Michael Kitchen
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Michael Kitchen
Biography
Since performing in a play at the City of Leicester Boys School, Michael Kitchen has done practically all there is for an actor to do: motion pictures, TV films, TV miniseries, stage plays, radio plays, and audio cassettes. International film audiences probably know him best as Chief of Staff Bill Tanner in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond productions, although he has played major roles in other high-profile movies, such as Out of Africa (1985) and Mrs. Dalloway (1997). He is also well known to worldwide TV audiences for major roles in popular miniseries, including The Brontes of Haworth (1973), A Fall of Eagles (1974), Freud (1984), and Oliver Twist (1999). 2000 was a remarkable year for Kitchen -- incredibly, he completed the following productions during that year: Proof of Life, a major film in which he shared the screen with Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan; Lorna Doone, a three-hour TV miniseries; Always and Everyone, an eight-hour TV series resembling America's ER; The Secret World of Michael Fry, a TV miniseries; The Railway Children, a TV film shown in the U.K. and in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theatre; New Year's Day, a major motion picture; and Second Sight: Parasomnia, another TV film. For an encore in 2001, he played the title role in Foyle's War, an eight-hour TV series about a World War II-era detective, then played Foyle again in another eight-hour series in 2002. He also signed on for another James Bond film, his third. Between 1971 -- when he appeared in the film Unman, Wittering and Zigo -- and the present, Kitchen has never wanted for work. The reason, quite simply, is that he is one of Britain's finest and most versatile actors. He has walked across the stages of the most prestigious playhouses in England, performing the works of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and other important playwrights. In motion pictures, he has also acted parts in productions based on the works of Franz Kafka (The Trial, 1993), Robert Louis Stevenson (Kidnapped, 1995), John Le Carre (The Russia House, 1990), and Nevil Shute (Crossing to Freedom, 1990). ~ Mike Cummings, RoviFilmography:
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Michael Kitchen
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Foyle's War: A Lesson In Murder Buy this Movie |
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The Railway Children Buy this Movie |
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Oliver Twist Buy this Movie |
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Michael Kitchen
For the ice hockey player/coach, see Mike Kitchen.
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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2009) |
| Michael Kitchen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael R. Kitchen 31 October 1948 Leicester, Leicestershire, England |
| Occupation | Actor, television producer |
| Years active | 1971–present |
Michael Kitchen (born 31 October 1948) is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as DCS Foyle in the British TV series Foyle's War.
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Early life
Kitchen was born in Leicester. As a young boy (circa 1960) he was head chorister in the Church of the Martyrs choir where he was a regular soloist. He worked with the National Youth Theatre and the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1969, while still at RADA, he won the "Emile Littler Award" for 'outstanding talent and aptitude for the professional theatre'.
Career
Television and film
Michael Kitchen was discovered at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) by Top Talent Agent Peter Froggatt of Plant & Froggatt Ltd. Since the early 1970s, Kitchen has been a fixture of UK television. His early appearances include roles in Play for Today (Hell's Angels by David Agnew, 1971), Thriller and Beasts. He then played the role of Martin in the original production of Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle; Peter in Stephen Poliakoff's Caught on a Train; Edmund in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of King Lear; the Antipholi in the same series' production of The Comedy of Errors; Private Bamforth in the 1979 BBC television play of The Long and the Short and the Tall; Rochus Misch in The Bunker; In 1993 he appeared in an episode of the BBC Police TV-series Between the Lines; in Berkeley Cole in Out of Africa, the King of the United Kingdom in To Play the King (1996) (a character recognisably modeled on Prince Charles); and a recurring role as Bill Tanner in the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough. Other films include Enchanted April (1992), Fatherland (1994), The Hanging Gale (1995), Kidnapped (1995), Mrs. Dalloway (1997), The Railway Children (1999), Proof of Life (2000) as Ian Havery and My Week with Marilyn (2011).
Since 2002, Kitchen has starred in the ITV mystery-drama Foyle's War as the lead character, DCS Christopher Foyle. He is also a producer for the show.
Other noted appearances include Dandelion Dead (1994), A Royal Scandal (1996), The Last Contract (Sista Kontraktet,1998) a Swedish film about the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme, Paul Abbott's Alibi in 2003, Andrew Davies' dramatisation of Falling in 2005, ITV's three-part drama series Mobile (2007) and Channel 4's phone hacking comedy Hacks (2012). He has guest-starred in roles in other popular British television shows such as The Professionals, Minder, Chancer, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Between The Lines, Pie in the Sky and Dalziel and Pascoe. Kitchen played Richard Crane in Reckless. His portrayal of a cheating, cuckolded husband is superb and allows the otherwise stiff-upper-lipped Kitchen rare emotional range.
Theatre
Kitchen is also a noted actor in British theatre. His roles have ranged from Ptolemy in Caesar and Cleopatra at the Belgrade Theatre in 1966 to Will in Howard Brenton's Magnificence at the Royal Court in 1973, to William Hogarth in Nick Dear's The Art of Success in 1986/87.
He played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet for the RSC at Stratford and was a member of The National Theatre Company and the Young Vic, where he played Iago in Othello. In 1974 he appeared at Laurence Olivier's National Theatre in the play Spring Awakening, opposite Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Beryl Reid and Cyril Cusack. Later he appeared opposite Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, directed by Peter Hall.[1] In 1981 he played Melchior, the manservant of Zangler, in Tom Stoppard's play On the Razzle.[2] In 1984 he played the cabin steward Dvornicheck in Tom Stoppard's play Rough Crossing.[3][4]
Personal life
Kitchen is married to Rowena Miller, whom he met while she was a dresser at the RSC in the late 80s. They have two sons. Kitchen values his privacy and rarely gives interviews.
References
- ^ http://www.phyllis.demon.co.uk/theatricalia/05nt/nt70s.htm
- ^ On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard. Published 1981 by Faber and Faber, Ltd. ISBN 0-571-11835-6
- ^ Rough Crossing by Tom Stoppard. Published 1985 by Faber and Faber, Ltd. ISBN 0-571-13595-1
- ^ http://www.sff.net/people/mberry/crossing.htp
External links
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Mentioned in
Reckless: The Sequel
(1998 Romance Film)
Guilty
(1993 Film)
Caught on a Train
(1980 Drama Film)
Sista Kontraktet
(1998 Drama Film)
Alibi
(2003 Thriller Film)
» More