(Cast) Best From To Play the King
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A classical actor (and founding member in 1960 of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Richardson earned international fame as the villainous Francis Urquart in the BBC television trilogy, "House of Cards." Uttered in a cut-glass accent, the Machiavellian Prime Minister's sly "You might well think that ... I couldn't possibly comment" became a catchphrase when the series was broadcast in the 1990s. Richardson's contributions to his art were honored in 1989 when he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE.) Fittingly, his family had his ashes buried beneath the auditorium of the new Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Born the son of John and Margaret (Drummond) Richardson on April 7, 1934, he was educated at Tynecastle School in Edinburgh, and studied for the stage at the College of Dramatic Art in Glasgow, where he was awarded the James Bridie Gold Medal in 1957. He joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company a year later where he played Hamlet as well as John Worthing in "The Importance of being Earnest." In 1960 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (then called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) and drew excellent notices for his work in "The Merchant of Venice," "Twelfth Night," "The Winter's Tale," "Much Ado About Nothing," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Taming of the Shrew," "The Comedy of Errors" and "King Lear", among others. In 1964 Richardson played the role of the Herald before advancing to the title role of Jean-Paul Marat in the stunning, avant-garde RSC production of "Marat-Sade". In addition, he made his Broadway debut in said role at the very end of 1965, and recreated it to critical acclaim in Peter Brooks' film adaptation with Glenda Jackson as murderess Charlotte Corday. Richardson also went on to replay Oberon in a lukewarm film version of RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) that nevertheless bore an elite company of Britain's finest pre-Dames -- Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Diana Rigg. One of his lower film points during that time period, however, was appearing in the huge musical movie misfire Man of La Mancha (1972) in the role of the Padre opposite Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren.
Richardson was never far from the Shakespearean stage after his induction into films with majestic portraits of Coriolanus, Pericles, Richard II, Richard III, Cassius ("Julius Caesar"), Malcolm ("Macbeth"), Angelo ("Measure for Measure"), Prospero ("The Tempest") and Mercutio ("Romeo and "Juliet") paving the way. Elsewhere on Broadway he received a Drama Desk Award and Tony nomination for his splendid Henry Higgins in a revival of "My Fair Lady" in 1976, and was part of the cast of the short-lived (12 performances) production of "Lolita" (1981), written by Edward Albee and starring Donald Sutherland as Humbert Humbert.
Customary of many talented Scots, Richardson would find his best on-camera roles in plush, intelligent TV mini-series. On the Shakespearean front he appeared in TV adaptations of As You Like It (1963), All's Well That Ends Well (1968) and Much Ado About Nothing (1978). After delivering highly capable performances as Field-Marshal Montgomery in both Churchill and the Generals (1979) and Ike: The War Years (1979), Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983), and Indian Prime Minister Nehru in Masterpiece Theatre: Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy (1986), he capped his small-screen career in the role of the immoral politician Francis Urquhart in a trio of dramatic satires: House of Cards (1990), To Play the King (1993) and The Final Cut (1995). His impeccably finely-tuned villain became one his best remembered roles.
Filmwise, Richardson's stature did not grow despite polished work in Brazil (1985), Cry Freedom (1987), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), M. Butterfly (1993), Dark City (1998), and the lightweight mainstream fare B*A*P*S (1997) and 102 Dalmatians (2000). He appeared less and less on stage in his later years. He took his final stage bows in 2006 with West End productions of "The Creeper" and "The Alchemist".
The urbane 72-year-old actor died unexpectedly in his sleep at his London abode on February 9, 2007, survived by his widow Maroussia Frank (his wife from 1961 and an RSC actress who played an asylum inmate alongside him in "Marat-Sade") and two sons, one of whom, Miles Richardson, has been a resident performer with the RSC.Francis Urquhart
House of Cards#
To Play the King
The Final Cut#
3/101- Actor
- Producer
Michael Kitchen was born on 31 October 1948 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Out of Africa (1985), GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). He has been married to Rowena Miller since 1988. They have two children.The King
To Play the King
1/115- Actress
- Writer
Kitty Aldridge was born in 1962 in Bahrain. She is an actress and writer, known for A Room with a View (1985), Maurice (1987) and The Ice House (1997). She has been married to Mark Knopfler since 14 February 1997. They have two children. She was previously married to Neal Sundstrom.Sarah Harding
To Play the King
1/18- Ubiquitous Welsh actor who has excelled as deceptively mild-mannered characters in 1960s and 70s BBC literary adaptations. His first foray of note into this genre was as the unprincipled, hedonistic cad George Wickham in Pride and Prejudice (1958). A particular favorite for Dickensian parts, Jeavons was value-for-money as Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1959), as the feckless Jarndyce ward Richard Carstone in Bleak House (1959), the ever so 'umble' Uriah Heep in David Copperfield (1966) (often regarded as the definitive portrayal of one of literature's most insidious characters) and as the disreputable attorney Sampson Brass in The Old Curiosity Shop (1979). Jeavons returned in later iterations of Great Expectations (1981) and Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House (1985), this time, respectively, as the dour, but kind-hearted legal clerk Wemmick and as the austere, manipulative solicitor Vhol, representing Richard Carstone in Chancery.
Other endeavours on the classical scene saw Jeavons as Henry V in BBC's The Life and Death of Sir John Falstaff (1959), the Tudor noble Robert Clifford in The Shadow of the Tower (1972), lawyer Briggs in Jane Eyre (1983) and as the master criminal Professor Moriarty in The Baker Street Boys (1983). He also made a very lively (and considerably less obtuse) Inspector Lestrade in several episodes of Granada's acclaimed series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984). Novelist and Holmes expert David Stuart Davies extolled Jeavons' performance, saying "Lestrade was played with great panache throughout the Granada series by Colin Jeavons, who humanised and enhanced Doyle's sketchy portrait of the Inspector."
Elsewhere, Jeavons has played fashion designers, undertakers, shop owners, civil servants, military officers, policemen and an unending array of clerics (including on the big screen in films like The Oblong Box (1969), Bartleby (1970) and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)). For the stage, he portrayed the Reverend Tooker in a 1988 National Theatre production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
One of the most versatile of character players, able to change his features from immobile to expressive and from doleful to amiable, Jeavons has branched out into diverse genres, including science fiction (for instance, as the comedian Max Quordlepleen, host of the 'Restaurant at the End of the Universe' in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981) and as the Atlantean surgeon Damon in the early Doctor Who (1963) instalment The Underwater Menace). His performance as the ill-fated child Donald in Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills (an episode of the anthology series Play for Today (1970)), has often been singled out by critics and reviewers as his best. Jeavons also stood out in the role of Tim Stamper in the original British version of House of Cards (1990), a role he reprised for the sequel To Play the King (1993). He has performed in various capacities --either as a character or as storyteller-- in multiple episodes of the long-running children's series Jackanory (1965).
Colin Abel Jeavons began on stage in a 1946 Birmingham production of Twelfth Night. From 1956 to 1957, he appeared in several plays for the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company. He has also performed with the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He was married to the ballet dancer Rosie Jeavons who passed away in 2018. Jeavons has been retired from acting since 1993.Tim Stamper
House of Cards#
To Play The King
2/142 - Diane Fletcher was born on 17 April 1944 in Derby, Derbyshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), House of Cards (1990) and Macbeth (1971).Elizabeth Urquhart
House of Cards#
To Play The King
The Final Cut#
3/50 - Nicholas Farrell was born on 1 January 1955 in Brentwood, Essex, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Chariots of Fire (1981), The Iron Lady (2011) and Hamlet (1996). He has been married to Stella Gonet since 2005. They have two children.David Mycroft
To Play the King
1/125 - Directly after graduating from Mountview Theatre School London in 1990, Rowena joined The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Upon Avon, working with renowned directors Danny Boyle, Roger Michell and Nicholas Hytner.
Rowena's first feature film appearance was in Hanif Kureishi's 1991 drama, London Kills Me, followed by John Duigan's 1993 adaptation of The Wide Sargasso Sea and Kenneth Branagh's 1996 four-hour screen version of Hamlet. She appeared in Taylor Hackford's Proof of Life in 2000. Rowena has become a frequent presence on British television with leading roles in the BBC'S critically acclaimed To Play the King, Black and Blue, ITV's Framed alongside Penelope Cruz.
In 2002 Rowena took her first TV lead for America for TNT'S television drama Breaking News. Multiple appearances on American networks followed including a succession of guest star appearances on Greys Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Numb3rs and Nip/Tuck. In 2007 acclaimed director Rob Reiner invited Rowena to join Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in Bucket List where she played Angelica opposite Morgan Freeman.
In 2018 Rowena co-starred in ITV'S celebrated three-part drama Trauma alongside Adrian Lester and Jon Simm, and Maggie in Hulu's Shut Eye. Rowena also co-starred in the AMC/Skydance adaptation of Sarai Walker's book Dietland, a drama series starring Joy Nash and Julianna Margulies.
2020 Rowena is filming The Old Man for Fox/Hulu starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow.Chloe Carmichael
To Play the King
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- Writer
- Music Department
Leonard Preston is known for The Further Adventures of Oliver Twist (1980), EastEnders (1985) and The BBC Television Shakespeare (1978).John Stroud
To Play the King
1/30- Erika Hoffman is known for Brush Strokes (1986), Chelmsford 123 (1988) and Tales of the Unexpected (1979). She has been married to James Little since 2002. They have one child.The Lady
To Play the King
1/21 - Ken Charterhouse
To Play the King
1/27 - Nick (for Nicholas) Brimble is one of three brothers, all actors. The other two, twins, are Ian Brimble and Vincent Brimble. Their father, Roy Brimble, was a school teacher, which freed him in summers to travel around with and sometimes manage groups of performers. He acted with WEA and Bristol Arts Society and the sons grew up taking him through his lines and going to see him in plays.
When Roy did TV and radio from Bristol, the three children played parts in productions such as 'Children Of The New Forest'. Nick applied to the Italia Conti stage school when he was about ten, but wasn't allowed to go. Instead, he passed his scholarship to Bristol Grammar school, and his reward was a season ticket to Bristol Old Vic Theatre where he saw every show until he went to University in '62.
Nick graduated with a 2.1 degree (read "two-one" or Second Class Honours, Upper Division), which roughly equates to the American high 'B' range (3.0 - 3.3) as the minimum standard for entry into graduate school in England and Wales. He taught for a while after graduation. When he began acting, it was with a group of mostly young actors who learned and evaluated each other as they performed.
Nick's strong features enable him to adopt a forbidding appearance in so many of his tough-guy roles. However, he's an utterly charming, somewhat reserved gentleman with a wonderful smile and electrifying blue eyes.Corder
House of Cards
To Play the King
The Final Cut#
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