Charles Dance
Charles Dance
Born	October 10 1946 (1946--) (age 61) Redditch, Worcestershire

Charles Dance OBE (born October 10 1946) is an English actor.

Biography

Personal life

Walter Charles Dance (he doesn't use his first name) was born in Redditch, Worcestershire to Eleanor Perks, a cook, and Walter Dance, an engineer.^[1][2] He was set for a career in graphic design from the Plymouth College of Art before turning to acting. He was married to Joanna from 1970 until 2004 and they have two children Oliver and Rebecca. He currently resides in London, England.

Career

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 for his performance as the Oxford don CS Lewis in William Nicholson's Shadowlands, in the 2007 stage revival^[3].

He made his screen debut in 1974, 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 has also starred in many other British television dramas such as Murder Rooms, Rebecca, The Phantom of the Opera, Fingersmith and Bleak House (for which he received an Emmy nomination). 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 has appeared in numerous films, including Plenty (1985) with Meryl Streep, The Golden Child (1986) with Eddie Murphy, White Mischief with Greta Scacchi (1987), Good Morning Babylon (1987), Hidden City (1987), Pascali's Island (1988), Alien³ (1992), Kalkstein (Italy, 1992), Last Action Hero (1993), China Moon (1994), Kabloonak (1994, Paris Film Festival Award for Best Actor 1996), Century (1994), Shortcut to Paradise (Spain, 1994), Space Trackers (1996), Michael Collins (1996),What Rats Won't Do (1998), Don't Go Breaking My Heart (1998) Hilary and Jackie (1998), Gosford Park (2001), Dark Blue World (2001), Black and White (2002), Swimming Pool with Charlotte Rampling (2002), Ali G In Da House (2002), Dolls (2006) and Woody Allen's Scoop. Dance made a cameo appearance in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only as an evil henchman, and in 1989 he played Bond creator Ian Fleming in Anglia Television's dramatised biography, Goldeneye (a title later used for a Bond film proper).

His debut film as a screenwriter and director was Ladies in Lavender (2004), which starred Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith. Dance was created an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) on 17 June 2006.

Theatre career

• Toad of Toad Hall (Badger), Nottingham in repertory 1971
• The Beggar’s Opera (Wat Dreary), Chichester Festival Theatre 1972
• The Taming of the Shrew (Philip), Chichester 1972
• Three Sisters (Soliony), Greenwich Theatre 1973
• Hans Kohlhaus (Meissen), Greenwich 1973
• Born Yesterday (Hotel Manager), Greenwich 1973
• Saint Joan (Baudricourt ), Oxford Festival 1974
• The Sleeping Beauty (Prince), repertory (?) 1974
• Travesties (Henry Carr), repertory (?) 1974
• Hamlet (Fortinbras/Reynaldo/Player), RSC The Other Place 1975; The Roundhouse 1976
• Perkin Warbeck (Hialas/Astley/Spanish Ambassador), RSC The Other Place 1975
• Richard III (Catesby/Murderer), RSC The Other Place 1975
• Henry V (title role), RSC tour Glasgow and New York, 1975
• Henry IV, Part One and Henry IV, Part Two (Prince John of Lancaster) RSC Stratford 1975; Aldwych Theatre 1976
• As You Like It (Oliver), RSC Stratford 1977, Aldwych 1978
• Henry V(Scroop/Williams), RSC Stratford 1977
• Henry VI, Part 2 (Buckingham), RSC Stratford 1977; Aldwych 1978
• The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (Whistling Guard/Freeman) RSC Donmar Warehouse 1978; The Other Place 1979
• Coriolanus (Volscian Lieutenant), RSC Stratford 1977; (Tullus Aufidius) Aldwych 1978 and 1979
• The Women Pirates (Blackie/Vosquin), RSC Aldwych 1978
• The Changeling (Tomazo), RSC Aldwych 1978
• Coriolanus (title role, two performances) RSC in Paris 1979
• Irma La Douce (Nestor), Shaftesbury Theatre 1979
• The Heiress (Morris Townsend), UK tour 1980
• Turning Over (Frank), Bush Theatre 1983
• Coriolanus (title role), RSC Stratford and Newcastle 1989; Barbican Theatre 1990
• Three Sisters (Vershinin) Birmingham Rep 1998.
• Good (John Halder), Donmar Warehouse 1999
• Long Day’s Journey Into Night (James Tyrone), Lyric Theatre 2000
• The Play What I Wrote (guest-starred), Wyndham's Theatre 2001-02
• Celebration (Richard), staged reading of Pinter’s play, Gate Theatre, Dublin; Albery Theatre 2005.
• The Exonerated, Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London 2006
• Eh Joe (Joe), Parade Theatre, Sydney, as part of Michael Golgan's Gate Theatre Dublin company at the Sydney Theatre Festival 2006
• Shadowlands (C S Lewis), UK tour and Wyndham's Theatre 2007

Sources

• Who’s Who in the Theatre, 16th/17th editions, edited by Ian Herbert, Pitman/Gale 1977/1981
• Theatre Record and Theatre Record Indexes
• Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies Fourth edition by John Walker, HarperCollins 2006 ISBN 139780007169573
• Charles Dance’s own CVs in various theatre programmes

References

External links

• Mary's Charles Dance Homepage
• Charles Dance at the Internet Movie Database

Donate to Wikimedia