David Warner (actor)

David Warner (born July 29, 1941) is an Emmy Award-winning English actor who is known for playing sinister or evil characters.

Biography

Early life

Warner was born in Manchester, England, the son of Doreen (née Hattersley) and Herbert Simon Warner, who was a nursing home proprietor. He was born out of wedlock and frequently taken to be raised by each of his parents, eventually settling with his Russian Jewish father and his stepmother. He was educated at Feldon School, Leamington Spa, and trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London.

Career

Theatre

Warner made his professional stage debut at the Royal Court in January 1962, playing Snout, a minor role in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Tony Richardson for the English Stage Company. In March 1962 at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry he played Conrad in Much Ado About Nothing, following which in June he appeared as Jim in Afore Night Come at the New Arts Theatre in London.

He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford on Avon in April 1963 to play Trinculo in The Tempest and Cinna the Poet in Julius Caesar, and in July was cast as Henry VI and Edward IV in an adaptation of Henry VI, Parts I, II and III, which comprised the first two plays from The Wars of the Roses trilogy. At the Aldwych Theatre, London, in January 1964 he again played Henry VI in the complete The Wars of the Roses history cycle (1964). Returning to Stratford in April he performed the title role in Richard II), Mouldy in Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry VI. At the Aldwych in October 1964 he was cast as Valentine Brose in Eh?.

He first played the title role in Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in August 1965, transferring his acclaimed performance to the Aldwych the following December. In the 1966 Stratford season he revived his Hamlet and also played Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night. Finally at the Aldwych in January 1970, he played Julian in Tiny Alice.

According to his 2007 programme CV, Warner's other work for the theatre has included The Great Exhibition at Hampstead Theatre (February 1972); I, Claudius at the Queen's Theatre (July 1972); A Feast of Snails at the Lyric Theatre (February 2002); Where There's a Will at the Theatre Royal, Bath; King Lear at Chichester Festival Theatre (in 2005, see details below); and also Major Barbara on Broadway.

Film and television

In 1963, he made his film debut in Tom Jones, and in 1965 starred as Henry VI in the BBC television version of the RSC's The Wars of the Roses cycle of Shakespeare's history plays. Another early television role came when he starred alongside Bob Dylan in the 1963 play The Madhouse on Castle Street. A major step in his career was the leading role in Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment (1966), which established his reputation for playing slightly off-the-wall characters. He also appeared as Konstantin Treplev in Sidney Lumet's 1968 adaptation of Anton Chekov's The Sea Gull

In horror movies he appeared in one of the stories of From Beyond the Grave and opposite Gregory Peck in The Omen (1976) as the ill-fated photojournalist Keith Jennings. He also starred in cult classic Waxwork (1988), and featured alongside a young Viggo Mortensen in 1990 film Tripwire.

Since then, he has often played villains, in films such as The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978), Time After Time (1979), Time Bandits (1981), Tron (1982), and television series such as Batman: The Animated Series playing Ra's al Ghul, the anti-mutant scientist Herbert Landon in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, as well as rogue agent Alpha in the animated Men in Black series and the Archmage in Disney's Gargoyles and finally The Lobe in Freakazoid. He was also cast against type as Henry Niles in Straw Dogs (1971) and as Bob Crachit in the 1984 telefilm of A Christmas Carol. In addition, he played Nazi war criminal Reinhard Heydrich in the movie Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil, and the television mini-series Holocaust.

He has appeared in movies such as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Avatar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), Titanic (the third time he has appeared in a film about RMS Titanic), Scream 2, and more recently in independent television's adaptation of the Hornblower series (which starred Ioan Gruffudd, Warner's co-star on Titanic). He appeared in three episodes of the second series of Twin Peaks (1991). He also continues to play classical roles. In "Chain of Command", a 6th-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, he was a Cardassian interrogator. He based his portrayal on the evil "re-educator" from 1984. His less-spectacular roles included a double-role in the campy low-budget fantasy Quest of the Delta Knights (1993) which was eventually spoofed on Mystery Science Theater 3000. He also played Admiral Tolwyn in the movie version of Wing Commander.

On the "nice guy" side, he played the charismatic Aldous Gajic in Grail, a first-season episode of Babylon 5 and Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He also portrayed the sympathetic character of Capt. Kiesel in Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron. In an episode of Lois & Clark he played Superman's deceased Kryptonian father Jor-El, who appeared to his son through holographic recordings. He has also played ambiguous "nice guys" like vampire bat exterminator Philip Payne in 1979's Nightwing; and Dr. Richard Madden in 1994's Necronomicon: Book of the Dead, who had to kill to sustain his life, but was a generally nice person. He also appeared as mad scientist Dr. Alfred Necessiter in the film The Man with Two Brains in 1983 alongside Steve Martin and Kathleen Turner.

Voice work

Warner has performed in many audio plays, starring in the Doctor Who "Unbound" play Sympathy for the Devil (2003) as an alternative version of the Doctor, and in a series of plays based on ITV's Sapphire & Steel as Steel, both for Big Finish Productions. He will reprise his incarnation of the Doctor in a sequel, Masters of War. In 2007, he guest starred as Issac Newton in the Doctor Who audio drama Circular Time. He also guest starred in the BBC Radio 4 Sci-Fi comedy Nebulous (2005) as Professor Nebulous' arch-enemy Dr. Klench. In all these productions Warner has worked with writer and comedian Mark Gatiss of the League of Gentlemen, and plays a guest role in the League's 2005 feature film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. In 2005 Warner read a new adaptation of 'Oliver Twist' for BBC Radio 2 (adapted by Neville Teller and directed by Neil Gardner). In 2008, he guest-starred as Mycroft Holmes in the Bernice Summerfield audio play The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel.

He has also contributed voice acting to a number of computer games, most notably playing the villain Jon Irenicus in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Morpheus in Fallout. He was also approached to reprise his role as Tron's Sark in the video game Kingdom Hearts II, but was unavailable (but his likeness was provided) and replaced by veteran voice actor Corey Burton.

Warner also did voice work on the short-lived FOX animated show Toonsylvania as Dr. Vic Frankenstein. On the Cartoon Network animated television series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, David provided the voice of Nergal, a demonic creature from the Earth's core that is obsessed with making friends. He voiced the character until 2003, when he was replaced by Martin Jarvis. He also voiced one of Batman's greater enemies, Ra's Al Ghul, in Batman: The Animated Series, and an episode of Batman Beyond.

Career renaissance

In May 2005 at the Chichester Festival Theatre Warner made a long overdue return to Shakespeare, playing the title role in Steven Pimlott's unsettling production of King Lear. Tim Walker, reviewing the performance in the Sunday Telegraph, wrote: "Warner is physically the least imposing king I have ever seen, but his slight, gaunt body serves also to accentuate the vulnerability the part requires. So, too, does the fact that he is older by decades than most of the other members of the youthful cast."

On 30 October 2005, he appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre in London in the one-night play Night Sky alongside Christopher Eccleston, Bruno Langley, Navin Chowdhry, Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel. In December 2006 he starred in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather on Sky1 as Lord Downey. And in August 2007, as an RSC Honorary Artist, he returned to Stratford for the first time in over 40 years to play Sir John Falstaff in the Courtyard Theatre revival of Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2.

In February 2008 Warner can be heard as the popular fictional character Hugo Rune in a new 13-part audio adaptation of Robert Rankin's 'The Brightonomicon' released by Hokus Bloke Productions and BBC Audiobooks. He stars alongside some high profile names including cult sci-fi actress and Superman star Sarah Douglas, Rupert Degas, Lord Of The Rings actor Andy Serkis, Harry Potter villain Jason Isaacs, Mark Wing-Davey and Titanic star Martin Jarvis (written by Elliott Stein & Neil Gardner, and produced/directed by Neil Gardner).

Literature

• Who's Who in the Theatre, 17th edition (1981) Gale Publishing, ISBN 0810302357
• RSC programme for the Stratford on Avon, Courtyard Theatre production of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2
• Theatre Record Indexes

References

External links

• David Warner article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• David Warner plays King Lear at Chichester Festival Theatre 2005: Sunday Times interview 17 July 2005
• David Warner stars as Hugo Rune in The Brightonomicon - website