Life and career

Byrne was born in London, England.

During his career he has repeatedly been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Major Schroeder in Force 10 from Navarone, Reinhard Beck in The Scarlet and the Black, General Olbricht in The Plot to Kill Hitler and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris. He is the SS interrogator in Rogue Male. He was also seen as the aged but fanatical SS General Neurath in Outpost: Black Sun, former concentration camp commandant and involved in the Nazi's sinister reality-shifting experiments. Byrne appeared as a Jewish concentration camp survivor who is instrumental in the capture of a Nazi war criminal (played by Ian McKellen) in the film Apt Pupil.

He is also familiar to audiences as Smythe, a soldier who attempts to rape William Wallace's wife and first inspires Wallace to seek independence from England in the film Braveheart.

His other film credits include The Eagle Has Landed, A Bridge Too Far, The Medusa Touch, The Saint, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Good Father, The Sum of All Fears, Gangs of New York, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Outpost: Black Sun.

On television, he has appeared in Z-Cars, Secret Army, Tales of the Unexpected, The Professionals, The Devil's Crown, Smiley's People, Yes, Prime Minister, Lord Mountbatten - the Last Viceroy, Between The Lines, Sharpe, The Mists of Avalon, Waking the Dead, The Body Farm, Honest, Hamish Macbeth, and Casualty.

From April 2008 to January 2010, Michael starred in Coronation Street, as Ted Page, Gail Platt's long lost father and the ex-lover of Audrey Roberts. It is not known whether he will return to the show.

Byrne appeared in State of Play at the Edinburgh Festival written by Zia Trench. He played Romeo to Siân Phillips' Juliet at the Bristol Old Vic.

He is currently playing Alfred Maxwell in BBC's Casualty, his storyline consists of him being terminally ill with Motor Neuron Disease and his friendship with clinical lead Connie Beauchamp. At the moment he has currently requested her to help him die rather than suffer with his disease any longer.

Selected filmography

• The Scarlet Blade (1963)
• The Image (1969)
• Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972)
• Vampyres (1974)
• Butley (1974)
• Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
• Rogue Male (1976)
• The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
• A Bridge Too Far (1977) as Lt. Col. Giles Vandeleur
• Force 10 from Navarone (1978) as Maj. Schroeder
• The Medusa Touch (1978)
• The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
• Champions (1983)
• The Good Father (1985)
• Buster (1988)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) as SS-Standartenführer (colonel) Ernst Vogel
• The Plot to Kill Hitler (1990)
• Nostradamus (1994)
• Braveheart (1995)
• The Saint (1997)
• The Island on Bird Street (1997)
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) as Admiral Kelly (HMS Bedford)
• Gunshy (1998)
• Apt Pupil (1998)
• Battlefield Earth (2000)
• Proof of Life (2000)
• The Sum of All Fears (2002)
• Gangs of New York (2002)
• Beyond the Sea (2004)
• The Mark of Cain (2007)
• Blood: The Last Vampire (2009)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) as Gellert Grindelward
• Outpost: Black Sun (2012)
• Quartet (2012)
• Diana (2013)
• Mortdecai (2015)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]