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Jewel in the Crown Background: "Hollywood seems to be now moving away from the idea of casting Brits as villains and is casting the French instead. It's something to do with the war I suspect." Charles Dance British stage and film actor Charles Dance joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at age 29 and made his first film at age 35 in the James Bond picture, ''For Your Eyes Only'' (1981). Three years later, he went to the spotlight for his BAFTA TV-nominated role of Sgt. Guy Perron in the Golden Globe-winning British television miniseries "The Jewel in the Crown" (1984). Dance later became widely remembered as D.W. Griffith in ''Good Morning Babylon'' (1987), Meryl Streep's husband in ''Plenty'' (1985), the title role in the TV adaptation of ''Phantom of the Opera'' (1990), and the displaced "imaginary" villain in Arnold Schwarzenegger's ''Last Action Hero'' (1993). He also starred in "Kabloonak" (1995), "The Blood Oranges" (1997), "Hilary and Jackie" (1998), "Dark Blue World" (2001), "Gosford Park" (2001), "Ali G Indahouse" (2002), "Bleak House" (2005; miniseries), "Scoop" (2006), and "Starter for 10" (2006). Dance was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to drama in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honors List. "When you have a label stuck on you people tend to believe it. If someone calls you suave and debonair you only get offered parts in a suit and a collar and tie. It just so happens I wear them reasonably well." Charles Dance The 6' 3" sandy-haired British player divorced his wife of 34 years in 2004. The father of two recently made headlines for his brief relationship with British actress Sophia Myles, who is 40 years his junior.
Walter Charles
Childhood and Family: Born in Redditch, Worcestershire, England on October 10, 1946, to parents Walter Dance (an engineer) and Eleanor Perks (a cook), Walter Charles Dance moved with his mother and siblings to the Plymouth area of Devon in 1951 following the death of his father. Young Dance studied graphic design at the Plymouth College of Art and the Leicester College of Art, in Leicester, England. He later developed an interest in acting and studied with two retired RADA actors who agreed to coach him part time. In 1970, Dance married Joanna and they have two children, son Oliver (born in 1975) and daughter Rebecca (born in 1980). The couple divorced on February 1, 2004, after nearly 34 years of marriage. Dance was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to drama in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honors List. He currently resides in London, England, and recently made headlines for his brief relationship with the British actress Sophia Myles, who is 40 years his junior.
Gosford Park
Career: Initially trained for a career in graphic design, Charles Dance developed a taste for theatre after listening to the reminiscences of two elderly actors who ran a pub in his Dover neighborhood. He worked as a stage hand in the West End at the age 22 and two years later, made his stage debut in "It's a Two Foot Six Inches Above the Ground World." Dance followed it up with a string of stage appearances, including ''Toad of Toad Hall'' (as Badger, 1971), the ballad opera and satiric ''The Beggar’s Opera'' (1972), William Shakespeare's comedy ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (as Philip, 1972), Anton Chekhov's ''Three Sisters'' (as Soliony, 1973), ''Hans Kohlhaus'' (as Meissen, 1973), Garson Kanin's ''Born Yesterday'' (1973), George Bernard Shaw's ''Saint Joan'' (1974), ''The Sleeping Beauty'' (as Prince; 1974), and Tom Stoppard's comedy ''Travesties'' (as Henry Carr; 1974). After making his TV acting debut in the ATV Primetime Emmy-winning miniseries "Edward VII" (1975; starring Timothy West in the title role), Dance, 29 years old at the time, joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and made his London debut with William Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet.” Dance appeared in the plays ''Perkin Warbeck',” ''Richard III,” ''Henry V,” 'Henry IV, Part One'' and ''Henry IV, Part Two'' (all in 1975) and ''As You Like It,” “Henry V,” “'Henry VI, Part 2'' (all 1977), as well as ''The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs'' (1978; 1979). He was also seen in ''Coriolanus'' (1977;1978; 1979), ''The Women Pirates'' (1978), ''The Changeling'' (1978), as the title role in ''Coriolanus'' (1979), Nestor in ''Irma La Douce'' (1979) and Morris Townsend in ''The Heiress'' (1980). In 1981, Dance made his feature acting debut in the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only," starring Roger Moore. Afterward, he appeared in a number of TV projects, including the BAFTA TV-nominated role of Sgt. Guy Perron in the Granda Television production of "The Jewel in the Crown" (1984). Meanwhile, he also returned to stage to play Frank in the play ''Turning Over'' at the Bush Theatre in 1983. Dance landed his first film starring role, as Raymond Brock, opposite Meryl Streep, in Fred Schepisi's adaptation of David Hare's play, "Plenty" (1985). He then portrayed D W Griffith in the Taviani brothers film "Good Morning, Babylon" (1987; alongside Vincent Spano and Joaquim de Almeida) and co-starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in the Golden Globe-nominated ABC miniseries "Out on a Limb" (1987), which was based on MacLaine's best-seller. That same year, he also portrayed British millionaire Josslyn Hay: Earl of Erroll in Michael Radford's "White Mischief," which was based on a book by journalist James Fox. After returning to stage as ''Coriolanus'' in the William Shakespeare's tragedy play with the same name based on the life of the legendary Roman leader, Dance played the title role in the TV adaptation of ''Phantom of the Opera'' (1990). He also had a villainous role as Mr. Benedict, the henchman of a crime boss (played by Anthony Quinn), in John McTiernan's "Last Action Hero" (1993; starring Arnold Schwarzenegger), and won a Best Actor award at the Paris Film Festival for his performance as stage director Robert Flaherty in Claude Massot's period drama film, "Kabloonak" (1995). Dance subsequently co-starred with Sheryl Lee in Philip Haas' erotic drama based on the 1972 cult novel by John Hawkes, "The Blood Oranges" (1997), and played the patriarch of the du Pre family in Anand Tucker's Oscar-nominated "HIlary and Jackie" (1998; starring Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths), which was based on Hilary du Pré's true story-based book "A Genius in the Family." On stage, Dance could be seen in Anton Chekhov's ''Three Sisters'' in a revival of the play "Good" at the Donmar Warehouse in 1999. He also starred as James Tyrone, opposite Jessica Lange, in Eugene O'Neill's dramatic play ''Long Day’s Journey Into Night'' and guest starred in ''The Play What I Wrote'' at the Wyndham's Theatre (2001-2002). Back to the screen, Dance acted alongside Ian Richardson in the BBC television drama "Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes" (2000) and was cast as Ralph Nickleby in the ITV adaptation of Charles Dickens' comic novel, "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" (2001; starring James D'Arcy in the title role). He also had a featured role in the WWII drama "Dark Blue World" (2001) by Czech director Jan Svěrák and portrayed a WWI veteran in the award-winning multiple story-lined drama set in 1932, "Gosford Park" (2001), by Robert Altman. Additionally, he dressed in drag for a comic role as the nefarious Deputy Prime minister David Carlton in Mark Mylod's comedy film starring Sacha Baron Cohen, "Ali G Indahouse" (2002). Dance continued his stage work by appearing in ''Celebration'' and ''The Exonerated'' in Europe in 2006. He also played the title role in ''Eh Joe'' at the Parade Theatre, in Sydney in 2006. 2006 saw Dance earn an Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his performance as the menacing lawyer Mr. Tulkinghorn in "Bleak House," a suspenseful TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel about the injustices of the 19th-century English legal system. He also co-starred in Tom Vaughan's film version of the David Nicholls novel, "Starter for 10," which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and supported Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman in writer/director/actor Woody Allen's UK-set romantic comedy/murder mystery, "Scoop." Additionally, he appeared in the TV version of Agatha Christie's novel, "Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs" (starring Geraldine McEwan in the title role) and writer/director Antoine de Caunes' comedy "Désaccord parfait" (starring Jean Rochefort and Charlotte Rampling). He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to drama in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honors List. In 2007, Dance starred as David Byefield on ITV's "Fallen Angel," which is based on the Roth trilogy of books by Andrew Taylor. He also starred in the biographical TV movie "Consenting Adults" and Mary McGuckian's drama film, "Intervention." On stage, he recently headlined the play ''Shadowlands.''
Awards:
Broadcasting Press Guild: Best Actor, "Bleak House," 2006 Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, "Gosford Park," 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association: Best Acting Ensemble, "Gosford Park," 2002 Florida Film Critics Circle: Best Ensemble Cast, "Gosford Park," 2002 Online Film Critics Society: Best Ensemble, "Gosford Park," 2002 Satellite: Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble, "Gosford Park," 2002 Paris Film Festival: Best Actor, "Kabloonak," 1994
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