English actor
Michael Kitchen
Born Michael Roy Kitchen
Occupation(s) Actor, television producer Years active 1966–present
Michael Roy Kitchen is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle in the ITV drama Foyle's War , which comprised eight series between 2002 and 2015. He also played the role of Bill Tanner in two James Bond films opposite Pierce Brosnan , and that of John Farrow in BBC Four 's comedy series Brian Pern .
Early life
Michael Roy Kitchen was born in Leicester , to parents Arthur and Betty Kitchen.[1] He attended the City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School ,[1] where he appeared on stage in a production of Cymbeline .[1] An opportunity arose when Leicester City Council offered him a grant to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London,[1] which he gratefully accepted, graduating in 1969, with an Acting (RADA Diploma).[2]
He was an only son. He grew up at 102 Wilberforce Rd, west of the current DE Montfort campus. He was a senior scout in the 57th Leicester Scout group.[3] Aged 15, He was selected to a few weeks training at the National Youth Theatre.[4] He completed a year after school at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry.[5]
Career
Television and film
Kitchen's film career started in 1971 with an appearance in the film Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971),[6] and the Hammer film Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972).[6]
His early TV appearances include roles in Man at the Top (episode 4 "The Prime of Life", 1970),[7] Play for Today (Hell's Angels by David Agnew , 1971),[7] Thriller (1976),[7] The Brontes of Haworth (1973,[7] in which he played Branwell Brontë), Tales of the Unexpected [7] and Beasts .[7] He played the role of Martin in the original 1976 production of Dennis Potter 's Brimstone and Treacle ,[7] Peter in Stephen Poliakoff 's Caught on a Train ,[7] Edmund in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of King Lear ,[7] the Antipholi in the same series' production of The Comedy of Errors , Private Bamforth in the 1979 BBC television play of The Long and the Short and the Tall .[7] Also in 1979 Kitchen appeared in an episode ("Runner") of the hard-hitting police drama The Professionals .[8] He played the role of Duffy, a renegade former member of an organised crime network.[9]
His other roles at this time include Larner in the film Breaking Glass (1980),[7] Rochus Misch in The Bunker (1981),[6] Berkeley Cole in the film Out of Africa (1985),[6] the King in To Play the King (1993), a performance for which he was nominated for a BAFTA,[6] an English land agent during the Irish Famine in The Hanging Gale (1995), for which he won a Golden FIPA award in 1996, and a recurring role as Bill Tanner in the Bond films GoldenEye (1995)[6] and The World Is Not Enough (1999).[7]
His later films include The Russia House (1990),[7] Fools of Fortune (1990),[7] Enchanted April (1992),[7] The Trial (1993),[6] Fatherland (1994),[7] Doomsday Gun (1994),[7] The Hanging Gale (1995),[7] Kidnapped (1995),[7] Mrs Dalloway (1997), The Railway Children (2000),[6] Proof of Life (2000),[7] Lorna Doone (2001)[6] and My Week with Marilyn (2011).[10]
Between 2002 and 2015, he starred in the award-winning ITV mystery-drama Foyle's War as the lead character Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle;[11] he was also a producer for the show, which comprised eight series.[7] His other noted appearances include The Buccaneers as Sir Helmsley Thwaite (1995), Dandelion Dead (1994), A Royal Scandal (1996),[7] The Last Contract (Sista Kontraktet , 1998)[7] a Swedish film about the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme , Paul Abbott 's Alibi in 2003,[7] Andrew Davies ' dramatisation of Falling in 2005,[7] ITV's three-part drama series Mobile (2007)[7] and Channel 4 's phone hacking comedy telemovie Hacks (2012).[12] [13]
Kitchen has guest-starred in roles in other popular British television shows such as Minder ,[6] Chancer , Inspector Morse ,[6] A Touch of Frost ,[6] Between the Lines ,[7] Pie in the Sky [7] and Dalziel and Pascoe .[6] He played Richard Crane in Reckless [7] and John Farrow in the mockumentary The Life of Rock with Brian Pern .[7]
Theatre
Kitchen is also a noted theatre actor. His roles have ranged from Ptolemy in Caesar and Cleopatra at the Belgrade Theatre in 1966, to Will in Howard Brenton 's Magnificence at the Royal Court in 1973, to William Hogarth in Nick Dear 's The Art of Success in 1986–87.[14] [15]
He played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet for the RSC at Stratford and was a member of the National Theatre Company and the Young Vic, where he played Iago in Othello . In 1974 he appeared at Laurence Olivier 's National Theatre in the play Spring Awakening opposite Peter Firth , Jenny Agutter , Beryl Reid and Cyril Cusack . Later he appeared opposite Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud in Harold Pinter 's No Man's Land , directed by Peter Hall .[16] In 1981 he played Melchior, the manservant of Zangler, in Tom Stoppard 's play On the Razzle .[17] In 1984 he played the cabin steward Dvornicheck in Stoppard's play Rough Crossing .[18] [19]
Filmography
Film
Television
Year
Title
Role
Notes
1970
Thirty-Minute Theatre
Waller
1 episode: Is That Your Body?
1971
Man at the Top
Trevor
1 episode: The Prime of Life
Z-Cars
Royal Hall
2 episodes
1972
ITV Sunday Night Theatre
1 episode: The Web
New Scotland Yard
Peter Coppard
1 episode: Hoax
1973
Country Matters
Henry Batley
1 episode: The Four Beauties
Late Night Theatre
Paul
1 episode: Susan
Crime of Passion
Philippe Villon
1 episode: Chantal
The Brontes of Haworth
Branwell Brontë
4 episodes
Orson Welles Great Mysteries
Herbert White
1 episode: The Monkey's Paw
Love Story
Roy
1 episode: Audrey had a Little Lamb
Marked Personal
Simon
2 episodes
1974
Fall of Eagles
Leon Trotsky
2 episodes
Seven Faces of Woman
Archie
1 episode
Thriller
Ian/George Newton
2 episodes
1975
Centre Play
The Student
1 episode: The Imp of the Perverse
Churchill's People
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
1 episode
1979
The Professionals
Duffy
1 Episode: "Runner"
1981
Tales of the Unexpected
Arthur
S4 E4: The Best of Everything
1984
Weekend Playhouse
Ed
1 episode: As Man and Wife
Freud
Ernst von Fleischi-Marxow
3 episodes
1989
Minder
Maltese Tony
1 episode: Fiddler On The Hoof
The Justice Game
Tim Forsythe
4 episodes
Theatre Night
David
1 episode: Benefactors
Screen One
Bill English
1 episode: Home Run
1991
Chancer
Roman
2 episodes
Mozart on Tour
Reader of Mozart 's letters
13 episodes
1992
Boon
Donald Blake
1 episode: Shot in the Dark
Lovejoy
David Herbert
1 episode: Kids
Inspector Morse
Russell Clark
1 episode: The Death of the Self
1993
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
Lloyd George
1 episode: Paris, May 1919
The Good Guys
Graham Croxley
1 episode: Old School Ties
To Play the King
The King
4 episodes
1994
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
Polixenes/ Narrator
2 episodes
Dandelion Dead
Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong
4 episodes
Pie in the Sky
Dudley Hooperman
1 episode The Best of Both Worlds
1995
The Buccaneers
Sir Helmsley Thwaite
5 episodes
The Hanging Gale
Captain William Townsend
4 episodes
1996
A Touch of Frost
Jonathan Meyerbridge
1 episode: The Things We Do for Love (1996)
1997
Harry Enfield and Chums
David the Director
1 episode #2.6
Reckless
Richard Crane
6 episodes
Sunnyside Farm
Letchworth
6 episodes
1998
Dalziel and Pascoe
Philip Swain
- Bones and Silence (1998)
1999
Oliver Twist
Mr Brownlow
4 episodes
1999-2002
Always and Everyone
Jack Turner
18 episodes
2000
Masterpiece Classic
Father
episode: The Railway Children
The Holocaust on Trial
Prof. Richard Evans
The Secret World of Michael Fry
Herbie
2 episodes
2000–2006
Faking It
Narrator
7 seasons
2001
Second Sight
Lord Bruce Roddam
Episode: "Parasomnia", (Parts 1 & 2)
2002–2015
Foyle's War
Christopher Foyle
28 episodes
2003
Faking It USA
Narrator
2003
Alibi
Greg Brentwood
TV film
2007
Mobile
David West
episode: The Soldier
2012
White Heat
Jack (Present Day)
episode: The Sea of Trees
2012
Hacks
Stanhope Feast
2014
The Life of Rock with Brian Pern
John Farrow
8 episodes
2016
The Collection
Frederic Lemaire
The Scent (2016)
2017
Brian Pern
John Farrow
2020
The Kemps: All True
Harvey Stickles
2023
The Kemps: All Gold
John Farrow
References
^ a b c d Pat Lidiker (13 August 1992). "Three Stitches in Time, Michael Kitchen interview" . Leicester Mercury . nothing-fancy.com. Retrieved 19 March 2015 .
^ "Michael Kitchen Acting (RADA Diploma) Year of graduation 1969" . rada.ac.uk . 1969. Retrieved 13 May 2023 .
^ Leicester Chronicle Friday 27 December 1963, page 3
^ Leicester Mercury Tuesday 21 July 1964, page 9
^ Leicester Mercury Thursday 11 May 1967, page 20
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Michael Kitchen credits" . tvguide.com . Archived from the original on 13 May 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad "Michael Kitchen" . BFI . Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2023 .
^ "The Professionals - S3 - Episode 5: Runner" . Radio Times .
^ Campbell, Martin (8 December 1979), Runner , The Professionals, retrieved 4 February 2023
^ "Michael Kitchen | Movies and Filmography" . AllMovie .
^ "Michael Kitchen | TV, Documentary and Other Appearances" . AllMovie .
^ Hacks at IMDb
^ "Hacks" . Archived from the original on 7 January 2012.
^ "Magnificence" . Concord Theatricals .
^ "Michael Kitchen | Theatricalia" . theatricalia.com .
^ "ROB WILTON THEATRICALIA - National Theatre 1970s" . Phyllis.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2014 .
^ On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard. Published 1981 by Faber and Faber, Ltd. ISBN 0-571-11835-6
^ Rough Crossing by Tom Stoppard. Published 1985 by Faber and Faber, Ltd. ISBN 0-571-13595-1
^ "Rough Crossing" . Sff.net. Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2014 .
External links
Acting roles
Preceded by
Bill Tanner actorfrom the James Bond films 1995 – '99
Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Father" actorfrom The Railway Children 2000
Most recent
International National Artists Other