Anton Lesser
| Anton Lesser | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Anton Lesser in June 2011 | |
| Born | 14 February 1952 |
| Years active | Since 1979 |
Anton Lesser (born 14 February 1952) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Qyburn in the HBO series Game of Thrones and as Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour.[1]
Background
Lesser attended Moseley Grammar School in Moseley, Birmingham and the University of Liverpool before going to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1977, where he was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year.
As an Associate Artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), he has played a considerable number of Shakespeare's great roles, including Troilus (Troilus and Cressida), Edgar (King Lear), Petruchio, Romeo, Henry Bolingbroke, Brutus (Julius Caesar), Leontes (Winter's Tale) and Richard III.
Lesser is a frequent radio contributor and played the title role in the BBC Radio adaptations of the first five Falco mysteries by Lindsey Davis. He has also recorded many audiobooks, including much of the work of Charles Dickens, and his recording of Great Expectations won him a Talkie Award. Other books range from John Milton's Paradise Lost and Homer to contemporary novels by Robert Harris (Fatherland) and Philip Pullman. For two months in 2013, Lesser was heard as a regular cast member playing Robin Carrow in Ambridge Extra, a BBC Radio 4 Extra spin-off from the BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers.
In 2015, Lesser was announced a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK.[2]
Lesser portrayed Thomas More in the BBC mini-series Wolf Hall, and received a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
Lesser lives in Warwickshire with his wife and their two children.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | The Mill on the Floss | Philip Wakem | TV series (2 episodes) |
| Oresteia | Orestes | TV series (3 episodes) | |
| 1981 | The Cherry Orchard | Trofimov | TV film |
| Troilus & Cressida | Troilus | TV film | |
| 1982 | Crown Court | TV series (1 episode: "Fair Play: Part 1") | |
| King Lear | Edgar | TV film (BBC version with Hordern as Lear)
Not to be confused with 1983 TV Film with Olivier as Lear | |
| The Missionary | Young Man | ||
| 1983 | Good and Bad at Games | Cox | TV film |
| 1984 | Sakharov | Valery Chalidze | TV film |
| Freud | Wilhelm Fliess | TV series (5 episodes) | |
| 1985 | Anna of the Five Towns | Willie Price | TV series (2 episodes) |
| The Assam Garden | Mr Sutton | ||
| 1987 | London Embassy | Robert Bronhouse | TV series |
| Great Performances | Robber | TV series (1 episode: "Monsignor Quixote") | |
| 1988 | Twelfth Night, or What You Will | Feste | TV film |
| Screen Two | Stanley Spencer | TV series (1 episode: "Stanley Spencer") | |
| A Vote for Hitler | A. L. Rowse | TV film | |
| 1989 | Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story | Karl | TV film |
| 1990 | Traitors | TV film | |
| 1991 | The Strauss Dynasty | Levi | TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.1.1") |
| 1992 | Downtown Lagos | Mungo Dawson | TV series |
| 1994 | Guinevere | Envoy | TV film |
| Shakespeare: The Animated Tales | Leontes | TV series (1 episode: "The Winter's Tale") | |
| 1995 | The Politician's Wife | Mark Hollister | TV series |
| Bugs | Patrick Marcel | TV series (1 episode: "Pulse") | |
| Moses | Eliav | TV film | |
| 1996 | Sharman | Galilee | TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.1.4") |
| Testament: The Bible in Animation | Joseph | TV series (1 episode: "Joseph") | |
| 1997 | Into the Blue | Dr John Ockleton | TV film |
| Bodyguards | Dusan Mezic | TV series (1 episode: "A Choice of Evils") | |
| FairyTale: A True Story | Wounded Corporal | ||
| The Moonstone | Ezra Jennings | TV film | |
| 1998 | Invasion: Earth | Lt. Charles Terrell | TV series (4 episodes) |
| Vanity Fair | Mr Pitt Crawley | TV series (5 episodes, of 6 total) | |
| The Echo | Billy Blake | TV film | |
| 1999 | Trial by Fire | Brian Redwood | TV film |
| Pure Wickedness | Dr Andrew Ward | TV film | |
| 2000 | The Miracle Maker | Herod | TV film |
| Esther Kahn | Sean | ||
| Safe as Houses | Mr Dunn | TV series | |
| The Scarlet Pimpernel | Antoine Picard | TV series (1 episode: "Friends & Enemies") | |
| Lorna Doone | Counsellor Doone | TV film | |
| 2001 | Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story | Vidas Merlinis, Research Scientist | TV film |
| Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes | Milburn | TV series (1 episode: "The White Knight Stratagem") | |
| Uprising | TV film | ||
| Charlotte Gray | Renech | ||
| Swallow | Paul Valley | TV series (3 episodes) | |
| 2002 | Dickens | Charles Dickens | TV series (3 episodes) |
| Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Sir Gawain | TV film | |
| Waking the Dead | Professor Ray Levin | TV series (2 episodes) | |
| The Project | Stanley Hall | TV film | |
| Foyle's War | Austin Carmichael | TV series (1 episode: "Eagle Day") | |
| 2003 | Danielle Cable: Eyewitness | Batten | TV film |
| Y Mabinogi | Teyrnon | TV series | |
| Imagining Argentina | General Guzmán | ||
| Eroica | Sukowaty | TV film | |
| Midsomer Murders | Eddie Darwin | TV series (1 episode: "Birds of Prey") | |
| 2004 | London | Charles Dickens | TV film |
| Silent Witness | Marcus Gwilym | TV series (2 episodes) | |
| Dirty Filthy Love | Charles | TV film | |
| Spooks | Nicholas Ashworth | TV series (1 episode: "Episode No.3.4") | |
| 2005 | Ahead of the Class | Graham Ranger | TV film |
| The Girl in the Café | George | TV film | |
| E-mc2 | Voltaire | TV film | |
| River Queen | Baine | ||
| Class of '76 | Martin Gibson | TV film | |
| Nova | Voltaire | TV series (1 episode: "Einstein's Big Idea") | |
| 2006 | Dalziel and Pascoe | Paul Goodman | TV series (2 episodes) |
| Vital Signs | Dr Lindsay | TV series (3 episodes) | |
| New Tricks | Pete Mackintyre | TV series (1 episode: "Bank Robbery") | |
| The Outsiders | Maurice Heston | TV film | |
| A Touch of Frost | Dennis Prior | TV series (1 episode: "Endangered Species") | |
| Miss Potter | Harold Warne | ||
| 2008 | Messiah: The Rapture | Samuel Waite | TV series |
| The Palace | Archbishop of Canterbury | TV series (2 episodes) | |
| Midsomer Murders | Reverend Wallace Stone | TV series (1 episode: "Talking to the Dead") | |
| Agatha Christie's Poirot | Inspector Kelsey | TV series (1 episode: "Cat Among the Pigeons") | |
| Einstein and Eddington | Fritz Haber | TV film | |
| Little Dorrit | Mr Merdle | TV series (7 episodes) | |
| 2009 | Deep Sleep | short | |
| Casualty 1909 | Dr Henry Head | TV series (4 episodes) | |
| 2010 | Primeval: Webisodes | Gideon | |
| Holby City | Sol Caplin | TV series (1 episode: "Faith No More") | |
| Five Daughters | Dr Nat Cary | TV series (2 episodes) | |
| Garrow's Law | John Farmer | TV series (4 episodes) | |
| Flutter | Bruno | completed | |
| 2011 | Primeval | Gideon | TV series (5 episodes) |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | Lord Carteret | ||
| The Hour | Clarence Fendley | TV series (5 episodes) | |
| The Man Who Crossed Hitler | Rudolf Olden | TV film | |
| 2012 | The Hollow Crown | Exeter | TV film (1 episode: Henry V) |
| 2013 | Spies of Warsaw | Dr Lapp | TV film (2 episodes) |
| Ripper Street | Dr Karl Crabb | TV series (2 episodes) | |
| The Escape Artist | Richard Mayfield, QC | TV series (3 episodes) | |
| Atlantis | Kyros | TV series | |
| 2013– | Game of Thrones | Qyburn | TV Series (14 episodes) |
| 2013-2017 | Endeavour | Chief Superintendent Bright | TV series (13 episodes) |
| 2014 | Father Brown | Father Ignatius | Episode: "The Mysteries of the Rosary" |
| The Musketeers | Emile De Mauvoisin | Episode: "The Homecoming" | |
| Closer to the Moon | Holban | ||
| 2015 | Wolf Hall | Thomas More | TV series Nominated—British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 2015–16 | Dickensian | Fagin | TV series |
| 2016 | The Hollow Crown (series 2) | Duke of Exeter | BBC2 TV series (2 episodes: Henry VI part I and Henry VI part II) |
| The Crown | Harold Macmillan | Netflix series |
Theatre performances
- Romeo and Juliet 'Romeo', 1980, RSC
- Hamlet 'Hamlet', 1982, Donmar Warehouse, London
- Troilus and Cressida 'Troilus', 1985, RSC
- The Plantagenets (Henry VI part 1-3 and Richard III) 'Richard III', 1988, RSC
- Two Shakespearean Actors 'Edwin Forrest', 1990, RSC
- Richard II 'Henry Bullingbrook',[3] 1990, RSC
- The Taming of the Shrew 'Petruchio', 1992, RSC
- The Merry Wives of Windsor 'Frank Ford', 1992, RSC
- 'Art', 'Serge', 1997, Wyndham's Theatre, London
- Private Lives 'Elyot', 1999,Lyttelton Theatre, London
- Cymbeline 'Iachomo', 2003, RSC
- Julius Caesar 'Marcus Brutus', 2005, Barbican, London
- The Winter's Tale 'Leontes', 2006,RSC
- The Vertical Hour 'Oliver Lucas', 2008, Royal Court Theatre, London
- A Doll's House 'Dr Rank', 2009, Donmar Warehouse, London
References
- ↑ "Anton Lesser talks Qyburn, Jaime Lannister's Gold Hand, & The Mountain". flicksandthecity.com. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ↑ Harvey-Ball, Thom. "New Supporter - Anton Lesser!".
- ↑ as spelled in The life and death of Richard II programme by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1990