Brian Cox

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This article is about the actor. For the physicist, see Brian Cox (physicist). For the football player, see Bryan Cox.

Brian Denis Cox, CBE (born June 1, 1946 in Dundee, Scotland) is a Scottish actor, notable for being the first actor to play Hannibal Lecter, a role he took in the Michael Mann film Manhunter (in which the character's surname was spelt 'Lecktor'). Both of Cox's parents were of Irish Catholic descent.

Cox was trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He made his first television appearance as an extra in several episodes of The Prisoner in 1967 before taking a lead role in Year of the Sex Olympics the next year. In 1978, he played King Henry II of England in the acclaimed BBC2 drama serial, The Devil's Crown, following which he starred in many other television dramas. His first film appearance was as Leon Trotsky in Nicholas and Alexandra in 1971.

In 1995, he appeared in both Rob Roy and Braveheart. His notable recent films include L.I.E., The Ring, X2, Troy and The Bourne Supremacy.

He usually plays villains, such as a rogue colonel in X2, the tyrannical Agamemnon in Troy, Pariah Dark in the Danny Phantom television movie Reign Storm, devious CIA officials in the Bourne films and Chain Reaction, and even lent his voice for the role of a snuff film director in the video game Manhunt. He has on occasion played more sympathetic characters, such as Edward Norton's father in 25th Hour, a fatherly police superior in Super Troopers and Rachel McAdams' father in Red Eye.

Cox won an Emmy Award in 2001 for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in the television mini-series Nuremberg, which starred Alec Baldwin, who played former Supreme Court Justice and Nuremberg prosecutor Robert H. Jackson. Cox currently stars in a supporting role as Jack Langrishe in the HBO series Deadwood.

Cox is currently currently filming "Red," based on Jack Ketchum's novel and directed by Lucky McKee. It also stars Tom Sizemore, Amanda Plummer and Angela Bettis among others.

[edit] Trivia

• His son, Alan Cox, is also an actor, best known for his role in Young Sherlock Holmes.
• He is a diabetic and has worked to promote a diabetes research facility in his home town of Dundee.
• During the production of Manhunter, while he was playing Hannibal Lecktor, Anthony Hopkins was playing King Lear on stage at the National Theatre. Years later, during the production of The Silence of the Lambs, when Hopkins took over as Hannibal Lecter, Cox was playing King Lear at the National Theatre.
• Cox was to play the lion Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but was replaced by Liam Neeson.
• He never views or watches his own work.
• Patron of THE SPACE training facility for actors and dancers in his native Dundee.

[edit] Selected filmography

• Zodiac (2007).... Melvin Belli
• Running with Scissors (2006)
• Red Eye (2005)
• The Ringer (2005)
• Match Point (2005)
• The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
• Troy (2004)
• X2 (2003)
• 25th Hour (2002)
• Adaptation. (2002)
• The Ring (2002)
• The Bourne Identity (2002)
• The Rookie (2002)
• The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
• L.I.E. (2001)
• Super Troopers (2001)
• Mad About Mambo (2000)
• The Corruptor (1999)
• The Minus Man (1999)
• Rushmore (1998)
• Desperate Measures (1998)
• Kiss the Girls (1997)
• The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
• The Glimmer Man (1996)
• Chain Reaction (1996)
• Braveheart (1995)
• Rob Roy (1995)
• Sharpe (Sharpe's Eagle) (1993) (TV)
• Sharpe (Sharpe's Rifles) (1993) (TV)
• Hidden Agenda (1990)
• Manhunter (1986)
• King Lear (1984) (TV)
• Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)

[edit] External links

• Brian Cox at the Internet Movie Database
• The Times Interview 06/2006