Ralph Brown
| Ralph Brown | |
|---|---|
 Brown on 26 March 2009 | |
| Born |
Ralph William John Brown 18 June 1957 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK |
| Occupation | Actor, writer |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Spouse(s) | Jenny Jules (1992–present) |
Ralph William John Brown[1] (born 18 June 1957)[1] is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in Withnail and I, the security guard Aaron (aka "85") in Alien 3, DJ Bob Silver in The Boat That Rocked, super-roadie Del Preston in Wayne's World 2 and the pilot Ric Olié in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He won The Samuel Beckett Award for his first play Sanctuary written for Joint Stock Theatre Company in 1987, and the Raindance and Sapporo Film Festival awards for his first screenplay for the British film New Year's Day in 2001.
Early life
Brown was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Heather R and John F W Brown. He attended the London School of Economics and Political Science.[1]
Career
Films
His film roles include Dil's on-off boyfriend Dave in the Academy Award-winning film The Crying Game, Danny the drug dealer in Withnail & I, Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs in Buster, roadie Del Preston in Wayne's World 2, teacher and rugby league player Phil in Up 'n' Under, prison guard captain Mr Burton in Mean Machine, Sgt Major Harris in the Paul Schrader film Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, and CIA renegade Mr Collins alongside Wesley Snipes in The Contractor. In 1995, Brown appeared in Steven Spielberg's slavery epic Amistad. In 2007, he filmed Caught in the Act, an independent British film. Brown starred as DJ Bob Silver in The Boat That Rocked (2009), written and directed by Richard Curtis; Huge directed by Ben Miller (2009), The Kid (2010), directed by Nick Moran; Mission: London (which premiered in Sofia on 13 April 2010), a Bulgarian comedy directed by Dimitar Mitoviski which premiered in Sofia on 13 April 2010, and Sus (2010), written by Barrie Keeffe and directed by Robert Heath. He worked on the film Killing Bono (2010) and shot the feature film Dark Tide (2010) in Cape Town, opposite Halle Berry. He filmed I, Anna (2011) with Gabriel Byrne and Charlotte Rampling, then went on to work on Tower Block (2012) in London, Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) directed by Bryan Singer, and Stoker (2013) in Nashville, directed by Park Chan-wook.
Television
Among TV appearances, Brown appeared in Dennis Potter's Karaoke in 1995, portrayed Prince John in the BBC's adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe in 1997, appeared as John Geddes in the ITV post-apocalyptic drama serial The Last Train, appeared as the moustachioed policeman Wintersgillin the Channel 4/Showtime series Cape Wrath, and did a memorable turn as shaven-headed gang-boss "Miami Vice" in the 2000 series Lock, Stock...The Series.
In 2005, he appeared in Coronation Street as Barney, roadie to Status Quo, and with Julia Davis in the cult TV sitcom Nighty Night as perverted new-age sex therapist Jacques. In 2007, he appeared in the final two episodes of Life on Mars as Frank Morgan, an interim DCI in 1973 sequences, and Sam's (John Simm's) surgeon in 2006 sequences.
Brown played Sarah Solemani's Dad in Him & Her, which began airing in 2010. From 2010 through 2014 Brown appeared on the BBC Three comedy Him & Her. In 2012, he worked on Inspector George Gently with Martin Shaw, The Poison Tree for ITV, and The Mimic for C4. In 2013, he worked on the aborted Marvin Gaye film Sexual Healing directed by Julian Temple, and the ABC series The Assets in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2014, he shot Babylon for C4 and Elementary for CBS, followed by TURN: Washington's Spies for AMC, playing General Sir Henry Clinton leader of the redcoats, and then Johann Fennhoff aka Dr Faustus, in Agent Carter for Marvel. As of 2013, he is working on Blacklist.
In June 2016, Brown played the role of Bob Clay in the BBC film Reg.[2]
Theatre
He wrote the play The Long Good Friday, which premiered 24 April 2010 and ran in the West End for several weeks.
The No-Neck Monsters Theatre Company brought the playwright and actor to Washington, D.C. from London to adapt his 1987 Samuel Beckett award winning new play Sanctuary.[3] Re-written as a rap musical for the "No Necks", the show became a successful and controversial production capturing homelessness, runaways and crack hitting the streets of D.C. Scott Davenport Richards wrote the music for the rap musical and it was directed by Gwendolyn Wynne.[3] The first rap musical in the region The Washington Post, NPR, American Theatre Magazine and McNeil/Lehrer Newshour amongst others reported on the production.[4] The production was nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards:[5] Outstanding Resident Musical, Outstanding Lead Actress (Deidre L. Johnson) in a Resident Musical, and Outstanding Sound Design. Performers featured were Teagle F. Bougere, Erik Todd Dellums, Paul G. Griffin, Deidra L. Johnson, Helen Patton and Barbara Robinson
Personal life
Brown has been married to actress Jenny Jules since 1992.[1] He is a member of a Brighton-based Beach Boys tribute band, the Brighton Beach Boys.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | The Merry Wives of Windsor | John | TV Film |
| 1984 | The Hit | Second Man | |
| 1985 to 1986 | The Bill | P.C. Muswell | TV |
| 1986 | London's Burning: The Movie | Second Policeman | TV Film |
| 1987 | Withnail & I | Danny | |
| 1988 | Screenplay | Insp. Drury | TV |
| Buster | Ronnie Biggs | ||
| Christabel | Lange | TV Film | |
| 1989 | Scandal | Paul Mann | |
| Rules of Engagement | Mick Rendall | TV Mini-Series | |
| Diamond Skulls also known as Dark Obsession | Jack | ||
| 1990 | Mistress of Suspense | TV | |
| 1991 | 4 Play | Archie Heckle | TV |
| Impromptu | Eugène Delacroix | ||
| The Pope Must Die | Doctor | ||
| 1992 | Van der Valk | Inspector Rep | TV |
| Alien 3 | Francis Aaron ("85") | ||
| The Crying Game | Dave | ||
| Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Peter Mullin | TV | |
| 1993 | Undercover Blues | Leamington | |
| Between the Lines | D.A.C. John Convey | TV | |
| Wayne's World 2 | Del Preston | ||
| 1994 | Don't Get Me Started | Larry Swift | |
| Requiem Apache | Mick | TV Film | |
| 1995 | Devil's Advocate | Demagio | TV Film |
| 1996 | A Touch of Frost | Captain Carlisle | TV |
| Dalziel and Pascoe | Sam Connon | TV | |
| Karaoke | Peter Beasley | TV | |
| Cold Lazarus | Peter Beasley | TV | |
| 1997 | The Place of the Dead | Sgt Bob Mann | TV Film |
| Ivanhoe | Prince John | TV Mini-Series | |
| Jonathan Creek | Roy Pilgrim | TV | |
| Amistad | Lieutenant Gedley | ||
| 1998 | Up 'n' Under | Phil | |
| A Respectable Trade | Dr. Hadley | TV Mini-Series | |
| 1999 | Peak Practice | Stephen Westwood | TV |
| The Last Train | Jonathan Geddes | TV | |
| Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace | Ric Olié | ||
| Cleopatra | Guevarius | TV Mini-Series | |
| Extremely Dangerous | Joe Connor | TV | |
| 2000 | Lexx | Duke | TV |
| New Year's Day | Mr. Diamond | ||
| Lock, Stock... | Miami Vice | TV | |
| 2001 | NCS: Manhunt | Ray du Barriatte | TV Film |
| The Grimleys | Frankie Fate | TV | |
| Waking the Dead | Mike Coleman | TV | |
| Last Run | Simon | ||
| Mean Machine | Burton | ||
| 2002 | NCS: Manhunt | Ray du Barriatte | TV |
| A Tribute to the Likely Lads | Gary | TV Film | |
| The Final Curtain | Timothy (Channel Controller) | ||
| 2003 | The Agency | Andrei Kachan | TV |
| I'll Be There | Digger | ||
| 2004 | Exorcist: The Beginning | Sergeant Major | |
| Lawless | Phil Howell | TV Film | |
| 2005 | Big Dippers | Dave | TV Film |
| Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist | Sergeant Major | ||
| Puritan | Mickey Conway | ||
| Stoned | Gysin | ||
| Nighty Night | Jacques | TV | |
| Spooks | Paul Seymour | TV | |
| Coronation Street | Barney | TV | |
| 2006 | Cattle Drive | Truesdale | TV |
| Eragon | Psychic Twins | Additional Scene | |
| Modern Toss | TV | ||
| 2007 | Cold Blood | Bob Massum | TV Film |
| Flood | Mel's Dad | ||
| Life on Mars | Frank Morgan | TV | |
| Straightheads | Jamie | ||
| The Contractor | Jeremy Collins | Direct-to-Video Film | |
| Cape Wrath | Wintersgill | TV | |
| Nearly Famous | Dominic Soloman | TV | |
| 2008 | Caught in the Act | Joep | |
| 2009 | The Boat That Rocked | DJ Bob | |
| 2010 | The Guards | Sutton | TV Film |
| Mission London | Detective Collway | ||
| The Kid | Gordon Peters | ||
| Sus | Karn | ||
| Huge | |||
| Copelia | Hathaway | Short | |
| 2010–2013 | Him & Her | Nigel | TV |
| 2011 | The Trigger | Gamekeeper | Short |
| Killing Bono | Leo | ||
| Dark Tide | Brady | ||
| 2012 | I, Anna | George Stone | |
| Tower Block | Neville | ||
| 2013 | Stoker | Sheriff Howard | |
| 2015 | Agent Carter | Dr. Fennhoff / Ivchenko | 4 episodes |
| The Blacklist | Roger Hobbs | "The Longevity Initiative" | |
| Legends | Terrence Graves | 10 episodes | |
| 2016 | Reg | Bob Clay | TV Movie |
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Ralph Brown Biography (1957–)". filmreference.com.
- ↑ "BBC One: Reg". BBC Online. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
- 1 2 Brown, Joe (December 6, 1988). "The Washington Post". "Sanctuary: Worthy but Unresolved".
- ↑ Greer, Ann (January 1, 1989). "American Theatre Magazine". "Rap Musical About D.C's Homeless, Ralph Brown's Sanctuary crosses the Atlantic".
- ↑ Brown, Joe (March 22, 1989). "The Washington Post". "Arena Top Hayes Nominee, Local Theater Awards Contenders Announced".