Michael Culver

Michael Culver
Born 16 June 1938
Hampstead, London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation Actor
Years active 1956 - present
Spouse(s) Lucinda Curtis (1962 - 1986)
Amanda Ward (? - present)

Michael Culver (born 16 June 1938) is an English actor.[1] He was born in Hampstead, London, the son of actor Roland Culver and casting director Daphne Rye.[2] He was educated at Gresham's School.

Actor

Culver's aunt, father, mother and brother all had theatrical careers. Culver gained experience at the Old Vic, Dundee Rep (performing in 35 plays in 2 years) and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Culver has appeared in several television series in recurring roles, as Squire Armstrong in The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972–74), Major Erwin Brandt in the BBC drama Secret Army (1977–78), crooked banker Ralph Saroyan in the second series of The House of Eliott (1992) and the strict Prior Robert ('Brother Prior') in Cadfael (1994–98).

His guest roles include an episode of The Professionals (1982) as Lawson, Miss Marple "The Moving Finger" (1985) as Edward Symmington and as Sir Reginald Musgrave, in the episode "The Musgrave Ritual" (1986) in the Granada Television series The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

He appeared as Captain Needa in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and played a major part in A Passage to India (1984) as a bigoted police inspector. In 2008, he appeared in a guest role in Sidetracked, the first episode of Wallander. Culver was in the first ever episode of New Tricks in 2003 as a corrupt dinosaur detective.

He performed in three of Tricycle Theatre’s Tribunal Plays: Nuremberg (A distillation of the 1945-46 Nuremberg Trials - of leading Nazi war criminals); Half the Picture (From transcripts from the Scott Inquiry into Arms-to-Iraq - the first play to be performed in the Palace of Westminster.) and The Colour of Justice (The dramatisation of the evidence given during Sir William Macpherson’s inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, his family's search for justice and endemic racism in the police force). They were directed by Nicolas Kent. The Colour of Justice and Half the Picture and were broadcast by the BBC Television.

Activism

Culver protesting during the Stop the War march, Trafalgar Square, 15 March 2008

Culver is a peace activist and supporter of Brian Haw who protested in Parliament Square, opposite the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, from 2001 to 2011. On the day Tony Blair appeared for the first time at the Chilcot Inquiry into the invasion of Iraq, Michael Culver was shown on BBC News (and later used on Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe) outside shouting "If we're going to have a police state, at least organise it properly!"

Theatre

Won Best Touring Production in Theatrical Management Association Awards. Michael Culver played Sir William Macpherson. Casts also included; James Woolley, Jenny Jules, David Robb, Kenneth Bryans, Michael Attwell, Christopher Fox, Tyrone de Rizzio (Neville Lawrence), Yvonne Pascal (Doreen Lawrence), Hugh Simon, Roderic Culver, Robert East, Leon Stewart (Duwayne Brooks), Jeremy Clyde (Michael Mansfield QC), Tim Woodward, Jan Chappell, Thomas Wheatley, Tanveer Ghani and Michael Cochrane.

Michael Culver played Albert Speer. Other cast members included: Michael Cochrane (as Hermann Göring), William Hoyland (as Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel), Jeremy Clyde (as Alfred Rosenberg), Thomas Wheatley (as Rudolf Höss), Richard Heffer and Colin Bruce.

First play to be performed in the Palace of Westminster. Michael Culver (played Gore-Booth and Sir Nicholas Lyell), with Michael Stroud (as Richard Scott), Jan Chappell (as Presiley Baxendale QC), Sylvia Syms (as Margaret Thatcher), William Hoyland (as John Major and Geoffrey Robertson), Jeremy Clyde (as Alan Clark), Raad Rawli (as Alan Moses QC), Thomas Wheatley (as William Waldegrave), Robert East (as J. K. Galbraith and Tristan Garel-Jones) and David Robb (as Michael Heseltine).

Michael Culver played Roald Amundsen. The rest of the cast was: Robert Powell (Captain Robert Falcon Scott), Stephanie Beacham (Kathleen Scott), Bill Stewart (Lieutenant Henry Robertson Bowers, "Birdie"), Donald Gee (Dr Edward Adrian Wilson, "Bill"), Neil Philips (Captain Lawrence Oates, "Titus") and David Troughton (Petty Officer Edgar Evans).

Michael Culver as Lord Goring. Other cast members included: Lucinda Curtis (as Lady Chiltern), Harold Reese, Anthony Howden, Raymond Graham, John Counsell, Jenny Quayle, Mary Kerridge, Wendy Williams and John Humphry.

Michael Culver played Young Macduff. The cast also included: Hubert Gregg, Clive Wood, Donald Burton, Brian Jackson, Colin Baker, Nigel Bennett, Terry Mason, Adrian Scarborough and Heather Sears; Fights directed by Donald Burton.

Michael Culver played The Earl of Harpenden. Others in the cast included: Jeffrey Segal, Doran Godwin, John Stratton, Richard Warwick and Anna Calder-Marshall.

Michael Culver played Mike Danbury. Cast included: June Barry, Peter Sallis, Frank Middlemass, Anthony Sharp and Carol Cleveland.

Michael Culver played Charles. The cast included: Gwen Watford, Gemma Jones, Joyce Carey, Andrew Ray, Carmel McSharry, Michael Goodliffe and Marda Vanne.

Michael Culver played Capt. Wickham. Cast also included: Jack Allen, Petra Davies, Susan Jameson, Terence Longdon and Michael Gaunt.

Michael Culver played Peter Quilpe. Others in the cast included: Hugh Burden, Meg Wynn Owen and Joyce Carey.

Michael Culver played Ellis Petersen. Others in the cast included Charles Hyatt, Ron Randell, John Bentley and Jessie Matthews.

Michael Culver played Charles. The cast also included: Eleanor Bron, Zena Walker, Neil Stacey, June Brown, Michael Gwynn, Sheila Gish, James Aubrey and Sylvia Coleridge.

Michael Culver played Alexander. The cast also included: Robin Bailey, Frances White, Heather Chasen, Paul Eddington and Sheila Burrell.

Cast included: Sean Connery, Barry Foster, Michael Gough, Peter Bayliss, Vivien Merchant, Eileen Way, Gary Watson, Simon Oates and Roy Stewart. Producers: Roger L. Stevens, William Zeckendorf, designer: Boris Aronson, costume designer: Freddy Wittop, composers: Richard Rodney Bennett and Daphne Oram; H. M. Tennent Ltd. At Dundee Repertory Theatre 1959-1961

Casts including; Lucinda Curtis, Edward Fox, Glenda Jackson, Bruce Boa, Jeffery Dench, Ann Way, Nicol Williamson, Jimmy Gardner, Rowena Cooper, Tom Conti, Gawn Grainger, Prunella Scales, Frances White, Patrick Godfrey, Monica Evans, Trevor Martin, William Marlowe and Elizabeth MacLennan.

Shakespeare At the Old Vic Directed by Michael Benthall London with casts including Judi Dench, Coral Browne, Edith Evans, Harry Andrews, John Gielgud, John Neville, Barbara Jefford, Paul Daneman, Harold Innocent, Charles West, Dennis Chinnery, Derek Godfrey, David Waller, James Culliford, Edward Hardwicke, Barrie Ingham, Derek Francis, Ronald Fraser, Adrienne Hill, Colin Spaull and John Humphry.

Michael Culver played the second footman and was the ASM. The cast included: Patrick Newell, Gawn Grainger and Jane Hylton.

Radio and voice work

“Breizh has a problem. The World Cup looms and all eyes are on FRANCE. Down on the estate, something stirs.” Others in the cast: Philip Madoc and Frances Jeater. BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play 30 May 1998 repeated 20 March 1990

Michael Culver voiced Rachmaninoff. Other contributions from Vladimir Ashkenazy (speaker and piano), Jonathan Kydd (Yermakov voice over), Boris Berezovskii (piano), Shura Cherkassky (piano), Mikhail Falkov (tenor), Alexander Fedin (tenor), Joan Rodgers (soprano). With Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorus.

Cast included Anton Lesser (Xavier March), Graham Padden (Krause), Robert Portal (Jost), Peter Ellis (Max Jarger), Thomas Copeland (Pili), Andrew Sachs, Amanda Walker, Patrick Godfrey, Michael Byrne, Ian Gelder, Angeline Ball, William Scott Masson, Stratford Johns, Eleanor Bron, Dan Fineman, Alice Arnold and Trevor Nichols, with Ned Sherrin, Jonathan Coleman and Alan Dedicoat. Goldhawk Radio production. Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9 June 1997

Cast included: Rosalind Shanks and David Neal The play deals with human love and how it is so often impossible for one person to really know another.

Film and television

References

  1. ↑ "Michael Culver". BFI.
  2. ↑ Michael Culver Biography (1938-)

External links