Ian McNeice (born 2 October 1950) is an English film and television actor, best known for playing Bert Large in the dramedy Doc Martin. He found fame portraying government agent Harcourt in the 1985 television series Edge of Darkness, and went on to feature in popular films such as The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Frank Herbert's Dune.
Ian McNeice | |
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![]() McNeice in 2009 | |
Born | Basingstoke, Hampshire, England | 2 October 1950
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1977-present |
Television | B&B (1992) Doc Martin (2004–2022) Rome (2005–2007) Doctor Who (2010–2011) |
Spouse | Katie Nicholls (separated) |
Children | 3 |
He has also played the Newsreader in historical drama Rome (2005–2007) and Winston Churchill in Doctor Who (2010–2011).
Early life and education
editMcNeice was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire. His acting training started at the Taunton School in Somerset, followed by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and two years at the Salisbury Playhouse. The next few years were spent in theatre, including a four-year period with the Royal Shakespeare Company and a production of Nicholas Nickleby on Broadway.[1][2]
Career
editMcNeice's television breakthrough was as Harcourt in the award-winning series Edge of Darkness. He played the alcoholic sous chef Gustave LaRoche on the television series Chef!, and went on to appear in the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune as the evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, a role he later reprised for the 2003 sequel Children of Dune. His television appearances have included all ten series of Doc Martin, in which he plays Bert Large, series 4 episode 4 of Midsomer Murders, and the third episode of the second series of Lewis. He appears as the Newsreader in the HBO/BBC production Rome and as the Mr. Tapling of the British diplomatic service in Hornblower - The Examination for Lieutenant.[citation needed]
McNeice has also appeared in a number of films, including 84 Charing Cross Road, Day of the Dead, No Escape, From Hell and The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain.[3] His breakthrough into American films occurred when he played Fulton Greenwall in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). He played the Nazi Gerhard Klopfer in the 2001 BBC/HBO television film Conspiracy.[4]
Since then, he has been in Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and the 2005 supernatural thriller White Noise.[5] He also appeared as Potiphar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.[citation needed]
McNeice gave his distinctive voice and accent to voice-acting roles like the Vogon character Kwaltz, director of the Vogon Constructor Fleet, in the 2005 film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In 2007, he made his Doctor Who debut when he guest-starred as villain Zeus in the Big Finish BBC Digital Radio 7 drama Immortal Beloved. He had a cameo role as Joachim von Kortzfleisch, a German general who refused to put his troops under the command of officers plotting to depose Hitler's government, in Valkyrie.[6]
McNeice was initially cast in the role of Illyrio Mopatis in the HBO pilot of Game of Thrones, but because of scheduling conflicts the role was then given to Roger Allam.[7] McNeice appeared as Winston Churchill[8] in four episodes of Doctor Who in 2010 and 2011; he had previously played Churchill in the 2008 premiere production of the Howard Brenton play Never So Good, and later played him again in the 2012 stage version of The King's Speech.[9]
McNeice also starred as The Architect in the 2017 independent feature film, The House of Screaming Death.[10][11][12]
Personal life
editMcNeice has three children.[13]
Selected filmography
editYear | Title | Role | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1982 | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | Wackford Squeers / Scaley / Croupier | TV series | |
1983 | The Cleopatras | Alexander | TV series | |
1983 | Grizzly II: The Concert | Bernie | ||
1983 | Voice Over | "Fats" Bannerman | ||
1984 | Minder | Eric Morgan | Episode: "Rocky Eight and a Half" | |
1984 | Top Secret! | Blind souvenir salesman | ||
1985 | The Optimist | Thug | Episode: "The Light Fantastic" | |
1985 | Edge of Darkness | Harcourt | TV Mini-Series | |
1986 | Whoops Apocalypse | Thrush | ||
1987 | Personal Services | Harry | ||
1987 | 84 Charing Cross Road | Bill Humphries | ||
1987 | Cry Freedom | Uncredited | ||
1987 | The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne | Bernard Rice | ||
1987 | Sputniks, Bleeps and Mr.Perry | Geoffrey Perry | TV drama/documentary | |
1987 | A Perfect Spy | Sefton Boyd | ||
1988 | The Raggedy Rawney | Farmer | ||
1989 | Valmont | Azolan | ||
1989 | Around the World in 80 Days | Batcular | TV Mini-Series | |
1990 | 1871 | Prince of Wales | ||
1990 | The Russia House | Merrydew | ||
1991 | Secret Friends | First Businessman | ||
1991 | Lovejoy | Gervais Rackham | ||
1991 | Inspector Wexford, Ruth Rendell Mysteries - Episode "Murder Once Being Done" | Ivan Teal | ||
1991 | Miss Pym's Day Out | Vicar of Finstock | ||
1992 | Year of the Comet | Ian | ||
1992 | B & B | Horace Gilbert | ||
1992 | The Blackheath Poisonings | George Collard | TV film | |
1992 | An Ungentlemanly Act | Dick Baker | TV film | |
1993 | Don't Leave Me This Way | Oscar Ghilardi | ||
1993 | Inspector Morse | Pathologist | TV series | |
1993 | Age of Treason | Casca | TV film | |
1994 | No Escape | King | ||
1994 | The Wimbledon Poisoner | Dent | TV mini series | |
1994 | Pie in the Sky | Barry Wilkes | "Who only stand and wait" S1:E9 | |
1995 | Pie in the Sky | Barry Wilkes | "The Mystery of Pikey" S2:E9 | |
1995 | Funny Bones | Stanley Sharkey | ||
1995 | Sharpe's Battle | Wagonmaster-General Colonel Runciman | TV film | |
1995 | The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain | George Garrad | ||
1995 | Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls | Fulton Greenwall | ||
1996 | Chef! | Gustave LaRoche | TV series | |
1996 | Cadfael: The Devil's Novice | Canon Eluard | TV series | |
1997 | The Beautician and the Beast | Iva Grushinsky | ||
1997 | A Life Less Ordinary | Mayhew | ||
1998 | How to Make the Cruelest Month | Peggy Asks | ||
1998 | Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant | Mr. Tapling | TV film | |
1999 | The Auteur Theory | Sir Maximilian Fair Brown | ||
1999 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Potiphar | ||
1999 | The Cherry Orchard | Pishchik | ||
1999 | A Christmas Carol | Fezziwig | TV film | |
1999 | David Copperfield | Mr. Dick | TV film | |
2000 | Longitude | Astronomer Royal Doctor Nathanial Bliss | TV series | |
2000 | Frank Herbert's Dune | Baron Vladimir Harkonnen | TV miniseries | |
2000 | The Sleeper | Mr. Tarburck | TV film | |
2000 | The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz | Inspector | ||
2000 | Midsomer Murders | "Who Killed Cock Robin", Village doctor | ||
2001 | Anazapta | Bishop | ||
2001 | The Body | Dr. Sproul | ||
2001 | Town & Country | Peter Principal | ||
2001 | Conspiracy | Dr. Gerhard Klopfer | TV film | |
2001 | The Fourth Angel | MI5 officer Lewison | ||
2001 | From Hell | Dr. Robert Drudge | ||
2002 | Amnèsia | Doug Chandler | ||
2002 | Man and Boy | Nigel Batty | ||
2002 | The Final Curtain | Priest | ||
2003 | Chaos and Cadavers | Harry Kane | ||
2003 | Frank Herbert's Children of Dune | Baron Vladimir Harkonnen | TV miniseries | |
2003 | I'll Be There | Graham | ||
2003 | Blackball | Hugh the Sideburns | ||
2004 | Spartacus | Lentulus Batiatus | TV film | |
2004 | Spooks | Judge | Series 3 Episode 6 | |
2004 | Freeze Frame | Forensic Profiler Saul Seger | ||
2004 | Around the World in 80 Days | Colonel Kitchener | ||
2004 | The Rocket Post | Alex Miln | ||
2004 | Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | Quizmaster | ||
2004–2022 | Doc Martin | Bert Large | TV series | |
2005 | White Noise | Raymond Price | ||
2005 | Cherished | Bill Bache | TV film | |
2005 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Kwaltz | Voice | |
2005 | Oliver Twist | Limbkins | ||
2005–2007 | Rome | The Newsreader | TV series | |
2006 | The Black Dahlia | Coroner | ||
2007 | New Tricks | Michael Meadowcroft | Series 4 Episode 8 | |
2008 | Day of the Dead | DJ Paul | ||
2008 | Valkyrie | Joachim von Kortzfleisch | ||
2009 | Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer | Cassius Dio (Historian) | TV film | |
2010–2011 | Doctor Who | Winston Churchill | 4 episodes | |
2010 | Jonathan Creek | Father Roderick Alberic | ||
2012 | Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger | Mr. Peterson Senior | Film | |
2012 | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Mayor Sapsea | TV film | |
2017 | We Are Tourists | Harry | ||
2017 | The Man Who Invented Christmas | Edward Chapman | Film | |
2017 | The House of Screaming Death | The Architect | Film | |
2021 | Foundation | Master Statistician Tivole | Apple TV+ Series | |
2022 | The Sandman | Bartender | Episode: "The Sound of Her Wings" | |
2023 | Napoleon | Louis XVIII | Film |
References
edit- ^ "Ian McNeice". Theatricalia.com.
- ^ "Ian McNeice – Broadway Cast & Staff". IBDb.com.
- ^ "Ian McNeice". 2.bfi.org. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017.
- ^ "Conspiracy (2001)". 2.bfi.org. Archived from the original on 28 March 2018.
- ^ "Ian McNeice | Movies and Filmography". Allmovie.com.
- ^ "Valkyrie (2008) - Bryan Singer | Cast and Crew | AllMovie". Allmovie.com. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ "Illyrio recast". Winter-Is-Coming.net. 16 September 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- ^ "First Smith 'Doctor Who' titles confirmed". Digital Spy. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- ^ "The King's Speech play has its world premiere". BBC News. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
- ^ "April Updates – The House of Screaming Death Completes Post Production". 29 March 2017. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ^ "Top actor Ian McNeice to star in Black Country horror flick". Express & Star. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ^ "House of Screaming Death Completes Post-Production, Celebrates By Releasing 3 New Stills". Horror Society. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ^ "The tragic story behind Ian McNeice's dating and married life, his wife, girlfriend and children" - Hitberry.com