Jenny Seagrove was born in 1957 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya. In 1983 she achieved national fame in the UK for her role in the very popular film “Local Hero”. She followed this with the lead in the television mini-series “A Woman of Substance”. She also starred as Jo MIlls opposite Martin Shaw in the long running series “Judge John Dee” which ran from 2001 until 2007.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
British actress Jenny Seagrove distinguished herself as a sensitive heroine during the 1980s in plush TV romances such as The Woman in White (1982), Diana (1984) and, in particular, the adaptations of Barbara Taylor Bradford‘s A Woman of Substance (1984) wherein she played Emma Harte, and Hold the Dream (1986) as Paula Fairley. Jenny enjoyed a privileged childhood though it was marked with sadness. Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, her father ran an import-export firm and her mother was a British aristocrat who suffered a debilitating stroke when Jenny was less than a year old. At age 9, Jenny attended a girls’ boarding school in England and appeared in school plays. Initially interested in a culinary career, she opted for acting instead and trained at the Bristol Old Vic. After leaving school, Seagrove met Indian-born Madhav Sharma, an actor-director and the marriage lasted between 1984 and 1988 . She also had a long term relationship with director Michael Winner of “Death Wish” fame, whom she met on the set of the Agatha Christie mystery Appointment with Death (1988). She now lives with theatre impresario Bill Kenwright and has appeared in many of his productions including “The Miracle Worker,” “Jane Eyre,” “Present Laughter” and, more recently, “The Constant Wife” and “The Secret Rapture.” To date, her film career has not been as favorably compared to her stage and TV work. She did enjoy a small role playing an offbeat Scottish lass in Local Hero (1983), and in the United States she was seen in an unsympathetic light as the evil nanny in The Guardian (1990), directed by William Friedkin.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
Gina McKee was born in 1964 in Durham. She made her film debut in 1988 in “The Lair of the White Worm”. In 1996 she made a strong impression in the excellent television series “Our Friends From the North” with Mark Strong and Daniel Craig. Her other films include “Croupier”, “Notting Hill” and “The Blackwater Lightship” with Angela Lansbury. She played Irene in the re-make of the series “The Forsyte Saga”.
TCM Overview:
Actress Gina McKee lent an ethereal presence to dozens of British film and television projects over the course of a three-decade career, including the award-winning “Our Friends in the North” (BBC 1996), “Notting Hill” (1996), “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” (2002) and numerous episodic series. The daughter of a coal miner, McKee began acting on television, and proceeded directly into guest roles without any actual dramatic training. Her striking visage and thoughtful performances attracted the attention of major directors like Mike Leigh (“Naked,” 1993), Mike Hodges (“Croupier,” 1998), Michael Winterbottom (“Wonderland,” 1999) and writer Richard Curtis, who provided McKee with her biggest project to date in “Notting Hill.” McKee remained an in-demand presence on UK features and in television, which underscored her status as one of the British entertainment industry’s most respected if somewhat unsung talents.
Born Georgina McKee on April 14, 1964 in the English mining town of Peterlee, County Durham, Gina McKee was descended from a long line of coal miners, which included her father. A teacher who encouraged her students to experiment with improvisation introduced her to acting in primary school. Later, as a teenager, she joined a local drama group run by theater director Ros Rigby, which led to appearances in various plays. A talent scout of Tyne Tees, the ITV television franchise for North East England, spotted McKee during one of the group’s productions and cast her in a children’s adventure series called “Quest of Eagles” (Tyne Tees Television, 1979). From there, she spent three summers with the National Youth Theatre before applying to study at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and the Central School of Speech and Drama. Though all three schools rejected her, she had earned her Equity card from “Quest of Eagles” and began appearing on UK television and in features.
McKee worked steadily in bit and supporting roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most notably in Ken Russell’s psychedelic horror fantasy “The Lair of the White Worm” (1988) and Mike Leigh’s intense drama “Naked” (1993). Three years later, she earned her breakout role in the TV drama “Our Friends in the North,” which followed four friends over three decades of turbulent British history. The film established all four of its stars – McKee, Daniel Craig, Christopher Eccleston and Mark Strong – as major talents and earned McKee Best Actress Awards from both the BAFTAs and Royal Television Society Awards. She soon divided her time between television and feature efforts, earning strong critical praise for her performances in the satirical news program “Brass Eye” (Channel 4 1997-2001) and as Clive Owen’s neglected girlfriend in the noirish “Croupier” (1998) for director Mike Hodges. In 1999, McKee was introduced to international audiences as the paraplegic lawyer Bella in “Notting Hill.” Despite that film’s blockbuster status, McKee remained a fixture of English drama, enjoying character roles in such acclaimed efforts as an adaptation of “The Forsyte Saga” (ITV/WGBH 2002-03), the Oscar-nominated drama “Atonement” (2007), blackly comic satire “In the Loop” (2009) and “The Borgias” (Showtime 2011-2013) as the fierce Catherine Sforza. In 2012, she made a rare return foray to comedy in the series “Hebburn” (BBC Two 2012- ) as the mother of a young man who marries a middle-class Jewish girl during a drunken spree in Las Vegas.
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
Jack Coleman was born in 1958 in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his portryal of Steven Carrington in the long running tleevision series “Dynasty”. When Al Corley decided to leave the role, Jack Coleman replaced him. Coleman’s other work includes “Cow Belles Entourage”.
IMDB entry:
Jack Coleman was born on February 21, 1958 in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA as John MacDonald Coleman. He is an actor and writer, known for Heroes (2006), Dynasty (1981) and Spawn (1997). He has been married to Beth Toussaint since June 21, 1996. They have one child.Trivia (6)
A sixth-generation grandson of Benjamin Franklin, in turn related to President John Calvin Coolidge Jr. and a remote descendant of the old Earls of Orkney and the ancient Kings of Scotland.
Graduated from Duke University in 1980, where he studied acting.
Has one daughter Tess, born in 1999. His wife Beth appeared in the Wes Craven film Red Eye (2005).
In theater, he won the 1986 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his performance in “Bouncers”.
Studied acting at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and Writers’ Boot Camp.
Gained TV notice after replacing Al Corley in the role of “Steven Carrington”, one of prime-time television’s first openly gay characters, on the night time soap Dynasty(1981).
Personal Quotes:
After a hit show is over, you soon realize this is a very tough business … brutally tough. But I’m a better actor and I have more gravitas than I had at 24 with bleached-blonde hair.
I don’t want to play earnest. I’d rather play somebody who’s kind of sleazy. It’s much more fun, especially in a comedy. You don’t want to be some earnest guy who’s just trying to do the right thing but can’t. I want to be doing the wrong thing intentionally.
I always thought invisibility would be cool, but then I was invisible for most of the ’90s.
I am blind as a bat and I wear contact lenses because the vision they afford is much better. So I wear contacts and then I have to wear reading glasses. My eyes have been bad – I come from bad eyesight on both sides of my family.
I don’t play a lot of convicts or mafia guys. I’m usually a professional, a doctor, lawyer, banker… that kind of thing. But sometimes you get to be the twisted guy, too, which is what I’m relishing so much about this [Heroes] role. There’s nothing worse than playing a milquetoast. I’m happy to play a jerk, and I’m happy to play a bad guy. It really is fun to be able to play somebody who has a dark, sinister side.
I would love to do a movie like All the President’s Men. A really smart, crisp political thriller.
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
Ryuichi Sakamotoe is a Japanese musician, composer, singer and actor. He was born in 1952 in Tokyo. His best known film is “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” with Tom Conti and David Bowie in 1983.
Judi Dench, although an acclaimed stage performer for many years, she not achieve major recognition on film until she was in middle age. She was born in 1934 in York. She made her stage debut with the Old Vic in 1957. She made her film debut in 1964 in “The Third Secret” with Stephen Boyd. She made sporadic film appearances throughout the remainder of the sixties and early seventies. In 1985 she begain making regular film appearances in increasingly larger roles. These movies include “Wetherby” with Vanessa Redgrave, “A Room With A View” with Maggie Smith and “84 Charing Cross Road” with Anthony Hopkins. In 1995 she began her regular appearances in the James Bond series as M in “GoldenEye” with Pierce Brosnan. She won an Oscar for “Shakespeare in Love”. Recent movies include “Nine” and “Jane Eyre” and”Philomena”.
TCM Overview:
A distinguished talent widely recognized as one of Great Britain’s greatest modern actresses, Dame Judi Dench spent much of her career concentrating on stage and television in her native England. From her early years with the Old Vic Theater Company in London, Dench proved a commanding stage performer in both classic drama and musical comedy, and at the same time, was known by non-theatergoers for starring roles on the British comedy series “As Time Goes By” (BBC, 1992-2005) and “A Fine Romance” (1981-84). It was not until Dench hit her fifties that she began finding film roles that enabled international audiences the opportunity to appreciate her commanding gifts. Dench was one of the most frequently nominated actresses in Academy Award history, earning a statue for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love” (1998) and nominations for a wide range of screen performances in “Chocolat” (2000), “Iris” (2001) and “Notes on a Scandal” (2006). A national treasure, Dench was honored by the British government with the title of Dame Commander of the British Army, and her homeland recognized her outstanding contributions to British Theater with a Laurence Olivier Award – officially proving that Dame Judi Dench was what critics had claimed for years: the modern, female equivalent of Sir Laurence Olivier, both onscreen and under the bright glare of the footlights.
The daughter of Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor, and Eleanora Olave, a native of Dublin, Dench was born on Dec. 9, 1934 and raised as a Quaker in York, North Riding of Yorkshire. She made her acting debut in the city’s cycle of mystery plays, in which both her father and older brother Jeffrey also appeared. After graduating from London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, she made an auspicious debut with the Old Vic Theatre Company as Ophelia in “Hamlet” in 1957. The following year, Dench made a Broadway appearance with the Old Vic and remained with the troupe until 1961, excelling in such roles as Hermia in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1960) and Isabella in “Measure for Measure” (1962). Throughout the 1960s, she made one strong stage characterization after another, but only in rare instances appeared on film. She was memorable as a young wife in the little-seen “Four in the Morning” (1965) and was majestic as Titania in Peter Hall’s filming of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1968).
As Sally Bowles in the 1968 London staging of “Cabaret,” Dench delivered what many felt was the definitive interpretation of the role. She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1969, spending much of the next two decades amassing an impressive body of work and earning numerous accolades. After notable roles as Lady Macbeth (opposite Ian McKellen) in “Macbeth” (1977-78) and Lady Bracknell in “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1982), Dench’s screen presence increased. She held a starring turn on the television series “A Fine Romance,” starring opposite her husband Michael Williams, and on the big screen in David Hare’s provocative “Wetherby” (1985), in which she and Ian Holm played a married couple who become caught up in the personal turmoil of their friend (Vanessa Redgrave). In further film outings, she demonstrated her range with diverse portrayals of a flighty romance novelist in “A Room with a View” (1986), and Anthony Hopkins’ jealous wife in “84 Charing Cross Road” (1987).
Dench returned to the stage to play Cleopatra in “Antony and Cleopatra” (1987-88), and followed up with a pair of film roles as a materialistic mother in “A Handful of Dust” (1988) and the lusty Mistress Quickly in Kenneth Branagh’s “Henry V” (1989). She was back on stage the same year as Ranyevskaya in “The Cherry Orchard” (1989-1990). The solidly booked actress showed no signs of slowing with each advancing year, taking on a starring role on the long running British television comedy “As Time G s By” in 1992. In her most mainstream role to date, she was cast as M, the superior of James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), in “GoldenEye” (1995), which unveiled a revamped version of the franchise that successfully brought the international spy into modern times. In 1996, Dench became the first actress to win two Olivier Awards in the same year; for the play “Absolute Hell” and for her musical turn as Desiree in “A Little Night Music.” In 1997, she earned raves as an aging actress in David Hare’s acclaimed “Amy’s View” and reprised M alongside Brosnan in “Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997).
Remarkably, in a career that spanned some 40 years, Dench had never played the lead in a film until she was cast as the widowed Queen Victoria who embarks on a questionable relationship with her Scottish manservant (Billy Connolly) in the John Madden-directed “(Her Majesty) Mrs. Brown” (1997). The film was originally intended as a made-for-British-TV movie, with the role of the monarch earmarked for Elizabeth Taylor. When Taylor fell ill, Dench was cast and it was released theatrically. Her performance earned the actress some of the best reviews of her career to that point, including a richly deserved Best Actress Academy Award nomination. As a follow-up, director Madden cast her as another venerable British monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, in “Shakespeare in Love” (1998). Although Dench only appeared in a handful of scenes totaling approximately eight minutes, she made such a strong impression as the Virgin Queen that she was awarded that year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
The newly minted Oscar winner took on the title stage role of “Filumena” (1998) and reprised M in the Bond offering “The World Is Not Enough” (1999). Now recognized internationally, Dench returned to the New York stage for the first time in close to four decades, reprising her triumphant portrayal of a famous actress clashing ideologically with her daughter in “Amy’s View,” for which she earned a Tony Award. Her run was briefly interrupted when she returned to England to care for her longtime husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. At that time, she was also seen on the big screen as an eccentric artist living as an expatriate in 1930s Italy in “Tea with Mussolini” (1999). The following year, Dench headlined the HBO original “The Last of the Blonde Bombshells,” earning a Golden Globe award for playing a feisty widow reflecting on her life as a saxophone player in a WWII-era swing band. The actress agreed to provide the narration for the affecting Holocaust documentary “Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” (2000) before gracing screens again in the pivotal role of a crusty villager who welcomes free-spirited Juliette Binoche in Lasse Hallstrom’s “Chocolat” (2000). The latter netted Dench yet another Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress.
Following her husband’s death in January 2001, the widowed Dench turned in two rich, very different screen performances. Hallstrom cast her as a Canadian woman who assists her nephew (Kevin Spacey) on a journey of self-discovery in the film adaptation of the bestselling novel “The Shipping News” (2001). Dench then undertook the demanding role of British novelist Iris Murdoch in the biopic “Iris” (2001), based on the memoirs of Murdoch’s husband John Bayley. The actress rose to the challenge of playing a vibrant, intelligent woman who gradually succumbs to the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. As with all her work, Dench offered an impeccable and deeply moving performance that the members of the Academy recognized with a Best Actress nomination. She was back in period clothing for her follow-up, portraying the indomitable Lady Bracknell in a remake of Oscar Wilde’s classic play “The Importance of Being Earnest” (2002). Also in 2002, Dench returned as M in the James Bond action feature “Die Another Day,” starring Brosnan and Halle Berry.
Once finished with a brief sabbatical from onscreen roles, during which she lent her voice to the animated feature “Home on the Range” (2004) and several James Bond video games, Dench made a welcome return to the big screen in 2004 in the unlikely vehicle “The Chronicles of Riddick,” director David Twohy’s sci-fi/action sequel to his cult hit “Pitch Black.” Dench played Aereon, an ethereal Elemental who helps Riddick (Vin Diesel) learn the secrets of his origin. She essayed an appropriately imperious Lady Catherine de Bourg in 2005’s “Pride and Prejudice,” director J Wright’s lively adaptation of the Jane Austen classic starring Keira Knightley. That same year, the busy actress also headlined director Stephen Frears’ “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” starring as Laura Henderson, a widow who becomes a partner in Britain’s Windmill Theater during World War II and, in attempts to provide a spark for her downtrodden nation, hopes to allow her actresses to perform in the nude. For her performance, she earned award nominations from SAG, the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards – all for Best Actress.
Dench revived M for a fifth time in “Casino Royale” (2006), her first outing opposite Daniel Craig, successor to the iconic role after Pierce Brosnan left the franchise in 2002. Though she missed working with Brosnan, she heaped praise upon the new keeper of the flame, telling The Evening Standard how “frighteningly good” Craig was in the role. For her part, Dench maintained her usually blunt and stiff-upper-lipped performance as the head of MI6, sending him on a mission to Montenegro in order to join a high-stakes poker game with Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world’s terrorist organizations in what many critics called one of the best films in the series. Dench made a startlingly decisive departure in her next project, “Notes on a Scandal” (2006), where she essayed a treacherous school teacher who habitually stalks younger women in a desperate attempt to find love. Once again, she accrued award nominations from the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.
Dench returned to television the following year in the 1840s-set drama series “Cranford” (BBC, 2007), earning an Emmy nomination for her performance as a financially strapped spinster in a remote village about to be thrust into the modern age with the impending arrival of the railroad. And, not surprisingly, given the actress’ loyalty and lack of vanity in regards to size of part, she returned to the Bond fold as M for the second Daniel Craig outing, “Quantum of Solace” (2008). While basking in the international success of the latest Bond installment, Dench received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie for her performance in “Cranford.” She reprised her role for the miniseries sequel, “Return to Cranford” (PBS, 2010), and received similar honors, earning another Golden Globe nomination in December 2010. Back on the big screen, she portrayed British actress Sybil Thorndike in “My Weekend with Marilyn” (2011) and was the mother of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Clint Eastwood’s uneven biopic “J. Edgar” (2011). After reprising M for the last time opposite Daniel Craig’s James Bond in “Skyfall” (2012), Dench was part of an excellent ensemble cast in John Madden’s winning comedy “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2012), which focused on a group of British pensioners retiring at a lesser-than-advertised hotel in India. Dench’s performance as a newly widowed housewife forced to sell off her home to cover her dead husband’s debts was singled out for praise and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Dench’s next starring role came in the drama “Philomena” (2013), the true-life tale of an elderly Irish woman’s search for the son she had been forced to give up for adoption a half-century before. The film was directed by Stephen Frears and co-written by Steve Coogan, who co-starred opposite Dench as an investigative journalist.
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
Joseph Bottoms is the middle brother of the talented acting family including Timothy and Sam. Joseph was born in 1954 in Santa Barbara. He came to prominence with his major role in “The Dove” in 1974. Other roles include Rudi Weiss in the magnificent television series “Holocaust” in 1978. He manages the Bottoms Arts Galleries in Santa Barbara.
Made his Broadway debut in 1981’s “The 5th of July”.
Began his career performing in community theater productions.
Won the 1975 Golden Globe Award for “New Star Of The Year – Actor” for his work in the film The Dove (1974), which was based on the real life experiences of Robin Lee Graham, a young man who spent five years sailing around the world as a single-handed sailor, starting when he was 16-years old.
The second son of sculptor James “Bud” Bottoms.
Decided to be an actor when 13 after having a premonition that he would dance on stage with Elizabeth Taylor which he later did in the 1978 TV film Return Engagement.
Santa Barbara, California. Lives with his two daughte
Rupert Hill was born in 1978 in Southampton. He appeared first as Jamie Baldwin in “Coronation Street” in 2004. He has also appeared in such series as “The Bill”, “Holby City” and “Doctors”.
IMDB entry:Rupert Hill was born on June 15, 1978 in London, England as Rupert Sinclair Hill. He is an actor and director, known for Coronation Street (1960), Family Affairs (1997) and Entity(2012). He has been married to Jenny Platt since May 11, 2013. They have one child.
Joe Absolom is one of the best young actors working in Britain to-day. He was born in 1978 in Lewisham, London. He made his acting debut in the 1991 movie “Antonia & Jane”. His other credits include “Long Time Dead” and the television series “Vincent” with Ray Winstone and “Doc Martin” with Martin Clunes.
2011 “MailOnline” interview:
What drew you to Doc Martin?
The blue skies and the surfing-golf-work ratio. Plus the chance to work with lovely people such as Martin Clunes, Ian McNeice [his screen father Bert] and Dame Eileen Atkins [who has joined the cast as Martin’s Aunt Ruth]. Eileen has so many theatre anecdotes. And she’s met the Queen.
So why did you swap the Cornish sun for the Arctic in last year’s celebrity challenge series 71 Degrees North?
Because my dad said that when I’m 60 I’ll want to talk about the things I’ve done rather than the ones I haven’t. It was an amazing, life-affirming experience – even when my beard froze and there were six of us huddled in a tent for warmth.
How do you relax on set?
My Doc Martin scenes [as Al Large, who owns the local restaurant with his dad] aren’t shot every day, and there’s lots of waiting around between takes. So I play my guitar and listen to my favourite Who or Oasis tracks.
What was it like adjusting to life after soap stardom?
After I left EastEnders [from 1997 to 2000 he played Matthew Rose, who was framed for murder by gangster Steve Owen], I spent six months thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ because I left a regular income without a job to go to. But I’m enjoying the variety of being a jobbing actor.
What is your USP?
I’m punctual. I’m good at getting to a job on time and also at leaving on time; it’s the middle bit I struggle with.
Plan B, career-wise?
I’d be a postman – because I’m good at getting up early.
Anything you’re not so good at?
I’m useless at laughing on camera. I end up with a rather forced har-har-har guffaw that sounds as if I’m imitating Sid James in the Carry On films – handy if I’m ever cast as a middle-aged lecher.
What did you want to be when you were ten years old?
A skateboarder. I was inspired by Tony Hawk, the American professional skateboarder who invented most of the modern tricks. I became an actor instead after my father, who’s an artist, sent photos of me and my baby sister to a children’s acting agency. I was so shy at first that I didn’t realise the catering on film sets was for everyone – I just watched other people eat the food.
Can you remember your first kiss?
Yes, it was on top of a garden shed in Brockley, South London, when I was nine. It felt momentous at the time, but the shed didn’t move.
Your partner Liz is a great cook, so who are your dream dinner party guests?
Rock and rollers such as Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Keith Moon and Noel Gallagher, and the jazzman Miles Davis. They’d bring great music and great times. And I would get Keith to bring some pretty ladies along, too.
You and Liz share childcare for Lyla, five, and Casper, one. What makes a good parent?
Listening to children – they mean what they say 100 per cent; they are not talking rubbish like adults sometimes do. And being patient, which I find difficult at times! I enjoy fatherhood a lot more the second time round; I was always petrified I was going to drop Lyla when she was a baby.
What’s the secret of a happy relationship?
Listening and patience – the same tactics as with children – and laughing a lot. Seeing Liz’s eyes light up when she laughs always makes me smile.
Your worst nightmare to be stuck in a lift with?
Smug people such as Piers Morgan or Simon Cowell. But my dream lift companion would be Cindy Crawford – I’ve always had a thing about her.
How would you like to be remembered?
I won’t care, because in the afterlife, I will be up there jamming on my guitar.
The above “MailOnline” interview can also be accessed online here.
Stacy Keach was born in 1941 in Savannah, Georgia. His parents were both actors and drama directors. He has had an extensive theatre career as well as playing Philip Marlow on television. His films include the wonderful “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” in 1968, “The New Centurians”, “Fat City” and “The Ninth Configuration”. He played the leader of a far right wing group in “American History X”.
IMDB entry:
Stacy Keach has played to grand success a constellation of the classic and contemporary stage’s greatest roles, and he is considered a pre-eminent American interpreter of Shakespeare. His SRO run as “King Lear” at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. received the best reviews any national leader has earned in that town for decades. Peter Marks of the Washington yPost called Mr. Keach’s Lear “magnificent”. He recently accepted his third prestigious Helen Hayes Award for Leading Actor in 2010 for his stellar performance. His next stage appearance premiering January 13, 2011 at the Lincoln Center in New York is “Other Desert Cities” by Jon Robin Baitz and teaming him with Stockard Channing, Linda Lavin and Elizabeth Marvel.
Stacy Keach
His latest television series, Lights Out (2011), on the FX network is a major new mid-season dramatic show, taking him back to the world of boxing which has been a rich setting for him before, notably in Huston’s Fat City (1972) which ignited Keach’s career as a film star.
Versatility embodies the essence of Stacy Keach’s career in film and television as well as on stage. The range of his roles is remarkable. His recent performance in Oliver Stone’s “W” prompted fellow actor Alec Baldwin to blog an impromptu review matching Huston’s amazement at Keach’s power. Perhaps best known around the world for his portrayal of the hard-boiled detective, Mike Hammer, Stacy. Keach is also well-known among younger generations for his portrayal of the irascible, hilarious Dad, Ken Titus, in the Fox sitcom, Titus, and more recently as Warden Henry Pope in the hit series, Prison Break. Following his triumphant recent title role performance in King Lear for the prestigious Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Keach joined the starring cast of John Sayles’ recent film, Honeydripper. In the most recent of his non-stop activities, he has completed filming Deathmatch for the Spike Channel, and The Boxer for Zeitsprung Productions in Berlin, Germany.
German audiences will also see him as one of the co-stars in the multi-million dollar production of Hindenburg (2011), scheduled to air in January, 2011 with worldwide release thereafter. Mr. Keach co-stars in the new FX series entitled Lights Out (2011) about a boxing family, where he plays the Dad-trainer of two boxing sons played by Holt McCallany and Pablo Schreiber. The series is also scheduled to air in January, 2011. Keach returns to the New York stage at the start of the 2011 in Jon Robin Baitz’s new play, “Other Desert Cities,” at the Lincoln Center.
Capping his heralded accomplishment on the live stage of putting his own stamp on some of the theatre world’s most revered and challenging roles over the past year when he headed the national touring company cast of “Frost/Nixon,” portraying Richard M. Nixon, bringing still another riveting characterization to the great legit stages of Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, the nation’s capitol and other major cities. He won his second Best Actor Helen Hayes Award for his outstanding performance. His second triumphant portrayal of King Lear in the past three years, this time for the Shakespeare Theatre Company in the nation’s capital earned reviews heard around the world, with resulting offers for him to repeat that giant accomplishment in New York, Los Angeles and even Beijing.
Stacy Keach
An accomplished pianist and composer, Mr. Keach composed the music for the film,Imbued (2009), directed by Rob Nilssen, a celebrated film festival favorite, in which Keach also starred. He has also completed composing the music for the Mike Hammer audio radio series, “Encore For Murder”, written by Max Collins, directed by Carl Amari, and produced by Blackstone Audio.
Mr. Keach began his film career in the late 1960’s with _The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter_, followed by _The New Centurions_ with George C. Scott; Doc Holiday with Faye Dunawayin the film ‘Doc’ (1971); an over-the-hill boxer,Billy Tully in Fat City (1972); directed byJohn Huston, and The Long Riders (1980), which he co-produced and co-wrote with his brother, James Keach, directed by Walter Hill. On the lighter side, his characterization of Sgt. Stedenko in Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke (1978), and the sequel, Nice Dreams(1981), gave a whole new generation a taste of Mr. Keach’s comedic flair, which he also demonstrated in Robert Altman’s Brewster McCloud (1970), playing the oldest living lecherous Wright Brother; and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) where he played a crazed albino out to kill Paul Newman.
Historical roles have always attracted him. In movies he has played roles ranging from Martin Luther to Frank James. On television he has been Napoleon, Wilbur Wright, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Barabbas, Sam Houston, and Ernest Hemingway, for which he won a Golden Globe as Best Actor in a mini-series and was nominated for an Emmy in the same category. He played an eccentric painter, Mistral, in the Judith Krantz classic,Mistral’s Daughter (1984), a northern spy in the civil war special, The Blue and the Gray(1982), more recently as the pirate Benjamin Hornigold in the Hallmark epic Blackbeard(2006).
As a director, his production of Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy (1973) for PBS was, according to Mr. Miller in his autobiography, Timebends, “the most expressive production of that play he had seen.” He won a Cine Golden Eagle Award for his work on the dramatic documentary, The Repeater, in which he starred and also wrote and directed.
But it is perhaps the live theatre where Mr. Keach shines brightest. He began his professional career with the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1964, doubling as Marcellus and the Player King in a production of Hamlet directed by Joseph Papp and which featured Julie Harris as Ophelia. He rose to prominence in 1967 in the Off-Broadway political satire, MacBird, where the title role was a cross between Lyndon Johnson and Macbeth and for which he received the first of his three Obie awards. He played the title roles in Henry 5, Hamlet (which he played 3 times), Richard 3, Macbeth, and most recently as King Lear in Robert Falls’ modern adaptation at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, which Charles Isherwood of the NY Times called “terrific” and “a blistering modern-dress production that brings alive the morally disordered universe of the play with a ferocity unmatched by any other production I’ve seen.” Mr. Keach’s stage portrayals of Peer Gynt, Falstaff and Cyrano de Bergerac, and Hamlet caused the New York Times to dub him “the finest American classical actor since John Barrymore.”
Mr. Keach’s Broadway credits include his Broadway debut, Indians, where he played Buffalo Bill and was nominated for a Tony award as Best Actor. He starred in Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, the Pulitzer Prize winning Kentucky Cycle (for which he won his first Helen Hayes award as Best Actor), the Rupert Holmes one-man thriller, Solitary Confinement, where Mr. Keach played no less than six roles, all unbeknownst to the audience until the end of the play. In the musical theatre, he starred in the national tour of Barnum, played the King in Camelot for Pittsburgh’s Civic Light Opera, and the King in The King and I, which he also toured in Japan. He starred in the Jon Robin Baitz play, Ten Unknowns, at the Mark Taper Forum in 2003. The LA Times said: “And then there’s Keach. What a performance! How many actors can manage such thunder and such sweet pain. He’s been away from the LA stage too long. Welcome back.”
In 2004, he starred as Scrooge in Boston’s Trinity Rep musical production of A Christmas Carol; earlier in 2004, he starred as Phil Ochsner in Arthur Miller’s last play Finishing The Picture, directed by Robert Falls at the Goodman Theatre.
As a narrator his voice has been heard in countless documentaries; as the host for the Twilight Zone radio series; numerous books on tape, including the Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. In the year 2000, he recorded a CD of all of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. He recently recorded the voice of St. Paul for a new audio version of The New Testament:, The Word of Promise and Job for the Old Testament edition. He is the narrator on CNBC’s new hit show, American Greed (2007), and recently narrated the award-winning documentary, The Pixar Story (2007). He has also reprised his role as Mike Hammer in the Blackstone audio series, the most recent being “Encore for Murder”. A charter-member of LA Theatre Works, Mr. Keach recently played the title role in Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo, recorded both for radio and CD. He was seen on CBS’s hit show Two and a Half Men (2003) as the gay Dad of Charlie’s fiance.
Stacy Keach also believes strongly in ‘giving back’ and has been the Honorary Chair for the Cleft Palate Foundation for the past twenty-five years. He is also the national spokesman for the World Craniofacial organization. He has served on the Artist’s Committee for the Kennedy Center Honors for two decades, is on the board of directors for Genesis at the Crossroads, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to bringing peoples of combatant cultures together through the shared artistic expressions of the visual and culinary arts, music, dance, and theater. He also serves on the artistic board for Washington DC’s Shakespeare Theatre National Council, where he was also honored in 2000 with their prestigious Millennium Award for his contribution to classical theatre. Some years ago Hollywood honored him with a Celebrity Outreach Award for his work with charitable organizations.
He has been the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from Pacific Pioneer’s Broadcasters, the San Diego Film Festival, the Pacific Palisades Film Festival, and The 2007 Oldenburg Film Festival in Germany. Later this year, he will be awarded the 2010 Lifetime Award from the St. Louis Film Festival. In 2008, he received the Mary Pickford Award for versatility in acting.
Mr. Keach was a Fulbright scholar to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, attended the University of California at Berkeley and the Yale Drama School. He has always been a star of the American stage, especially in Shakespearen roles such as Hamlet, Henry 5, Coriolanus, Falstaff, Macbeth, Richard 3, and most recently, King Lear.
Of his many accomplishments, Mr. Keach claims that his greatest accomplishment is his family. He has been married to his beautiful wife Malgosia for twenty-five years, and they have two wonderful children, Shannon Keach (1988), and daughter Karolina Keach (1990).
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Guttman Associates
THe above entries IMDB can also be accessed online here.
