Bill Paterson

Bill Paterson
Born	3 June 1945 (1945-06-03) (age 64)[1] Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970s-present
Spouse(s)	Hildegard Bechtler
Official website

Bill Paterson (born 3 June 1945) is a Scottish stage, film, and television actor.

Biography

Early years

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Paterson spent three years as a quantity surveyor's apprentice, before attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He made his professional acting debut in 1967, appearing alongside Leonard Rossiter in Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre. In 1970, Paterson joined the Citizen's Theatre for Youth. He remained there as an actor and assistant director until 1972, when he left to appear with Billy Connolly in The Great Northern Welly Boot Show at the Edinburgh Festival. Paterson would work with Connolly again, some years later, when he performed in Connolly's play An Me Wi' a Bad Leg Tae.

Career

Paterson spent much of the 1970s in John McGrath's theatre company, 7:84 touring the United Kingdom and Europe with plays such as The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black Black Oil. He was a founding member of 7:84, and made his London debut in 1976 with the company.

Paterson's career began to centre more on television than the theatre. His first appearances included the 1978 BAFTA award winning drama Licking Hitler, and playing King James in the UK television serial Life of Shakespeare the same year. He also provided the voice of the Assistant Arcturan Pilot in Episode 7 of the original BBC Radio 4 version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 1981. In 2005, He would take a similar role as Rob McKenna, a lorry driver and unknowing Rain God, in Fits the 19th, 20th, and 22nd of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Quandary Phase.

Paterson did not, however, entirely neglect the theatre, and in 1982 he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance as Schweyk in another Brecht play, Schweyk in the Second World War at the National Theatre. He has continued to perform in many plays over the years.

The early 1980s also saw Paterson starting to appear in films, including The Killing Fields, Comfort and Joy and A Private Function (all 1984). Other film credits include Dutch Girls (1985) , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1987), Just Ask For Diamond (1988)Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990), Chaplin (1992), Sir Ian McKellen's Richard III (1995), Oliver's Travels (1995), Bright Young Things (2003) and Miss Potter (2006).

Bill Paterson made his name in 1985 as the devious gangster Ally Fraser in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet alongside Gary Holton and Jimmy Nail. His other television credits include Smiley's People (1982) The Singing Detective (1986), Traffik (1988), The Crow Road (1996), The Whistleblower (2001), and Doctor Zhivago (2002). He has also provided voice-over narration for many documentaries.

Much of his recent work has been for the BBC, starring as Dr. Douglas Monaghan in the supernatural drama series Sea of Souls, and providing the voice of the Storyteller in the children's serial Shoebox Zoo. He also played the role of Dr. Gibson in the 1999 production of Wives and Daughters. Paterson also played Dr. Patrick Jamieson, a surgeon, in "Enemy Fire", a series 3 episode of Foyle's War.

He also appeared in the 2008 BBC production of the Charles Dickens novel, Little Dorrit, as Mr Meagles. In 2009 he will appear as a court Barrister in Law and Order: UK alongside Little Dorrit co-stars Freema Agyeman and Harriet Walter.

In 2009, he narrated a BBC TV programme called "1929 The Great Crash" which recalled the Wall Street Crash of '29 and compared it to the recent financial turmoil of 2008. The short film lasted just less than an hour. Bill provided vocals but never appeared in the film visually.

Personal life

Paterson is married to stage designer, Hildegard Bechtler, with whom he has a son, Jack, and daughter, Anna. They live in London.

Filmography

• Criminal Justice (2008) (TV)

References

External links

• Bill Paterson official website
• Bill Paterson (actor) at the Internet Movie Database