Brendan Coyle

Brendan Coyle is currently earning rave reviews for his performance as the valet John Bates in the hughly successful television series “Downton Abbey”. He was born in Corby in 1963 to an Irish father and a Scottish mother. He trained in drama in Dublin. He won early parise for his performance in “The Weir” on the London stage. He has had an extensive television career including “Lark Rise to Candleford” and “North and South”. His films include “Conspiracy” in 2001 and “Tomorrow Never Dies”. He holds both Irish and British citizenships.

IMDB entry:

Brendan Coyle was born in Corby, Northamptonshire to an Irish father and Scottish mother; his parents moved to Corby from County Tyrone, Ireland. Brendan holds Irish citizenship and has previously lived in Dublin and London. However, according to a video clip from the site for “Rockface” he resides in Norfolk.

Brendan is also the great nephew of footballing (i.e. soccer) legend Sir Matt Busby of Manchester United fame.

Brendan trained at drama school in Dublin, founded in the late 1960s as the Focus Theatre, was co-founded by his aunt Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy. Brendan started there in 1981 and then received a scholarship to Mountview Theatre School in England in 1983. He has directed at least two plays at Mountview since graduating from there.

Brendan has done a number of stage, television, and movie productions, including the play “The Weir” for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance award for his part as the bartender, Brendan. He continues to work on stage, in film and on television.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Stacy L.A. Stronach <slashgirl@yahoo.com>

TCM overview:

An English-born actor with Irish and Scottish roots, Brendan Coyle got his start in a slew of theatrical productions. He quietly rose through the ranks of U.K. screen actors with small roles in everything from “The Glass Virgin” (ITV, 1995) to the James Bond adventure “Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997), but earned acclaim for his stage work, winning a Laurence Olivier Award for his work in “The Weir.” Continuing to work steadily in British-made productions like “North & South” (BBC One, 2004) and “Lark Rise to Candleford” (BBC One, 2008-11), Coyle appeared in such international fare as “The Jacket” (2005) with Adrien Brody and “The Raven” (2012) with John Cusack. His international breakthrough came as the physically impaired but passionate John Bates, valet to Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) on the global smash “Downton Abbey” (ITV, 2010- ). Grounding his ill-fated character in humanity and compassion, Coyle stood out in the enormously talented ensemble, earning widespread praise. As his fame increased around the world, Coyle left many fans and critics alike hoping to see much more of him on stage and screen.

Born Dec. 2, 1963 in Corby, Northamptonshire, England, Coyle was the son of an Irish father and a Scottish mother, as well as the great-nephew of soccer legend Sir Matt Busby of Manchester United. Determined not to become a butcher like his father, Coyle found his calling when he saw his first play as a teenager, Shakespeare’s Richard III, and was overcome by a desire to make a living himself as an actor. Luckily, his cousin was a theater director in Dublin, Ireland, and when he finished his schooling – following a year of apprenticing to his father – Coyle moved to the Emerald Isle to train with her. After cutting his professional teeth with her company as an actor and stage manager, he earned a scholarship to the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, and soon launched his stage career with roles in “Over the Bridge,” “All Souls Night” and “Playboy of the Western World.”

Coyle made his screen debut with small roles in the made-for-TV movie “Fool’s Gold: The Story of the Brink’s-MAT Robbery” (1992) and on the TV series “The Bill” (ITV, 1984-2010). Building on his momentum, he began to earn a reputation as a versatile actor with memorable performances in the miniseries “The Glass Virgin” (ITV, 1995) and on the shows “Dangerfield” (BBC, 1995-99), “Silent Witness” (BBC One, 1996- ) and “Thief Takers” (ITV, 1995-97), before earning a small turn in a major international blockbuster as a seaman in the James Bond thriller “Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997). As he was rising through the screen ranks, Coyle was also working steadily in theater, earning raves for his performance in “The Weir,” which he played in London as well as on Broadway, winning a 1999 Laurence Olivier Award as well as a New York Critics Theater World Award.

Coyle’s professional ascent continued as he picked up larger roles in “McCready and Daughter” (BBC, 2001) and on “Paths to Freedom” (RTÉ, 2000) and “Rebel Heart” (BBC, 2001). International audiences, however, began to take note of him with his role as the Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller in the Kenneth Branagh-Stanley Tucci based-on-real-life Nazi historical drama “Conspiracy” (BBC/HBO, 2000). He continued to notch acclaimed work in European productions, including high-profile roles on “Rockface” (BBC, 2002-03) and “North & South” (BBC One, 2004), as well as starring as the famous Irish politician Michael Collins in “Allegiance” (2005) while finding time to take a supporting turn in the time travel thriller “The Jacket” (2005), starring Keira Knightley and Adrien Brody.

Coyle went on to notch roles on “True Dare Kiss” (BBC One, 2007) and “Lark Rise to Candleford” (BBC One, 2008-2011), which earned him ever more acclaim. Although he appeared in the John Cusack Edgar Allen Poe-thriller “The Raven” (2012) and on the series “Starlings” (Sky1, 2012- ), Coyle’s true international breakthrough came with his work on the global smash “Downton Abbey” (ITV, 2010- ). Playing John Bates, the valet and former Boer War batman to Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), Coyle gave vivid life to a character whose physical disability masked a powerful spirit. Viewers were glued to the set when the seemingly friendless Bates fell in love with the kindhearted maid Anna (Joanne Froggatt), only to be shocked when it was revealed that he still had a wife who was very much alive – until she was poisoned and Bates was convicted of her murder. His powerful, but understated work earned Coyle a devoted fanbase as well as an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

By Jonathan Riggs

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Dan Stevens was born in Croydon, Surrey in 1982. He gave an acclaimed performance in 2006 in “The Line of Beauty”. His other films include “Hide” and “The Turn of the Screw”. He starred as Matthew Crawley on television in the award winning period drama “Downton Abbey”.

TCM Overview:

Classically trained actor Dan Stevens had all the makings of a romantic lead, yet it was not until he appeared on the critically acclaimed period drama “Downton Abbey” (ITV, 2010- ), that audiences truly took notice. Starting off his career on stage, he first made his mark onscreen with a starring role in the miniseries “The Line of Beauty” (BBC, 2006), as a young gay man living in the materialistic and careless “Thatcherite” Britain of the 1980s. Stevens continued to impress on television, with featured roles in made-for-TV films, including BBC’s “Dracula” (2006) and the real life-inspired drama “Maxwell” (2007). As his career thrived, he gravitated towards characters with refined manners and moral intentions, similar to the role he played on the television adaptation of the classic novel “Sense & Sensibility” (BBC, 2008). Yet, it was his role on the beloved series “Downton Abbey,” as an upright young aristocrat who treated everyone equally despite their class strata, which made Stevens brought the actor international stardom.

Daniel Jonathan Stevens was born on Oct. 10, 1982 in Surrey, England to parents who were both teachers. He started acting at an early age, first at Tonbridge School and then at the National Youth Theatre in England. An English literature major at Emmanuel College in Cambridge, Stevens performed in several student productions, including the title role in a 2002 performance of William Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth.” While he was still a student, he had a featured role on the American miniseries “Frankenstein” (Hallmark, 2004). After his college graduation, Steven went on to perform in a string of stage productions, including Peter Hall’s “As You Like It” (2004), which also held performances in California and New York City in 2005. By the mid-2000s, Stevens started to make inroads on British television, beginning with a lead role in the 2006 miniseries “The Line of Beauty,” based on Alan Hollinghurst’s 2004 bestseller, in which Stevens played a gay post-graduate student who moves in with his best friend’s wealthy family. The story explored his character’s experiences with the British upper class, and his love affairs at a time when the AIDs crisis was beginning.

Stevens continued with his television projects, appearing in a string of made-for-TV movies including “Dracula,” the crime drama “Miss Marple: Nemesis” (ITV, 2007), and the true-life story “Maxwell,” as a financial director who had a first-hand account of the monetary and marital downfall of Robert Maxwell (David Suchet). Stevens starred in the 2008 television adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic 1811 novel “Sense & Sensibility,” as the shy and dependable admirer of the novel’s protagonist Elinor Dashwood (Hattie Morahan). In 2010, Stevens finally nabbed the role that would make him an international celebrity on Julian Fellowes’ award-winning, period drama “Downton Abbey,” about the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants. He portrayed Matthew Crawley, a lawyer who was also the family’s heir presumptive and husband of Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery). In spite of his boyish appeal and seeming distaste for his family’s lavish lifestyle, Crowley still managed to endear himself to his wealthy relatives and their servants. He also enjoyed one of the series’ most exciting plot lines, ranging from his time as a wounded war hero and as a determined suitor to the standoffish Lady Mary. A series favorite, Stevens’ evolving characterization of Crawley nabbed most of the episodes’ buzz during the third season, and elicited mostly strong reactions from its international audience.

By Candy Cuenco

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

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Jeremy Irons. Overview.

Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes on the Isle of Wight in 1948. His breakthrough roles occured with “Brideshead Revisited” in 1981 and on film “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” with Meryl Streep. He has several notable films to his credit including “Moonlighting”, “Dead Ringers”, “Damage”, “M Butterfly” and is Oscar winning movie “Reversal of Fortune” with Glenn Close in 1990. He is married to Irish actress Sinead Cusack and has a home in West Cork. His son is the actor Max Irons.

TCM Overview:

Classically trained stage actor Jeremy Irons enjoyed one of the most varied international film careers of his peers, going beyond the expected costume dramas to offer award-winning performances as men of all eras and motives. Leveraging his rich, haunting voice for both good and evil, Irons elicited deep-seated discomfort in films like “Dead Ringers” (1988) and “Reversal of Fortune” (1990), but romanced with charming nobility in “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” (1981) and “Being Julia” (2004). Irons earned two of his handful of Golden Globe nods while exploring British culture in the television miniseries “Brideshead Revisited” (ITV/PBS, 1981) and “Elizabeth I” (HBO, 2006), but was cast as everything from artists to executives by some of the most renowned directors in the international film community, including Louis Malle, Bernardo Bertolucci, Franco Zeffirelli and Wayne Wang. Irons made his mark in everything from period films to studio blockbusters to everything in between, playing one of the original Musketeers in “The Man in the Iron Mask” (1998), an over-the-top villain in “Dungeons & Dragons” (2000), Antonio in “The Merchant of Venice” (2004), and a cold-blooded investment banking CEO in “Margin Call” (2011). Meanwhile, he made a rare turn to the small screen to give an acclaimed performance as Pope Alexander VI on the widely hailed cable series, “The Borgias” (Showtime, 2011- ). Regardless of the role or medium, Irons could always be counted on to deliver still waters that ran deep – often deep into the realms of great emotional anguish.

Irons was born on England’s Isle of Wight on Sept. 19, 1948. While a boarding school student in Dorset, Irons could often be found performing, sometimes with his four-piece band (as the drummer) and sometimes in comedy skits for school events. He decided to pursue a future on stage and studied drama at the Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, where he got his professional start as a member of the company beginning in the late 1960s. After several years of acting in modern dramas and Shakespeare alike, Irons made his London stage debut in 1971 playing John the Baptist in “Godspell,” a role that employed the actor for two years. On screen, Irons first gained notice for his portrayal of classical composer Franz Liszt in the British miniseries, “Notorious Woman” (PBS, 1975). Following a starring role in the 1977 British television miniseries “Love for Lydia,” Irons made a less-than-stellar big screen debut as Mikhail Fokine in Herbert Ross’ biopic, “Nijinsky” (1980), but became internationally renowned when he was cast opposite Meryl Streep in the romantic drama, “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” (1981), based on John Fowles’ novel.

Hot on the heels of Irons’ BAFTA-nominated performance in that film, he took the lead as observant narrator Charles Ryder in the TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” (ITV/PBS, 1981). The international television event was one of the most lauded of the year, earning Irons his first Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. He went on to more eclectic roles, playing the caddish lover in David Jones’ critically acclaimed adaptation of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” (1983), but was miscast as Proust’s hero in “Swann in Love” (1984). In 1984, Irons made his Broadway debut and took home a Tony Award for Best Actor for the Mike Nichols-directed “The Real Thing,” written by Tom Stoppard and co-starring Glenn Close. Two years later, Irons appeared in a Royal Shakespeare Theater production of “The Winter’s Tale” and was back in the film spotlight for his Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of an 18th century Jesuit priest touring South America in Roland Joffe’s “The Mission” (1986).

After starring as Richard II on the London stage, Irons gave a bravura dual performance as deranged twin brother doctors in David Cronenberg’s classic creeper “Dead Ringers” (1988). In another career highlight, Irons won Academy and Golden Globe Awards for his portrayal of real-life international playboy and suspected murderer Claus von Bulow in Barbet Schroeder’s “Reversal of Fortune” (1990), which reunited him with Glenn Close. Irons’ haughty, conniving performance made a strong impact, but Irons avoided villainous typecasting by displaying versatility with his leading role as a paranoid insurance clerk in Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller, “Kafka” (1991), a history teacher haunted by memories of his childhood in “Waterland” (1992), and a conservative English politician undone by an obsessive affair with his son’s girlfriend in Louis Malle’s “Damage” (1992). Although he tried gamely, his reunion with Cronenberg for “M. Butterfly” (1993) failed to impress critics or audiences, and his second film with Streep and Close, “The House of the Spirits” (1993), unfortunately miscast the team of great thespians as South American aristocrats.

Irons rebounded with a box office and critical hit by providing the sinuous voice of the subtly villainous Scar in Disney’s monster animated hit, “The Lion King” (1994). In an effective follow-up bad guy role, he was next cast as the action film cliché “evil foreigner” opposite Bruce Willis in the popular sequel “Die Hard With a Vengeance” (1995). The actor’s next two roles were thematically linked. In Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Stealing Beauty” (1996), Irons starred as an ailing writer reinvigorated when confronted with the voluptuous teenaged Liv Tyler, while in Adrian Lyne’s remake of “Lolita” (1997), he was well-chosen to play classic literary character Humbert Humbert, also enamored of the pubescent title character (Dominique Swain). Irons’ run of lovelorn leading roles also included director Wayne Wang’s “Chinese Box” (1997), in which Irons was a leukemia-ridden, Hong Kong-based financial reporter who has long held a torch for a bar owner and former “hostess” (Gong Li) from mainland China.

Iconic in the role of Father Aramis in the adaptation of Alexander Dumas’ adventure “The Man In the Iron Mask” (1998), starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Irons’ talents were thereafter squandered in the legendary flop “Dungeons and Dragons” (2000). He balanced the scales with accomplished turns in higher-brow fare including the A&E miniseries, “Longitude” (2000), as a 20th century naval officer who discovers 18th Century clockmaker John Harrison’s abandoned clocks and restores them. A widely praised portrayal of F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Showtime telepic “Last Call” (2002), about the tortured author’s final months, was followed by a turn in director Franco Zeffirelli’s biopic “Callas Forever” (2002), as opera legend Maria Callas’ friend and former manager. The actor became entangled with another musician in “And Now…Ladies and Gentlemen” (2003), in which he starred as a dissatisfied criminal mastermind who sets out on a one-man sailing trip around the world to find meaning in his life and becomes caught up with a burned-out jazz singer (Patricia Kaas).

In 2004, Irons turned in a pair of particularly fine performances, first tapping into his considerable Shakespearean track record to play a disdainful Antonio arguing over the pound of flesh with Al Pacino’s Shylock in “William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice” (2004). He then co-starred as the agreeably cuckolded husband-manager of an aging, diva-like 1930s stage actress (Annette Bening) who takes up a dalliance of his own in director Istvan Szabo’s brilliant, “Being Julia” (2004). In director Ridley Scott’s disappointing “Kingdom of Heaven” (2005), however, only Irons, in the role of the Jerusalem king’s closest adviser, had a role juicy enough to withstand the film’s otherwise furious scenery-chewing. “Casanova” (2005), director Lasse Hallstrom’s fictionalized account of the legendary lothario (Heath Ledger) falling in love at last, was easily one of the most ill-conceived and disappointing films of the year, despite lavish production values and a game performance by Irons, who lustily attacked his role as the villainous Catholic Church inquisitor Pucci, who is out to execute the renowned libertine for heresy.

However there was plenty of positive attention on Irons the following year when he joined the cast of the lavish miniseries “Elizabeth I” (Channel 4 UK/ HBO, 2006). While Helen Mirren earned soaring reviews for her incomparable portrayal of the Virgin Queen, Irons matched her talent with his performance as Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth’s lover and most trusted, if conflicted, confidant. The British production swept the Emmy and Golden Globe Awards that year, garnering two supporting actor trophies for Irons. Meanwhile, Irons appeared on movie screens as a film director in David Lynch’s enigmatic “Inland Empire” (2006) and in the far more accessible but considerably less original family fantasy blockbuster, “Eragon” (2006). Returning to the London stage, Irons had a starring run playing conservative post-war British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan in “Never So Good” and went on to co-star on Broadway opposite Joan Allen in “Impressionism,” which paired the two as world-weary artist and gallery owner who fall in love.

Allen and Irons coupled again on the small screen that year in the biopic “Georgia O’Keeffe” (Lifetime, 2009), which chronicled the early career of the famous painter (Allen) and her professional-turned-romantic relationship with influential New York photographer and art gallery owner, Alfred Stieglitz (Irons). Irons’ absorbing performance led to Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor in a TV Movie. Also at the time, Irons returned to the stage opposite Allen in the Broadway production of Michael Jacobs’ play “Impressionism” (2009). Back on screen, he starred in the well-received historical drama, “The Borgias” (Showtime, 2011), a series created by Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan that focused on the corrupt and murderous Italian Renaissance family headed by Roderic Borgia (Irons), who went on to become the debased Pope Alexander VI. The role earned Irons a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a drama series. Also that year, he returned to features with “Margin Call” (2011), playing the CEO of a Lehman Brothers-like investment bank caught in the throes of the 2008 financial meltdown.

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Joanne King was born in Dublin in 1983. She is best known for her roles on TV’s “Casualty” and “The Tudors”. Her films include “Massive” in 2008.

“Mirror” article:

As Casualty’s sexy new paramedic, she’s setting millions of male pulses racing every Saturday night. But if actress Joanne King hadn’t managed to sneak off for the audition during her lunch break, life could have been very different. Joanne was working part time as a #10-an-hour tour guide at the BBC when she cheekily stole her chance to nip away. “It was a bit of a rush and I had to quickly dash back because I was leading a tour in the afternoon,” says the 23-year-old. “But I remember my agent calling me a few days later and saying, ‘I’m really sorry but you’ve got to pack your bags and move to Bristol.’ So it was worth the effort.” She can’t quite believe it now but, just a few months ago, she was about to give up her acting dream. After two years of scrimping and saving in London, desperately trying to get her big break in the theatre, Dublin-born Joanne was beginning to wonder if she should have followed her mum’s advice and gone to university. But then she received the phone call which would change her life. Within a week she had left her dingy London flat and was filming her first scenes for the Bristol-based hit BBC1 medical drama. “It all happened so fast I didn’t have time to think about it,” she says in her gentle Irish lilt. “I was honestly starting to think that my mum was right. I should have gone to university and got a proper job. “Life was hard. I moved to London determined to become a successful actress but it’s not that simple and I had so many jobs just to get by. “I was sweeping up hair at a hairdresser’s, packing bags at a supermarket and working nights at a pub in North London. “I was sharing a flat with a friend and we had to get out in a hurry because we couldn’t afford the rent. London has so much to offer young people but I couldn’t be part of that because I had no money. Every penny counted. “I really didn’t think it was worth the heartache anymore. All I wanted was to act but it’s tough and I’ve done some ridiculous jobs to see me through.” When she heard she’d won the part of paramedic Cyd Pyke, Joanne was about to start a new job dressing up as a fairy for children’s parties. “Can you imagine?” she laughs. “I was due to start training to be a fairy when Casualty came up. It was all a bit mad.” Joanne can afford to splash out on the odd designer outfit now, but you’re more likely to find the thrifty actress rummaging around charity shops. She remembers how miserable life on the breadline was and still lives on a strict budget. “I love a bargain,” she says. “When something’s half-price I get all excited about it. I like vintage clothes and get a lot from secondhand shops.

“Moneywise, things are more stable for me now but I’m not at the stage where I can go out and buy a Hollywood mansion. “I don’t live a glamorous lifestyle. I’m more at home in my trackies than I am getting dressed up. When I’m off work I don’t bother wearing any make-up. Maybe I should start making more of an effort now I’m on TV.” Although she’s been on our screens since September, it’s only now that Joanne is getting her teeth into a meaty storyline, finding herself at the centre of a lesbian love triangle. Millions of viewers have watched Cyd’s developing romance with hospital hunk Greg Fallon, played by Aussie Kip Gamblin. Unbeknown to Cyd, her best friend Kathleen “Dixie” Dixon, is in love with her and wracked with jealousy over her relationship with Greg. Tonight viewers will see Dixie try to sabotage the couple’s affair. Joanne says: “Cyd’s totally oblivious to Dixie’s feelings but I think Greg’s starting to cotton on to it now. When I started on the show I had no idea I’d be caught up in a lesbian storyline but it’s been a nice little challenge.”

One “challenge” most women would relish would be having to snog gorgeous ex-Home And Away actor Kip on a daily basis. But, surprisingly, Joanne isn’t too keen. “It’s weird kissing him because I remember him from that show,” she smiles. “Kissing him for the first time was scary with the crew there. All these people standing around, watching you kiss. “Luckily I get on really well with Kip and I know his wife and kids so that’s helped put me at ease. But I’ve been told that love scenes never get any easier. My first day on set is a blur now. I was so nervous. But the cast are so lovely they made me feel really welcome and I’m one of the family now. We have a great craic.” The second of four children, Joanne grew up in Dublin with her accountant father Ronan and volunteer teacher mum Adele. Although she has settled easily in both London and now Bristol, her heart remains firmly in Ireland. “I don’t get home often enough,” she says. “I love it back in Dublin. We have the most beautiful theatres and wonderful people. I love going back.” She might boast a perfect figure and model looks but Joanne is currently single – and happily so. I’m not prepared to just settle for Mr OK,” she adds. “He has to be Mr Right. “I prefer my men to be a bit scruffy – I’m not into the clean-cut look. But talent is very sexy as well. “Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics is gorgeous and I think James McAvoy is lovely, but he’s already been snapped up. Mind you, a relationship with another actor could be a recipe for disaster. It’d be very dramatic. “I’m happy being single for now but I’d love to settle down one day and have a big Irish family.” Regular yoga sessions help keep Joanne in trim and she makes sure she eats healthily. And she insists she won’t get sucked into the size zero brigade. “It’s a horror story, a very worrying trend,” she says. “We need to wake up and take responsibility. People are suffering with eating disorders because of it. Personally, I like good food and lots of it. I don’t believe in denying yourself treats. I hate the gym but yoga is brilliant. It’s part of me.” Joanne is staying tight-lipped about how long she plans to stick around in Casualty. But she makes no secret of her ambitions to move into films and follow in the footsteps of another ex-Casualty star. “Kate Winslet is my inspiration,” says Joanne. “She started out in an episode of Casualty so who knows? I think she’s a great actress and has picked her jobs so well. I’d love to have a crack at America. “But my first love will always be theatre and it would break my heart not to go back to that sometime. “Casualty is an amazing training ground and I’m so grateful. But I’ll finish my storylines and then probably say goodbye to Cyd.”

CASUALTY is on BBC1 tonight at 8.35pm.

The above “Mirror” article cn also be accessed online here.

Richard Armitage

Richard Armitage has had some very prominent roles on British television including Guy of Gisborne in “Robin Hood”, John Thornton in “North and South” and is now cast in the film “The Hobbit”. He was born in 1971 in Leicester.

TCM Overview:

British actor Richard Armitage was a television star in his native country, playing complicated men of action on series like “Spooks” (BBC One/Three, 2001-2011) and “Strike Back” “(Sky 1/Cinemax, 2010- ) before leaping to international attention in Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” (2012-2014) film trilogy. Like Hugh Jackman before him, Armitage began his career in musical theater before finding fame on British television, playing dark, dashing anti-heroes on “North and South” (BBC, 2004) and “Robin Hood” (BBC One, 2007-09). His growing popularity, especially among female viewers, led to a starring role on “Spooks” as a one-time terrorist masquerading as a spy, as well as voiceover work on numerous TV commercials and in documentaries. He then segued into another action series, “Strike Back,” before landing a central role in “The Hobbit,” which necessitated his leaving the series for what would most likely be a star-making turn not unlike Viggo Mortensen’s career-transforming appearance in Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” (2001-2003) trilogy. Having already conquered British television, Richard Armitage’s ascension to worldwide stardom in films seemed a foregone conclusion.

Born Richard Crispin Armitage in the village of Huncote, in Leicestershire, England on Aug. 22, 1971, he was the second son of engineer John Armitage and his wife, Margaret, a secretary. Armitage led a largely solitary childhood in which he found great solace in both reading and music. The latter, which encompassed playing the flute and cello at Brockington College and with a local orchestra, led him to Pattison College, where a school visit to see a production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre inspired him to pursue acting as well. Armitage began appearing in school productions before leaving Pattinson at the age of 17 to join a theater group, The Second Generation, at a circus in Budapest, Hungary. The experience earned him his Equity card, which allowed him to work professionally as an actor in the U.K. Upon his return to his native country, Armitage worked in musical theater before enrolling at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art to hone his acting skills. Following his completion of the school’s three-year program in 1998, he made his screen acting debut with a one-line role in “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” (1999). Armitage soon found steady work in theater while balancing bit and supporting roles in features and television.

In 2002, Armitage won his first substantive television role in “Sparkhouse” (BBC, 2002) a modern take on Wuthering Heights. More work on television soon led to his first starring turn in “North and South” as a mill owner who fell in love with Daniela Denby-Ashe’s plucky working class heroine. Armitage’s sensitive performance was praised by critics and fans alike, both of which minted him as a romantic leading man on the rise. He further cemented his fan base as Guy of Gisborne on “Robin Hood” (BBC One, 2007-09). At first glimpse, Gisborn was a world-class rogue in league with the series’ main villain, the Sheriff of Notthingham, but over the course of the season, viewers received a glimpse of the character’s conflicted loyalties, especially in regard to Marian (Lucy Griffiths) and his sister (Lara Pulver), who fell in love with Jonas Armstrong’s Robin of Locksley. The program was a sizable hit on both sides of the Atlantic, which increased Armitage’s profile even further.

While working on “Robin Hood,” Armitage also kept up a steady schedule of guest appearances on other series, while adding voiceover and radio work to his list of accomplishments, including a 2007 stint reading the letters of former poet laureate Ted Hughes on BBC Radio 4. The following year, he joined the cast of the popular espionage series “Spooks” as Lucas North, a British operative whose eight-year stint in a Russian prison left him a damaged, compromised figure upon his return to spy work. North remained the series’ leading role until its ninth season, when it was revealed that he had participated in the bombing of the British Embassy in Senegal and murdered a friend, a spy in training whom he then impersonated to gain entry into the government secret service. North’s suicide in the finale of the show’s ninth season marked the end of another critically acclaimed run for the actor, who had also performed his own stunts throughout the action-packed series, including a sequence in which he was briefly put through waterboarding.

Armitage quickly moved into another action series, “Strike Back,” playing a former special forces operative who reluctantly returned to duty after a mission that claimed the lives of two fellow soldiers. While working on the series, Armitage’s voiceover career soon encompassed advertisements for Alfa Romeo, Sky Television and the BBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, as well as numerous documentaries, radio programs and audio books. He also found time to make his Hollywood feature debut as Nazi spy Heinz Kruger in “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011). But when production commenced on the second season of “Strike Back,” Armitage was forced to drop out due to a commitment for what would be his biggest project to date: Peter Jackson’s three-part film trilogy “The Hobbit,” in which he starred as Thorin Oakenshield, leader of a company of 13 dwarves who enlisted Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) in a quest to reclaim their home from a monstrous dragon. Following completion of the film’s 18-month shoot, Armitage was cast in the action-thriller “Black Sky” (2013) as a widowed father protecting his son in the aftermath of a tornado.

By Paul Gaita

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

Dominique McElligott is an Irish actress who made her acting debut in the television series “On Home Ground” in 2001. Her movies include “Whiskey Echo” in 2005, “Satellites and Meteorites” in 2007 and “Hell on Wheels” in 2011.

“Collider” interview by Christina Radish:

On the new AMC Western series Hell on Wheels, Irish actress Dominique McElligott plays Lily Bell, a newly widowed woman trying to survive in a man’s world. After the death of her husband, Lily has the desire to fulfill her husband’s dream, which ultimately becomes her own dream, as she slowly gains respect in a world where even the toughest of men would fail.

During this exclusive interview with Collider, Dominique McElligott talked about doing her first American television series, how the authenticity and complexity of Hell on Wheels really appealed to her, that she loves playing the strong outsider on an emotional journey, that the average lifespan for the real women who arrived in Hell on Wheels (what they called the traveling town that serviced the construction of the first transcontinental railroad) was only 17 months, and how the challenge of working out in the elements while weighted down by the costumes and covered with mosquito bites only adds to her performance. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Question: How did you come to this show? Were you looking to do American television?

DOMINIQUE McELLIGOTT: I hadn’t done any work in America. I’m from Ireland. It was very serendipitous. Ironically enough, I was doing a Western in Bolivia, and my manager, who was an American woman that I met in London, was bugging me to come over to L.A. and I didn’t want to. I was hanging out in London, just back from this Western I did in Bolivia, and I was having drinks with friends who are all flight attendants, and they said that they would get me over to America for free, and I could stay and do some meetings and auditions. Hell on Wheels was the first one. I arrived on the 5th of July, and the Hell on Wheels audition was on the 6th or the 7th. It was crazy! They didn’t know me, at all.

Obviously, I loved the pilot and I loved the character, but I didn’t anticipate ever actually getting the chance to do it. When you go up for these brilliant parts, you just figure, “Okay, well, they’re going to pick some American actress, and that will be that.” But, the opportunity was there, and I really enjoyed the audition. It was fun. Actually, I did do an American pilot, but it wasn’t shot in America, it was shot in South Africa. It was called The Philanthropist, and it was for NBC. But, my character was cut out of it. One of the writing producers didn’t see a future for my character, so it was bye-bye me, and I packed my suitcases and went home. It’s always touch-and-go. You never know what’s going to happen to a show. We just had a lot of wishes and hopes that this would turn out because we’re very fond of it.

What do you think makes this Western different from Deadwood?

I know that comparisons are being made between Deadwood and Hell on Wheels, and having watched Deadwood, I think that the comparisons are going to stop, after a couple of episodes, and the show is going to be seen to be so much more than a Western. It’s so much more than that. You don’t get the diversity of characters in a Western that you get in this show. The authenticity of it, and the fact that it’s not stylized like the Westerns are, makes it much more complex. There are social issues being dealt with. There is such a diversity of characters that you wonder, “How are these people going to relate to each other? How are they going to converse?” There’s going to be conflict. There’s going to be a lot of tension. How is that going to be resolved? What’s the interaction like? Basically, it’s a question of survival, and who’s going to survive and who’s going to die. It’s so much more than just a Western.

What was it about this woman that you felt you could identify with?

McELLIGOTT: I love that she’s an outsider. I love that she’s from this alien place, in comparison to where she ends up, in Hell on Wheels. She is bridging the gap between these two worlds that are so different from each other. She’s lost, and she’s trying to find out where she belongs, and form a place for herself. I really love that, and I love her strength. I like playing strong characters, where there’s somewhere to go. She has a lot to work with. The emotional magnitude of it is just enormous. When I was doing some of Lily’s scenes, more so than any other shoot or character, because of the elements and the grittiness and the authenticity of the show, I found it so draining, emotionally, physically and mentally. I would go home with 42 mosquito bites, just weighed down by 100 pounds of clothes and corseted. It’s just crazy, how these women survived. Well, they didn’t. I read that the average lifespan for a woman, when she arrived at Hell on Wheels, was 17 months. That’s how long they lasted. They would die because of the elements and all the things they had to cope with. That gives you an idea of how gritty it was. To go there emotionally is quite a challenge.

How does the pain and suffering that Lily goes through in the pilot affect who she is, for the rest of the series?

McELLIGOTT: She certainly goes on a journey. You’ll see. It jumps back. You don’t see much of her history and background in the pilot. She’s the Englishwoman, and you’re speculating that she’s not from there and that she’s out on her own with her husband, but it will go back and you’ll be given a flavor of where she is and what she decides. The pain and suffering that she goes through is the beginning of her developing a stoicism, in terms of what she’s used to and what she has to deal with. She becomes immune to it, to a certain extent. In a lot of ways, she’s the audience, who acts as the introduction to this world because she also is the outsider. I really like that. That’s her job, and you get to see her survive, under those circumstances.

Does she have much interaction with the other characters, throughout the season?

McELLIGOTT: She does, absolutely. She is feisty and fiery. She doesn’t make friends too easily. That’s the same with all the characters. Elam (Common) and Cullen’s (Anson Mount) story is a fantastic storyline, with how they relate to each other and how they develop a rapport. Lily will interact with everybody, and some relationships are good and some are bad.

Once you were cast, did you do any research into this time period, or does being in the environment with the sets and the wardrobe help?

McELLIGOTT: Both are a help. The costumes absolutely help. You go straight there, when you put on 100 pounds of clothing. I also watched a documentary that I was given about the transcontinental railroad and the building of it. I asked the brothers (Joe and Tony Gayton) a lot of questions. They’re very knowledgeable. They worked on the pilot for three years, so they knew everything and they were able to tell me a lot of stuff. The more I stayed with it, the more interested I got. It was really fascinating. The whole industry of it and just the work that went into it and the people that surrounded the building of it was absolutely fascinating.

Has it been a collaborative process, in developing this character?

McELLIGOTT: They were 100% responsible for Lily. They’re fantastic, talented, gifted writers. I love it. I don’t know how they do it, but they wrote the character. I cannot take credit for Lily. I can take credit for the performance, but they’re the writers. If I have freedom to experiment with a scene, then I try my best to do that. With TV and with the variety of directors you have on a season, you rarely get that opportunity. It’s more structured.

What’s it been like to shoot this in Calgary, Canada?

McELLIGOTT: I miss L.A. because of the weather. It can change so much in Calgary. You can get a storm one minute, and then the sun will come out and it will be hot. We’ll have wet suits on under our clothes when it’s raining, and then we have to go bare-legged when the sun comes up because we’re so hot. That can happen in the space of a day, in just a couple of hours.

Does being that far away from home help you, in terms of the character?

McELLIGOTT: It is a help, in one regard, but it’s also a distraction, in another regard. If you’re so hot that you can’t concentrate, or you’re getting bitten by mosquitos in the middle of a scene and you just want to scratch, that can be distracting, but you’ve got to roll with it. It’s that type of show. If it adds to the authenticity and the look and the grittiness of what the show should be, then I’m happy. Anything for the art, right?

What has this cast been like to work with?

McELLIGOTT: Everyone is great, and really super-talented. Anson [Mount], Colm [Meaney] and Robin McLeavy are wonderful actors. We’re just so lucky. They’re very focused and passionate. The characters are so well-developed and multi-faceted that it just makes our job so easy. I haven’t really had that many scenes with Common yet, so I hope I have a chance to do more with him. He has a fantastic character and storyline, and he’s a wonderful actor and guy.

As an actor, is it fun for you to explore a character over a longer period of time, with different directors, who all have their own vision?

McELLIGOTT: It depends. Each director has their own style, so it’s a compromise, in terms of what your vision for a character is and their vision for the scene. You meet half-way and just find some common ground. Every director is different, but the insights from new people on set give you a different opinion and perspective, which is always embraced, in some way.

What’s been the most fun thing about exploring this character and being a part of this show, and what has been the most challenging aspect of it?

McELLIGOTT: The elements have been the most challenging, and just having to work in them. We’re in studio maybe two days for each episode. Just being outside, filming on a reservation, is the most challenging. The most fun part for an actor is the writing and the story and the character. That’s very fulfilling. Outside of that, the people that are on the show are just a joy and a pleasure to work with because everyone is so passionate and enthusiastic.

What initially attracted you to acting? Was it something you always knew you wanted to do?

McELLIGOTT: Yeah, from a very young age. I distinctly remember watching Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot, and my parents were discussing the fact that he’s an actor. To me, it was a foreign concept. I was like, “Someone is pretending to do that? That’s so awesome!” After that, it just stayed in the back of my mind. I started doing drama after school, and it just developed into something that I did and I enjoyed, very much.
Read more at http://collider.com/dominique-mcelligott-hell-on-wheels-interview/#IfUtu0tI6fTzyfrk.99

Charlie Condou is an actor and a writer for the Guardian newspaper. He was born in London in 1973. He us currently on “Coronation Street” as Marcus. Other roles include “Dead Babies” and “Fred Claus”.

Shane Briant was born in London in 1946. He studied law at Trinity College in Dublin and made his acting debut in the city’s Eblana Theatre in “Hamlet”. In 1973 he signed a contract with Elstree Studios in London and made “Straight On Till Morning” with Tom Bell and Rita Tushingham and “Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell” amongst others. In more recent years his film work has been in New Zealand and Australia where he now lives. He is also a successful novelist.

IMDB entry:

Born in London, Shane Briant topped the Law School at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Nominated by the London theatre critics as “Best Newcomer” in 1971, Briant has appeared in 32 features worldwide, most notably The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973), The Naked Civil Servant (1975), The Lighthorsemen (1987), John Huston‘s The MacKintosh Man (1973) and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1981). He is also a novelist, having had five books published in Australia: “The Webber Agenda”, “The Chasen Catalyst”, “Hitkids”, “Bite of the Lotus” and his new best-selling thriller, “Graphic”, which came out in 2005. The short film he wrote in 2005, A Message from Fallujah (2005), won “Best in the Fest” at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, and many other awards. He lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and cats. (sbriant@bigpond.net.au)

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Wendy Lycett

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

Shane Briant obituary in The Times in 2021.

Stalwart of Hammer horror films such as Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell who played his roles with unnerving sincerity

Tuesday June 15 2021, 5.00pm BST, The Times

Shane Briant, left, with Peter Cushing and David Prowse in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, his final Hammer film

ALAMY

Shane Briant gave filmgoers a fright by doing something that his older Hammer colleagues rarely thought to do: he took his roles seriously. Eschewing the booming cackles of Christopher Lee, he opted for a more unnerving sincerity, specialising in ethereal, ingenuous young men, driven to villainy more by madness than malice. For all the plastic and fur in which the costume department clad its monsters, none looked scarier than the ill intent lurking in Briant’s pouting lips and doe eyes.

In Demons of the Mind (1972) he played Emil, a young man whose father has imprisoned him for fear he would succumb to a hereditary insanity. Having escaped, he deliriously terrorises the townsfolk, particularly the women. Asked by a friend what his work for Hammer involved, he put on his poker face and replied, “I have to run after gorgeous girls, wrestle them to the ground, tear off their flimsy blouses and strangle them.” “My god,” said his friend, “that’s what you do every day?” “More or less,” he shrugged.

He played the boyfriend of a woman who does not realise he is a psychopath in Straight on Till Morning (1972), while in his final Hammer film, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1974), he uncharacteristically played the hero, a young surgeon called Simon Helder, trapped in a prison, who realises that Victor Frankenstein is building a monster out of his dead inmates.

Briant and Yvonne Mitchell in Demons of the Mind (1972)

ALAMY

One day on set, the Monster from Hell, played by the future Darth Vader actor David Prowse (obituary, November 30, 2020), lumbered up and asked if he liked its costume. “I looked at him from head to toe,” Briant recalled, “it looked like a hairy plastic Halloween suit. I looked at the feet. They were huge, gross, and very ugly, almost deformed. At least the feet were good, I thought to myself. I told him so.”

There was a long pause, after which Prowse replied: “The feet are my own.”

Shane Briant was born in London in 1946, the younger son of Elizabeth (née Nolan), a journalist whose career as an actress had been curtailed by the Second World War, and Keith, an author and poet who, after the war, became a public relations officer for the army on the Rhine. When Shane was a small boy the family lived in Bad Oeynhausen, a spa town in northern Germany, and for a time German was his first language. “Speak English, Shane!” his father would demand. He got what he requested when, having beckoned Shane down from his room to show him off at a cocktail party, Shane spoke his first words in English: “Vot you vont?”

He was five when the family returned to London, where they lived in an apartment overlooking Kew Gardens. Unlike his brother Dermot, a precocious if morose 11-year-old who would decorate his room with quotations from Nietzsche, Shane was “an average kid who wanted to play the guitar”. As his years at Haileybury and Imperial Service College drew to a close, he sensed that he should abandon hopes of university and find a job to support his mother, who suffered from depression. His father had died when he was 16.

With Rita Tushingham in Straight on Till Morning (1972)

ALAMY

Yet his university dream was revived by the generosity of his mother’s friend, a woman called Kit Adeane who provided the funds for him to take a place at Trinity College Dublin, to study law. In his final school report the headmaster wrote “he has the air of a dilettante. He will not get far.” “Let’s see how far I get,” Briant remembered thinking. He joined the Trinity Players and a director who had seen him perform recommended him to play Hamlet in a TV series,Shakespeare for Schools, which led to him playing the role at the Eblana Theatre in Dublin. He performed with such poignancy that one audience member was heard to cry, “Oh Jeez, don’t die Hamlet, don’t feckin’ die!”

Briant caught the eye of the director Vincent Dowling, who was staging a work of grand guignol called Children of the Wolf, and wanted him to take the role of Robin, a brain-damaged youth who stabs his mother to death. It was then that the door to the Hammer mansion creaked open. After his time there he took the titular role in a 1973 adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray for ABC, and could perhaps have sprung into a career in Hollywood, but chose instead to remain in Britain where, on a Battersea tennis court, he met his wife, Wendy Lycett, with whom he emigrated to Australia in 1982. Living in Sydney, he did much work for Australian and Kiwi television, as well as writing eight novels.

In 2011 he published an autobiography, Always the Bad Guy, in which he wrote: “I’ve been cast as dangerous people all my life, and I’ve always been happiest playing them. On the odd occasions I’ve played good guys, I’ve had to dig deep into my imagination . . . does this suggest that I am at heart a bad person? I hope not. I consider myself a pussycat at heart.”

Shane Briant, actor, was born on August 17, 1946. He died after a long illness on May 27, 2021, aged 74

Brendan O’Carroll was born in 1955 in Dublin. He has written several books, one of which “Agnes Browne” was made into a film directed by and starring Anjelica Huston. He was featured in the film. He is currently starring in the hughly successful television series “Mrs Brown’s Boys”.

Collection of Contemporary Actors

Brendan Coyle

Dan Stevens

Jeremy Irons

Jeremy Irons. Overview.

Joanne King

Richard Armitage

Dominique McElligott

Charlie Condou

Shane Briant

Shane Briant obituary in The Times in 2021.

Stalwart of Hammer horror films such as Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell who played his roles with unnerving sincerity

Brendan O’Carroll

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