Roy Dotrice
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
When he was 14 and the German army invaded Guernsey Island, Dotrice escaped in a motor boat.
Dotrice's stage and screen credits have earned him many fans--thousands of whom belong to the official Roy Dotrice Fan Association or one of the many "Beauty and the Beast" fan clubs that organize conventions where fans can meet Dotrice in person and discuss his work. Despite his adoring fans, happy family life and successes on both stage and screen, Dotrice insists his greatest accomplishment was actually introducing baseball into what had been a cricket stronghold. He fondly recalls how in 1959 he pitched for his team, which included at first base, Paul Robeson (Othello); second base, Sam Wanamaker (Iago); third base, Laurence Olivier (Coriolanus); short stop, Peter O'Toole (Shylock) with Charles Laughton (King Lear) as plate umpire and Albert Finney as catcher.--Source: Playbill
Biography
Roy Dotrice was a British film, television and stage actor whose wide-ranging career spanned multiple decades and dozens of roles, beginning in the 1950s and lasting well into the late 2000s. Born on the British island of Guernsey, just off the coast of Normandy, Dotrice's young life took a dramatic turn when, at the age of 16, he enlisted in the British Royal Air Force so that he could fight in World War II. As fate would have it, though, Dotrice's plane was shot down in 1942 and he spent the next three years jailed against his will in a German prisoner of war camp. It was during his imprisonment that Dotrice first learned he had a talent for performance. To cheer up the spirits of his fellow prisoners he would put on impromptu concerts that were always well-received. After the war ended Dotrice decided to pursue a career as a professional performer, and after working as a voice-over actor for a BBC comedy series, he began studying acting in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. By the 1950s he was appearing in numerous plays on Broadway, and would eventually go on to win a Tony Award for his role in a Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neil's "A Moon for the Misbegotten." By the late 1950s Dotrice was appearing on television in various bit parts. His first major role came in 1965 when he played King Edward IV on the BBC mini-series "The War of the Roses" (1965-66). He would go on to appear in dozens of more TV shows in the ensuing decades, among them "Dickens of London" (Yorkshire Television, 1976), "Beauty and the Beast" (CBS, 1987-1990) and "Picket Fences" (CBS, 1992-96). His acting career remained vital as he reached his 70s and 80s. In the 2000s he appeared in a number of TV shows, as well as the films "These Foolish Things" (2005), "Go Go Tales" (2007), and "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (2008). In 2010 it was announced he would be appearing on HBO's blockbuster fantasy series "Game of Thrones" (HBO, 2011- ), but Dotrice, who was already in his late 80s at the time, had to drop out due to health reasons. Still, he was able to play Hallyne on two episodes of the series that aired in 2012. His role on "Game of Thrones" would prove to be Dotrice's last on-screen credit. Roy Dotrice died on October 16, 2017 in London. He was 94.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1945
Made his London stage debut in "Back Home Revue", a benefit for the Red Cross performed by former prisoners of war
1955
Founded Guernsey Repertory Theatre; left in 1957
1964
Made his film debut in "Heroes of Telemark"
1965
Starred in acclaimed TV special "The Caretaker"
1967
Starred in one-person show, "Brief Lives," Hempstead Theatre Club, London; reprised show on Broadway in 1968
1968
Headlined TV production of "Brief Lives" (BBC)
1969
Starred in "Lock Up Your Daughters"
1971
Played featured role of a Russian general in the epic "Nicholas and Alexandra"
1977
Played Charles Dickens in "Dickens in London", a biographical drama aired on PBS' "Masterpiece Theater"
1980
Appeared on Broadway in the one-person drama "Mr. Lincoln" at the Morosco Theater; reprised on NBC's "Hallmark Hall of Fame" the following year
1981
Starred in "A Life" at Broadway's Morosco Theatre; earned Tony nomination
1983
Starred in the title role of "Churchill", performed in L.A.
1984
Cast as Mozart's father in the Oscar-winning "Amadeus"
1986
Portrayed British monarch George IV in the syndicated miniseries "Shaka Zulu"
1987
Was a series regular on the cult CBS drama "Beauty and the Beast", portraying the recluse who raised Vincent, the titular beast
1987
Cast as Arthur Conan Doyle in the ABC biopic "Young Harry Houdini"
1992
Portrayed the coach of skaters training for the Olympics in "The Cutting Edge"
1992
Starred as a maverick doctor who founded his own medical school in the Caribbean in the short-lived ABC series "Going to Extremes"
1993
Played recurring role of a Catholic priest on the award-winning CBS drama series "Pickett Fences"
1995
Acted in the ill-fated remake of "The Scarlet Letter"
1996
Had recurring role of Mr. Big on the short-lived CBS spy series "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"
2000
Co-starred on stage in "A Moon for the Misbegotten", featuring Cherry Jones and Gabriel Byrne; earned Tony as Featured Actor in a Play
2000
Reteamed with Byrne as co-stars of the short-lived ABC sitcom "Madigan Men"
2005
Was cast as Frank Buchanan on the short-lived "Life Begins"
2008
Played King Balor in Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army"
2012
Had final role as Hallyne on HBO's "Game of Thrones"
Videos
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
When he was 14 and the German army invaded Guernsey Island, Dotrice escaped in a motor boat.
Dotrice's stage and screen credits have earned him many fans--thousands of whom belong to the official Roy Dotrice Fan Association or one of the many "Beauty and the Beast" fan clubs that organize conventions where fans can meet Dotrice in person and discuss his work. Despite his adoring fans, happy family life and successes on both stage and screen, Dotrice insists his greatest accomplishment was actually introducing baseball into what had been a cricket stronghold. He fondly recalls how in 1959 he pitched for his team, which included at first base, Paul Robeson (Othello); second base, Sam Wanamaker (Iago); third base, Laurence Olivier (Coriolanus); short stop, Peter O'Toole (Shylock) with Charles Laughton (King Lear) as plate umpire and Albert Finney as catcher.--Source: Playbill
