Alun Armstrong

Alun Armstrong (2012)

Alun Armstrong (born July 17, 1946 in Doncaster , South Yorkshire ) is a British film and stage actor .

Life

Alun Armstrong was born to Methodist parents. His father worked in a mine. At school he was recommended by a teacher to take acting classes. He put this into practice during his time in high school and appeared in a role in the Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew . Armstrong later studied art at Newcastle University , but dropped out because he did not feel up to the demands.

At first he did jobs as bricklayer and gravedigger , but then decided to give acting again and took a job as an assistant in a theater. First speaking roles followed on BBC Radio 4 . In 1971 he found out about a film adaptation that was being shot in Newcastle and met with director Mike Hodges for a casting. In fact, he got a role and made his debut in the crime film Jack Settling .

In the years that followed, other films such as The Bridge of Arnhem and Krull followed . He played the Scottish traitor Mornay in Mel Gibson's Braveheart in 1995 and the head of the dark Egyptian cult in The Mummy Returns in 2002 . He was also seen in films such as Sleepy Hollow and Van Helsing . In the fantasy film Eragon - The Legacy of the Dragon Riders from 2006, he also took on the role of Uncle Garrow .

Armstrong spent nine years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and London , where he shone in the role of Mr. Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby and as Monsieur Thenardier in the original cast of Les Misérables . Other stage plays in which he participated are u. a. The storm , the winter fairy tale and witch hunt . Since April 2006 he can be seen again on the London stage, in Trevor Nunn's new production The Royal Hunt of the Sun at the National Theater.

As a television actor, Armstrong has so far won over 80 roles. He was seen six times in various adaptations of Charles Dickens ' works such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield . From 2003 to 2015, he played the role of the eccentric but highly intelligent Brian Lane in the BBC series New Tricks - The Crime Specialists . In the BBC drama series Our Friends in the North , he played Austin Donohue , a character based on the career of politician Thomas Daniel Smith . In the BBC adaptation of Bleak House , he was the Inspector Bucket .

Alun Armstrong is married and has three sons: Tom, Joe and Dan. Joe Armstrong is also an actor and has appeared in two television productions with his father in 2003 and 2010. His son Dan was the keyboardist for the band Clock Opera . Alun Armstrong appeared in their music video for The Lost Buoys .