Born: October 10, 1946
Age: 77
Birthplace: Rednal, West Midlands, England

Walter Charles Dance, OBE (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor, screenwriter, and film director. Some of his most high-profile roles are Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones (2011-2015), Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Sardo Numspa in The Golden Child (1986), Jonathan Clemens in Alien 3 (1992), Benedict in Last Action Hero (1993), the Master Vampire in Dracula Untold (2014), Lord Havelock Vetinari in Terry Pratchett's Going Postal (2010), Alastair Denniston in The Imitation Game (2014), and Emperor Emhyr var Emreis in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015).
Charles Dance was born in Rednal, West Midlands, the son of Eleanor Marion (née Perks), a cook, and Walter Dance (1874-1949), an electrical engineer who had previously served during the Boer War in South Africa.[1][2] Growing up in Plymouth, he attended Widey Technical School for Boys (it closed when known as Widey High School in 1988) in Crownhill. Dance later attended The Leicester College of Arts (now known as De Montfort University), where he studied Graphic Design and Photography.[3]When Dance was about 3 years old, his father died. He had always thought that his father had been in his early fifties when this happened, but discovered that Walter was actually born 26 years earlier in 1874. In 2016 during filming of an episode for the genealogical series Who Do You Think You Are?.[4] Dance also discovered that through his maternal line, he is of partial Belgian ancestry, descended from a family whose roots lay in Spa. His immigrant ancestor Charles François Futvoye (1777-1847) had been a pioneer in the art of Japaning during the early half of the 19th century, and a resident of Marylebone in London.
Dance was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company during the mid-to-late 1970s and was in many of their productions in London and Stratford-upon-Avon. Later he returned to the RSC to take the title role in Coriolanus at Stratford-upon-Avon and Newcastle in 1989, and at the Barbican Theatre in 1990. He received rave reviews and a Critics' Circle Best Actor award for his performance as the Oxford don C. S. Lewis in William Nicholson's Shadowlands, in the 2007 stage revival.[5]
Dance made his screen debut in 1974, in the ITV series Father Brown as Commandant Neil O'Brien in "The Secret Garden", but his big break came ten years later when he played the major role of Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown (Granada Television, Christopher Morahan 1984), an adaptation of Paul Scott's novels that also made stars of Geraldine James and Art Malik. He appeared in Paris Connections (2010) as the Russian oligarch Aleksandr Borinski. Dance made one of his earliest big screen appearances in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only as evil henchman Claus. Though he turned down the opportunity to screen test for the James Bond role,[6] in 1989 he played Bond creator Ian Fleming in Anglia Television's dramatised biography directed by Don Boyd, Goldeneye (the name of Fleming's estate in Jamaica and a title later used for a James Bond film).
He has also starred in many other British television dramas such as Edward the Seventh (as dissolute Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, Edward VII's oldest son, and heir to the throne), Murder Rooms, Randall and Hopkirk, Rebecca, The Phantom of the Opera, Fingersmith and Bleak House (for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie). He was name-checked in the British comedy series Absolutely Fabulous, as being slated to play the title character in The Life of Jesus Christ 2, which was filming in Morocco at the same time as the main characters of the series were there for a photo shoot. He also played Guy Spencer, the pro-Hitler propagandist, in the second instalment of Foyle's War, and had an ongoing role as Dr. Maltravers in the ITV drama Trinity.[7]
Dance made a guest appearance on the BBC drama series Merlin as the Witchfinder Aredian,[8] and as a vainglorious version of himself in the third series of Jam & Jerusalem. He played Havelock Vetinari in the 2010 Sky adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal.[9] He played the role of Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones, based on the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin. Dance was wooed for the role by the producers while filming Your Highness in Belfast.[10] Dance also played Conrad Knox on the British television series Strike Back: Vengeance as the primary villain in the series.[11]
On 30 June 2013, Dance appeared with other celebrities in an episode of the BBC's Top Gear as a "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" for the debut of the Vauxhall Astra.[12]
Dance is represented by Tavistock Wood Management.[13]
Dance's debut film as a writer and director was Ladies in Lavender (2004), which starred Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. In 2009, he directed his own adaptation of Alice Thomas Ellis's The Inn at the Edge of the World.
Dance married Joanna Haythorn in 1970. They have two children.[14][15] Haythorn and Dance divorced in 2004. He and Eleanor Boorman have a daughter, Rose Boorman, though the two subsequently separated.
Dance was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 17 June 2006.[16]
Title | Year | Role | Director(s) | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
For Your Eyes Only | 1981 | Claus | John Glen | ||
Plenty | 1985 | Raymond Brock | Fred Schepisi | ||
The Golden Child | 1986 | Sardo Numspa | Michael Ritchie | ||
White Mischief | 1987 | Josslyn Hay | Michael Radford | ||
Good Morning, Babylon | 1987 | D.W. Griffith | Paolo and Vittorio Taviani | ||
Hidden City | 1987 | James Richards | Stephen Poliakoff | ||
Pascali's Island | 1988 | Anthony Bowles | James Dearden | ||
Alien 3 | 1992 | Clemens | David Fincher | ||
Kalkstein | 1992 | Surveyor | Italian film | ||
Last Action Hero | 1993 | Benedict | John McTiernan | ||
Century | 1993 | Professor Mandry | Stephen Poliakoff | ||
China Moon | 1994 | Rupert Munro | John Bailey | ||
Kabloonak | 1994 | Robert Flaherty | Claude Massot | Paris Film Festival Award for Best Actor | |
Shortcut to Paradise | 1994 | Quinn | Spanish film | ||
Space Truckers | 1996 | Nabel / Macanudo | Stuart Gordon | ||
Michael Collins | 1996 | Soames | Neil Jordan | ||
The Blood Oranges | 1997 | Cyril | Philip Haas | ||
What Rats Won't Do | 1998 | Gerald | |||
Don't Go Breaking My Heart | 1998 | Frank | Willi Patterson | ||
Hilary and Jackie | 1998 | Derek Du Pré | Anand Tucker | ||
Gosford Park | 2001 | Raymond Stockbridge | Robert Altman | ||
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | 2001 | Ralph Nickleby | Stephen Whittaker | ||
Dark Blue World | 2001 | Wing Commander Bentley | Jan Svěrák | ||
Black and White | 2002 | Roderic Chamberlain | Craig Lahiff | ||
Ali G Indahouse | 2002 | David Carlton | Mark Mylod | ||
Swimming Pool | 2003 | John Bosload | François Ozon | ||
Dolls | 2006 | Narrator | Susan Luciani | Voice | |
Scoop | 2006 | Mr. Malcolm | Woody Allen | ||
Starter for 10 | 2006 | Michael Harbinson | Tom Vaughan | ||
The Contractor | 2007 | DCS Andrew Windsor | Josef Rusnak | Direct-to-video | |
Intervention | 2007 | Private Investigator | |||
The Commuter | 2010 | Traffic Warden | Short film to promote Nokia N8 | ||
Ironclad | 2011 | Archbishop Langton | Jonathan English | ||
Your Highness | 2011 | King Tallious | David Gordon Green | ||
Midnight's Children | 2012 | William Methwold | Deepa Mehta | ||
Underworld: Awakening | 2012 | Thomas | Måns Mårlind Björn Stein |
||
Patrick | 2013 | Doctor Roget | Mark Hartley | ||
Justin and the Knights of Valour | 2013 | Legantir | Manuel Sicilia | Voice | |
Bones of the Buddha | 2013 | Narrator | Voice | ||
Viy | 2013 | Lord Dudley | Oleg Stepchenko | Credited as Charlz Dens | |
Dracula Untold | 2014 | Master Vampire | Gary Shore | ||
The Imitation Game | 2014 | Commander Alastair Denniston | Morten Tyldum | ||
Victor Frankenstein | 2015 | Frankenstein | Paul McGuigan | ||
Michiel de Ruyter | 2015 | Charles II | Roel Reiné | ||
Woman in Gold | 2015 | Sherman | Simon Curtis | ||
Child 44 | 2015 | Major Grachev | Daniel Espinosa | ||
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies | 2016 | Mr. Bennet | Burr Steers | ||
Me Before You | 2016 | Stephen Traynor | Thea Sharrock | ||
Ghostbusters | 2016 | Harold Filmore | Paul Feig | ||
Despite the Falling Snow | 2016 | Old Alexander | Shamim Sarif | ||
Underworld: Blood Wars | 2016 | Thomas | Anna Foerster | ||
Euphoria | 2017 | Lisa Langseth | |||
That Good Night | 2017 | The Visitor | Eric Styles | ||
Fanny Lye Deliver'd | 2017 | John Lye | Thomas Clay | Post-production | |
Johnny English Strikes Again | 2018 | Agent Five | David Kerr | Cameo appearance | |
Viy 2: Journey to China | 2019 | Lord Dudley | Oleg Stepchenko | Post-production | |
Godzilla: King of the Monsters | 2019 | Michael Dougherty | Filming | [17] |
Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Title | Year(s) | Role | Network | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Father Brown | 1974 | Commandant Neil O'Brien | ITV | Episode: "The Secret Garden" | |
Edward the Seventh | 1975 | Prince Eddy | ITV | 2 episodes | |
The Jewel in the Crown | 1984 | Guy Perron | ITV | 5 episodes | |
Out on a Limb | 1987 | Cpt. Truman | BBC | 2 episodes | |
First Born | 1988 | Edward Forester | BBC | 3 episodes | |
Goldeneye | 1989 | Ian Fleming | ITV | 2 episodes | |
The Phantom of the Opera | 1990 | Erik/The Phantom | NBC | 2 episodes | |
Rebecca | 1997 | Maxim de Winter | ITV | 2 episodes | |
The Real Spartacus | 2000 | Narrator | Voice Documentary |
||
A History of Britain | 2000 | Winston Churchill | BBC | Voice Episode: "The Two Winstons" |
|
Foyle's War | 2002 | Guy Spencer | ITV | Episode: "The White Feather" | |
Henry VIII | 2003 | Duke of Buckingham | ITV | Television film | |
Saint John Bosco: Mission to Love | 2004 | Marquis Clementi | Television film | ||
Fingersmith | 2005 | Mr. Lilly | BBC | 2 episodes | |
Bleak House | 2005 | Mr. Tulkinghorn | BBC | 12 episodes | |
To the Ends of the Earth | 2005 | Sir Henry Somerset | BBC | Episode: "Close Quarters" | |
Last Rights | 2005 | Richard Wheeler | Channel 4 | 3 episodes | |
Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs | 2006 | Septimus Bligh | ITV | Episode: "By the Pricking of My Thumbs" | |
Fallen Angel | 2007 | David Byfield | 3 episodes | ||
Consenting Adults | 2007 | John Wolfenden | BBC | Television film | |
Merlin | 2009 | Aredian | BBC | Episode: "The Witchfinder" | |
Trinity | 2009 | Dr. Edmund Maltraver | ITV2 | 8 episodes | |
Going Postal | 2010 | Havelock Vetinari | Sky 1 | 2 episodes | |
This September | 2010 | Edmund Aird | 2 episodes | ||
Game of Thrones | 2011-2015 | Tywin Lannister | HBO | 27 episodes | [18] |
Neverland | 2011 | Dr. Richard Fludd | Syfy | Episode: "Part 1" | |
Secret State | 2012 | John Hodder | Channel 4 | 4 episodes | |
Strike Back: Vengeance | 2012 | Conrad Knox | Sky 1 | 10 episodes | |
Was It Something I Said? | 2013 | Narrator | Channel 4 | Guest (one episode) | |
Rosamunde Pilchers's Shades of Love | 2013 | Edmund Aird | |||
The Great Fire | 2014 | Lord Denton | ITV | 4 episodes | |
Childhood's End | 2015 | Karellen | Syfy | 3 episodes | [19] |
Deadline Gallipoli | 2015 | General Ian Hamilton | Showcase | 2 episodes | |
And Then There Were None | 2015 | Justice Lawrence Wargrave | BBC One | 3 episodes | |
The Woman in White | 2018 | Mr. Fredrick Fairlie | BBC 1 | 5 episodes | |
Hang Ups | 2018 | Jeremy Pitt | Channel 4 | ||
The Little Drummer Girl (miniseries) | 2018 | Picton | BBC1/AMC | 4 episodes |
Title | Year(s) | Voice role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 2015 | Emperor Emhyr var Emreis | English Dub | [20][21] |
Title | Year(s) | Author | Voice role | ISBN | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Fourth Protocol | 1985 | Frederick Forsyth | Narrator | 0886461340 | Voice | [22] |
[ Source: Wikipedia ]