). Occasionally, he varied the group's sound with more disparate musical influences, such as raga ("Fancy", 1966), bossa nova ("No Return", 1967) and calypso ("Monica", 1968; "Apeman", 1970; "Supersonic Rocket Ship", 1972).

Davies is often at his most affecting when he sings of giving up worldly ambition for the simple rewards of love and domesticity ("This is Where I Belong", 1966; "Two Sisters", 1967; "The Way Love Used to Be", 1971; "Sweet Lady Genevieve", 1973; "You Make It All Worthwhile", 1974), or when he extols the consolations of friendship and memory ("Days", 1968; "Do You Remember Walter?", 1968; "Picture Book", 1968; "Young and Innocent Days", 1969; "Moments", 1971; "Schooldays", 1975). Yet another perennial Ray Davies theme is the championing of individualistic personalities and lifestyles ("I'm Not Like Everybody Else", 1966; "Johnny Thunder", 1968; "Monica", 1968; "Lola", 1970; "Celluloid Heroes", 1972; "Where Are They Now?", 1973; "Sitting in the Midday Sun", 1973). On his 1967 masterpiece "Waterloo Sunset", the singer finds a fleeting sense of contentment in the midst of urban drabness and solitude.

Ray Davies performing in Toronto, 1977

Later commercial sound (1976-84)[link]

When the Kinks changed record labels from RCA to Arista in 1976, Davies abandoned his then-recent propensity for ambitious, theatrical concept albums and rock operas—the RCA era (1971–75) had produced Muswell Hillbillies, Everybody's in Show-Biz, Preservation Act 1 and Act 2, Soap Opera and Schoolboys in Disgrace—and returned to writing more basic, straightforward songs. The group would also employ newer production techniques to achieve a more refined studio sound on the albums Sleepwalker (1977) and Misfits (1978), as Davies' focus shifted to wistful ballads of restless alienation ("Life on the Road", "Misfits"), meditations on the inner lives of obsessed pop fans ("Juke Box Music", "A Rock & Roll Fantasy"), and exhortations of carpe diem ("Life Goes On", "Live Life", "Get Up"). A notable single from late 1977 reflected the contemporary influence of punk rock: "Father Christmas" (A-side) and "Prince of the Punks" (B-side—inspired by Ray Davies' troubled collaboration with Tom Robinson).

By the early 80s, the Kinks revived their commercial fortunes considerably by adopting a much more mainstream arena rock style; and the band's four remaining studio albums for Arista—Low Budget (1979), Give the People What They Want (1981), State of Confusion (1983) and Word of Mouth (1984)—showcased a decidedly canny and opportunistic approach. On "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman", Davies vented his existential angst about the 1979 energy crisis over a thumping disco beat; on "A Gallon of Gas", he addressed the same concern over a traditional acoustic twelve-bar blues shuffle. In contrast, "Better Things" (1981), "Come Dancing" (1982), "Don't Forget to Dance" (1983) and "Good Day" (1984) were sentimental songs of hope and nostalgia for the aging Air Raid Generation. However, with "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" (1979), "Destroyer" (1981), "Clichés of the World (B Movie)" (1983) and "Do It Again" (1984), the Davies brothers cranked out strident, heavy-riffing hard rock that conveyed an attitude of bitter cynicism and world weary disillusionment.

I write songs because I get angry, and now I'm at the stage where it's not good enough to brush it off with humour.

—NME, June 1978^[8]

Solo work: 1985-present[link]

Aside from the lengthy Kinks discography, Davies has released five solo albums: the 1985 release Return to Waterloo (which accompanied a television film he wrote and directed), the 1998 release The Storyteller, Other People's Lives in early 2006, Working Man's Café in October 2007 and The Kinks Choral Collection in June 2009. Other People's Lives was his first top 40 album in the UK since the 1960s, when he worked with the Kinks.

The release of Working Man's Café was followed on 28 October 2007 with a performance at the BBC's Electric Proms series, at The Roundhouse, Camden, accompanied by the Crouch End Festival Chorus. The concert was broadcast the same evening on BBC Two. An edited version of Working Man's Café, excluding two bonus tracks and liner notes, was given away with 1.5 million copies of the Sunday Times on 21 October.

Since the Kinks ceased performing in 1996, Davies has toured independently. Initially, he toured with the mainly acoustic 20th Century Man, An Evening With Ray Davies and Storyteller shows, accompanied by guitarist Pete Mathison. He has toured with a full band consisting of, among others, Toby Baron (drums), Geoff Dugmore (drums), Dick Nolan (bass), Gunnar Frick (keyboards), Ian Gibbons (keyboards), Scott Donaldson (guitar), Mark Johns (guitar), Milton McDonald (guitar), Bill Shanley (guitar), and Damon Wilson (drums).^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Davies released The Tourist, a four-song EP, in the UK; and Thanksgiving Day, a five-song EP, in the US.

Davies at Bluesfest 2008 in Ottawa

Ray Davies with the Crouch End Festival Chorus at Kenwood House, London, in June 2009

Davies published his "unauthorised autobiography", X-Ray, in 1994. In 1997, he published a book of short stories entitled Waterloo Sunset, described as "a concept album set on paper." He has made three films, Return to Waterloo in 1985, Weird Nightmare in 1991, a documentary about Charles Mingus and Americana (subtitled "A Work In Progress") which was included on DVD with the Working Man's Cafe disc release in 2008.

A choral album, The Kinks Choral Collection, on which Davies has been collaborating with the Crouch End Festival Chorus since 2007, was released in the UK in June 2009 and in the US in November 2009. The album was re-released as a special extended edition including Davies' charity Christmas single "Postcard From London" featuring Davies' former girlfriend and leader of The Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde. The video for the single was directed by Julien Temple and features London landmarks including Waterloo Bridge, Carnaby Street, The Statue of Eros steps and the Charlie Chaplin statue in Leicester Square. The duet was originally recorded with Kate Nash.^[9] His first choice had been Dame Vera Lynn.^[10]

In October 2009, Davies performed "All Day and All of the Night" with Metallica at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert.^[11]

Davies was also a judge for the 3rd and 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.^[12]

Davies played at Glastonbury Festival 2010 where he dedicated several songs to the late Kinks' bassist, Pete Quaife. Davies is seen to visibly almost break down in tears while singing an a cappella intro to the song "Days".

A collaborations album, See My Friends, was released in November 2010 with a US release to follow in early 2011.^[13]

Davies performed with Mando Diao in their MTV Unplugged live show.

In 2011 Davies was "grounded" for six months following discovery of blood clots in his lungs. After the malady Davies programmed the line-up for the upcoming Meltdown Festival in London. At the festival he is scheduled to perform rendition of the Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society album with the London Philharmonic and a local chorus. He was working on his second book: a memoir that Davies described as "kind of fictionalized". His first book X-Ray was released in 1995.^[13]

2011 also marked Davies' return to New Orleans, Louisiana to play the Voodoo Experience Music festival. Davies' setlist included material by the Kinks and solo material.^[14]

In Fall 2011, Davies toured with The 88 as his backing band.

Musicals[link]

Davies "Other People's Lives" tour Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC 2006

In 1981 Davies collaborated with Barrie Keefe to write his first stage musical, Chorus Girls, which opened at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London,^[15] starring Marc Sinden and also had a supporting cast of Michael Elphick, Anita Dobson, Kate Williams and Charlotte Cornwell. Directed by Adrian Shergold, the choreography was by Charles Augins and Jim Rodford played bass with the theatre's "house band".^[16]

Davies wrote songs for a musical version of Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days; the show, 80 Days, had a book by playwright Snoo Wilson. It was directed by Des McAnuff and ran at the La Jolla Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre in San Diego from 23 August to 9 October 1988. The musical received mixed responses from the critics. Davies' multi-faceted music, McAnuff's directing, and the acting, however, were well received, with the show winning the "Best Musical" award from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle.^[17]

Davies' musical Come Dancing, based partly on his 1983 hit single with twenty new songs, ran at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London in September–November 2008.

Awards[link]

• On 17 March 2004, Davies received the CBE from Queen Elizabeth II for "Services to Music."
• On 22 June 2004, Davies won the Mojo Songwriter Award, which recognises "an artist whose career has been defined by his ability to pen classic material on a consistent basis."
• Davies was also a judge for the third annual Independent Music Awards. His contributions helped assist upcoming independent artists' careers.^[12]
• Davies and the Kinks were the third British band (along with The Who) to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, at which Davies was called "almost indisputably rock's most literate, witty and insightful songwriter." They were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
• On 3 October 2006, Davies was awarded the BMI Icon Award for his "enduring influence on generations of music makers" at the 2006 annual BMI London Awards.^[18]
• On 15 February 2009, The Mobius Best Off-West End Production in the UK for the musical Come Dancing.
• On 7 September 2010, Davies was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards.
• On 26 October 2010, Davies was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at his AVO Session concert in Basel; the concert was televised internationally.

Solo discography[link]

For Kinks discography see The Kinks discography

• Return to Waterloo (1985)
• The Storyteller (1998) (UK#105)
• Other People's Lives (2006) (UK#36)
• Working Man's Café (2007) (UK#179)
• The Kinks Choral Collection (2009) (UK#28)
• Ray Davies - Collected (2009) (released 19 October 2009) (Compilation)
• See My Friends (2010) (UK#12)

Chart singles written by Davies[link]

The following is a list of Davies compositions that were chart hits for artists other than The Kinks. (See The Kinks discography for hits by The Kinks.)

See also[link]

The Kinks portal

• Songs written by Ray Davies

References[link]

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Bibliography[link]

• Polito, Robert. Bits of Me Scattered Everywhere: Ray Davies and the Kinks, pp. 119–144 in Eric Weisbard, ed., This is Pop, Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-674-01321-2 (cloth), ISBN 0-674-01344-1 (paper)
• Kitts, Thomas. Ray Davies, Not Like Everybody Else, 302 pp., Routledge Pub., 2008. ISBN 0-415-97769-X (paper)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ray Davies

• Official website
• The Kinks website

Tim Roth
Tim Roth, 2009
Born	Simon Timothy Roth[1][2] (1961-05-14) 14 May 1961 (age 51) Dulwich, London, England
Occupation	Actor/Director
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Niki Butler (1993-present)
Children	3 Sons

Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English film actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the films Made in Britain, Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the latter. He most recently starred as Cal Lightman in the TV series Lie to Me.

Early life[link]

Roth was born in London, England, the son of Ann, a painter and teacher, and Ernie, a Fleet Street journalist, painter and, until the 1970s, a member of the British Communist Party.^[3][4][5] Roth's father was born under the surname "Smith" in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, to a British immigrant family of Irish descent; he changed his surname to "Roth" in the 1940s, "partly through solidarity with the victims of the Holocaust, partly because the British were far from welcome in some of the countries to which his job took him".^[2][5][6]

Roth attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. As a young man, he wanted to be a sculptor and studied at London's Camberwell College of Art.^[7]

Career[link]

Roth made his acting debut at the age of 21 playing a white power skinhead in a TV film titled Made in Britain. Roth played an East End character in King of the Ghetto which was made by the BBC. This four-part drama was shown in 1986 on national television, based on a novel by Farukh Dhondy. Partly set in Brick Lane, the drama caused a sensation among the public, especially amongst the Bengali community.^{[citation needed]} In contrast to his Made in Britain role, Roth then played a desperately shy and introverted character in the 1984 Mike Leigh film, Meantime. In 1985, he appeared in the television film Murder with Mirrors opposite Bette Davis, John Mills and Helen Hayes and in 1984, Roth played an apprentice hitman in Stephen Frears' The Hit with Terence Stamp and John Hurt, earning an "Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer". With that recognition, he appeared in several other films during the end of the decade. In 1989, he had a memorable supporting role as the buffoonish lackey Mitchell in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. In 1990, Roth began to enjoy international attention with starring roles as Vincent van Gogh in Robert Altman's Vincent & Theo and as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Roth and other young British actors who were becoming established film actors such as Bruce Payne, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Paul McGann were dubbed the Brit Pack,^[8] a nickname based on the Brat Pack of the United States.

Roth impressed director Quentin Tarantino and was cast as Mr. Orange in his 1992 ensemble piece Reservoir Dogs. This film paved the way for more work in Hollywood. In 1994, Tarantino cast him again as a robber in the acclaimed Pulp Fiction. They worked again in the 1995 film Four Rooms, where Roth played the extremely physically animated role of Ted the Bellhop. Roth was very successful playing viciously evil English nobleman Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy opposite Liam Neeson; for this role he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination and won a BAFTA.

In 1996, he went a different way, starring with Drew Barrymore in Woody Allen's musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You. He also starred as Danny Boodman T.D. Lemon 1900 (or just "1900") in The Legend of 1900, and in the same year co-starred with Tupac Shakur in the drama Gridlock'd. He made a critically acclaimed debut as a director in 1999 with The War Zone, a film version of Alexander Stuart's novel. In 2001, he portrayed General Thade in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. Roth was the original choice for the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, but he turned it down for the Planet of the Apes job.^[9] He was also considered for the part of Hannibal Lecter in the 2001 film Hannibal before Anthony Hopkins returned to reclaim the role. Roth appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth and Michael Haneke's Funny Games, then starred opposite Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk as Emil Blonsky.

From 2009 to 2011, he starred in a series on Fox called Lie To Me. He played Dr. Cal Lightman, an expert on body language who assists local and federal law organisations in the investigations of crimes. His character was based on Dr. Paul Ekman, notable psychologist and expert on body language and facial expressions.^[10]

In 2010, Roth appeared on the cover to Manic Street Preachers' 2010 studio album, Postcards From A Young Man.

In 2012, Roth was announced as the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[11]

Personal life[link]

Roth has a son, Jack, born to Lori Baker in 1984.^[12] He married Nikki Butler in 1993 and they have two sons, Timothy Hunter (b. 1995) and Michael Cormac (b. 1996). Roth is a supporter of the Green Party of England and Wales.^[13]

Filmography[link]

As actor[link]

As director[link]

• The War Zone (1999)

Awards[link]

• People's Choice Awards 2011 – Favourite TV Crime Fighter (Lie to Me)^[14]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Officially Unofficial Tim Roth Web Page
• Tim Roth at the Internet Movie Database
• Tim Roth at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Allmovie entry for Tim Roth
• Audio Interview w/ Rafferty/Mills Connection Podcast (2009)

Richard Chamberlain
Chamberlain in December 1982
Born	George Richard Chamberlain (1934-03-31) March 31, 1934 (age 78) Beverly Hills, California, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–present
Partner	Martin Rabbett (1970s-present)

George Richard Chamberlain (born March 31, 1934)^[1] is an American stage and screen actor and singer, who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare (1961–1966).

Since then, he has appeared in several mini-series such as Shōgun (1980) and The Thorn Birds (1983), many successful films, and performed classical stage roles and worked in the musical theatre.

Early life[link]

Chamberlain was born in 1934 in Beverly Hills, California, the son of Elsa Winnifred (née Matthews) and Charles Axiom Chamberlain, who was a salesman.^[2][3][4] Chamberlain's father was well known within Alcoholics Anonymous, having traveled for years speaking at A.A. conventions. In 1952, Richard Chamberlain graduated from Beverly Hills High School and later attended Pomona College^[5] (class of 1956).^[6]

Career[link]

Chamberlain co-founded a Los Angeles-based theatre group, Company of Angels, and began appearing in TV series in the 1950s. In 1961 he gained widespread fame as the young intern, Dr. Kildare, in the MGM television series of the same name. His singing ability also led to some hit singles in the early 1960s. One of them was the "Theme from Dr. Kildare" entitled "Three Stars Will Shine Tonight", which hit number 10 according to the Billboard Hot 100 Charts. Dr. Kildare ended in 1966, after which Chamberlain began performing on the theatre circuit. In 1966, he was cast opposite Mary Tyler Moore in the ill-fated Broadway musical Breakfast at Tiffany's, co-starring Priscilla Lopez, which, after an out-of-town tryout period, closed after only four previews. Decades later he returned to Broadway in revivals of My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music.^{[citation needed]}

At the end of the 1960s he spent a period in England where he played in repertory theatre and in the BBC's Portrait of a Lady adaptation, becoming recognized as a serious actor. In 1969 he starred opposite Katharine Hepburn in the film The Madwoman of Chaillot. While in England he took vocal coaching and in 1969 performed the title role in Hamlet for the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, becoming the first American to play the role there since John Barrymore in 1929. He received excellent notices and reprised the role for television, for The Hallmark Hall of Fame, in 1970.

In the 1970s, Chamberlain enjoyed success as a leading man in films such as The Music Lovers (1970), Lady Caroline Lamb (playing Lord Byron, 1973), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Lady's Not for Burning (1974), The Towering Inferno (in a villainous turn as a dishonest engineer, 1974), The Last Wave (1977), and The Count of Monte Cristo (1975). In The Slipper and the Rose (1976), a musical version of the Cinderella story, co-starring Gemma Craven, he displayed his vocal talents. A TV movie, William Bast's The Man in the Iron Mask (1977), followed.

Chamberlain later appeared in several popular television miniseries (earning him a nickname of "King of the Miniseries"), including Centennial (1978-79), Shōgun (1980), and The Thorn Birds (1983) as Father Ralph de Bricassart with Rachel Ward co-starring. In the 1980s he appeared as leading man with King Solomon's Mines (1985) opposite newcomer Sharon Stone, and also played Jason Bourne in the television film version of The Bourne Identity (1988).

Since 1990[link]

Since the 1990s, Chamberlain has mostly appeared in television movies, on stage and as a guest star on series including The Drew Carey Show and Will & Grace. He starred as Henry Higgins in the 1993-94 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady. In the fall of 2005, Chamberlain appeared in the title role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Broadway National Tour of Scrooge: The Musical. In 2006, Chamberlain guest starred in an episode of the BBC drama series Hustle as well as season 4 of Nip/Tuck. In 2007, Chamberlain guest starred in episode 80 (Season 4, Episode 8, "Distant Past") of Desperate Housewives as Glen Wingfield, Lynette Scavo's stepfather. In 2008 and 2009, he appeared as King Arthur in the national tour of Monty Python's Spamalot. In 2010, he appeared as Archie Leach in season 3, episode 3 of the series Leverage,^[7] as well as two episodes of season 4 of Chuck where he played a villain known only as The Belgian.^[8] Chamberlain has also appeared in several episodes of Brothers & Sisters, playing an old friend and love-interest of Saul's.^[9] He also appeared in the indie film We Are the Hartmans in 2011. In 2012 Chamberlain appeared on stage in the Pasadena Playhouse as Dr. Sloper in the play The Heiress.

Personal life[link]

Chamberlain was romantically involved with television actor Wesley Eure in the early 1970s. He resided in Hawaii with his partner, actor-writer-producer Martin Rabbett, from 1976 to 2010. Rabbett and Chamberlain starred together, among others, in Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, in which they played brothers Allan and Robeson Quatermain. In the spring of 2010 Chamberlain moved from Maui to Los Angeles because of work possibilities, leaving Rabbett in Hawaii, at least temporarily.^[10]

Chamberlain was outed by the French women's magazine Nous Deux in December 1989 at the age of 55, but it was not until 2003 that he officially came out as gay in his autobiography, Shattered Love (ISBN 0060087439).

Honors and awards[link]

In 1962 Chamberlain won the Golden Apple award for Most Cooperative actor. In 1963 he won a Golden Globe award for Best TV Star - Male for: Dr. Kildare (1961). He won the Photoplay Award for Most Popular Male Star for three consecutive years, including 1962, 1963, 1964.

In 1980 he won the Golden Apple award for Male Star of the Year. In 1981 he won a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Drama for: Shogun (1980). In 1982 he won the Clavell de Plata award at the Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival as Best Actor for The Last Wave (1977). In 1984 he won a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for: The Thorn Birds (1983). In 1985 he won the Aftonbladet TV Prize (Sweden) for Best Foreign TV Personality - Male.

On 12 March 2011, Chamberlain received the Steiger Award (Germany) for accomplishments in the arts.

Filmography[link]

• The Secret of the Purple Reef (1960)
• Thriller ("The Watcher", TV, 1960)
• A Thunder of Drums (1961)
• Whispering Smith, NBC television series, as Chris Harrington in episode "Stain of Justice" (1961)
• Twilight of Honor (1963)
• Joy in the Morning (1965)
• The Portrait of a Lady (TV, 1967)
• Petulia (1968)
• The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)
• Julius Caesar (1970)
• The Music Lovers (1970)
• The Woman I Love (1972) (TV)
• Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)
• The Three Musketeers (1973)
• The Towering Inferno (1974)
• The Four Musketeers (1974)
• The Count of Monte Cristo (1975)
• The Little Mermaid (1975)
• The Slipper and the Rose (1976)
• The Rhinemann Exchange (1977)
• The Last Wave (1977)
• The Man in the Iron Mask (TV film, 1977)
• The Swarm (1978)
• Centennial (TV, 1978)
• The Good Doctor (TV, 1978)
• Shōgun (TV, 1980)
• Murder by Phone (1982)
• The Thorn Birds (TV, 1983)
• King Solomon's Mines (1985)
• Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (TV, 1985)
• Dream West (TV, 1986)
• Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987)
• Casanova (TV, 1987)
• The Bourne Identity (TV, 1988)
• The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
• Island Son (TV, 1989) (TV)
• Aftermath: A Test of Love 1991 (TV, 1991)
• Night of the Hunter (TV, 1991)
• Ordeal in the Arctic (1993)
• Bird of Prey (1995)
• The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years (TV, 1996)
• A River Made to Drown In (1997)
• All The Winters That Have Been (TV, 1997)
• The Lost Daughter (TV, 1997)
• The Pavilion (1999)
• Blackbeard (TV, 2006)
• Hustle (TV, 2006)
• Strength and Honor (2006)
• I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)
• Desperate Housewives (TV, 2007) (Season 4, "Episode 8")
• Leverage (2010 and 2011)
• Chuck (2010)
• Brothers & Sisters (TV, 2010 and 2011)
• The perfect family (2010)
• We are the Hartmans (2010)
• Three Days of Hamlet (2010)

Discography[link]

From Richard Chamberlain Sings: - UK #8^[11]

• "Theme From Dr. Kildare (Three Stars Will Shine Tonight)" (1962) - UK #12^[11]
• "Love Me Tender" (1962) - US #21; UK #15^[11]
• "All I Have to Do Is Dream" (1963)
• "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" (1963) - UK #20^[11]
• "I Will Love You" (1963)
• "True Love" (1963) - UK #30^[11]

From Twilight of Honor

• "Blue Guitar"/"They Long to Be Close to You" (1963)

From Richard Chamberlain (aka Joy in the Morning)

• "Rome Will Never Leave You" (1964)

From The Slipper and the Rose

• "Secret Kingdom" (1976)
• "He Danced With Me/She Danced With Me" (1976)
• "What a Comforting Thing to Know" (1976)
• "Why Can't I Be Two People?" (1976)
• "Bride-Finding Ball" (1976)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Richard Chamberlain

• Richard Chamberlain at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Chamberlain at the Internet Broadway Database
• Richard Chamberlain at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Richard Chamberlain in the glbtq Encyclopaedia
• Richard Chamberlain Online
• Richard Chamberlain, Actor and Beyond, the most complete and regularly updated biography
• [1] Richard Chamberlain's art website