Simon Ward

Simon Ward (born 19 October 1941) is an English stage and film actor.

Early life

Simon Ward was born in London, the son of a car dealer. From an early age he wanted to be an actor. He was educated at Alleyn's School, London, the home of the National Youth Theatre, which he joined at age 13 and stayed with for eight years. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he made his professional stage debut with the Northampton repertory in 1963 and his London theatrical bow one year later in The 4th of June. After the Royal Academy, he worked in repertory in Northampton, Birmingham, and Oxford and occasionally in London's West End.

Big break

His big break in theatre came in 1967 when he played in Joe Orton's "Loot," which led to a number of small film and television roles. All of Ward's major film roles were in the 1970s. He starred with some of the finest actors and directors of the time and in some of the most prestigious and popular films made during that decade.

Persistent rumours suggest his first film appearance was an uncredited role as one of the sociopathic students in Lindsay Anderson's If.... (1968) however this is not true.

In 1972, he played the title role of Winston Churchill in Young Winston. The following year he played the Duke of Buckingham in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974). He played Lt. William Vereker in the 1979 film, Zulu Dawn. He was also seen as a fictional Nazi functionary (the sympathetic one, with whom the audience is supposed to identify) in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973). Later film roles included author/veterinarian James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small (1974) and Zor-El in Supergirl (1984).

Later career

He has made few movies since the 1970s, although he did have a major role in the Ralph Fiennes version of Wuthering Heights made in the early 1990s, which also starred Ward's daughter, Sophie Ward.

In 1995, he took over Stephen Fry's role in Cell Mates, after Fry left the production shortly after opening.

He currently appears as Sir Monty Everard in the BBC television series Judge John Deed.

Filmography

• Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1992)
• Double X: The Name of the Game (1992)
• Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
• Supergirl (1984)
• An Inspector Calls (1982 film) (1984)
• Dominique is Dead (1979)
• Zulu Dawn (1979)
• Holocaust 2000 (1978)
• The Four Feathers (1977)
• Deadly Strangers (1974)
• Aces High (1976)
• Children of Rage (1975)
• All Creatures Great and Small (1974)
• Dracula (1974)
• The Four Musketeers (1974).
• The Three Musketeers (1973)
• Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)
• Young Winston (1972)
• Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

External links

• Simon Ward at the Internet Movie Database