Michael Praed

Michael Praed (/ˈpreɪd/ PRAYD;^[1] born Michael David Prince, 1 April 1960 in Berkeley, Gloucestershire) is a British actor, probably best known for his role as Robin of Loxley (Robin Hood) in the British television series Robin of Sherwood, which attained cult status worldwide in the 1980s. However, the actor is also recognized for his role as Prince Michael of Moldavia on the American primetime soap Dynasty, Phileas Fogg in The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, and various films. Additionally, Praed is known in his native Britain for his stage work (both in musicals and straight drama) and lately for his narrations. He has been the regular narrator for BBC's history programme Timewatch since 2003. In July 2009, he starred as Captain Von Trapp in the UK National Tour of The Sound of Music. He was educated at the independent school Eastbourne College.

Stage name

"Praed" is an old Cornish word for "meadow". Praed picked it out of a telephone book and selected it as a stage name after discovering that the UK actors' trade union Equity already had a "Michael Prince" among its members.^[1]

Selected credits

Television

• Robin of Loxley in Robin of Sherwood (1983–84)
• Prince Michael of Moldavia in Dynasty (1985–86)
• Jake Lovell in the mini-series Riders (1993)
• Marty James in Crown Prosecutor (1995)
• Phileas Fogg in The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (1999)
• Michael Webb in Mile High (2003)
• Nelson Morris in Hindenburg: The Untold Story (Canadian title) (2007)
• In addition, guest appearances in more than a dozen television shows (1982–present)

Stage

• Frederick in the Joseph Papp production of the musical The Pirates of Penzance, Theatre Royal Drury Lane - London (1982–83)
• D'Artagnan in the revival of Rudolf Friml's The Three Musketeers, Broadway Theatre - New York City (1985)
• Billy Bigelow in a revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, Tivoli Theatre - Dublin (1991)
• Alex in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Aspects of Love at the Prince of Wales Theatre - London (1991–92)
• Mick in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker at the Nottingham Playhouse - Nottingham (1993)
• Evan Davies in Daphne du Maurier's September Tide with Susannah York at the Comedy Theatre - London (1994)
• Otto in Noël Coward's Design for Living with Rachel Weisz at the Gielgud Theatre - London (1995)
• Tony/Stephen in Barry Manilow's Copacabana: The Musical, first tour of Britain (1996–97)
• Jack Locke in Dangerous to Know, tour of Britain (1998)
• Michael Wiley in Susan Stroman's musical Contact with Leigh Zimmerman at the Queen's Theatre - London (2002–03)
• Bernard Kersal in Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife, tour of Britain (2003).
• Theodore Hoffman in Carl Djerassi's Three on a Couch with Leigh Zimmerman at The King's Head Theatre - London (2004)
• F Scott Fitzgerald in the musical Beautiful and Damned at the Lyric Theatre - London (2004)
• Paul Sheldon in Misery with Susan Penhaligon at The King's Head Theatre - London (2006)
• Tom Madison in Brian Stewart's Killing Castro, tour of Britain (2006)
• Neil in Derek Lister’s Blue on Blue, Haymarket Theatre - Basingstoke (2006)
• Milo Tindle in Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth with Simon MacCorkindale, tour of Britain (2008)
• Sir Robert Chiltern in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband with Kate O'Mara, Carol Royle, Robert Duncan, Fenella Fielding, and Tony Britton, tour of Britain (2008)
• Randall Kelly in James Farewell's The Murder Game with Josefina Gabrielle at The King's Head Theatre - London (2009)
• Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music with Connie Fisher and Margaret Preece - UK National Tour (2009–2011)
• Dexter Haven in High Society with Sophie Bould, Daniel Boys and Alex Young - UK National Tour and Ireland (January - August 2013)
• John Greenwood in The White Carnation with Benjamin Whitrow, Robert Benfield and Tony Dale - Jermyn Street Theatre, London (February 2014)
• Charles Stanton in J.B. Priestleys Dangerous Corner with Colin Buchanan, Kim Thomson, Matt Milne, Lauren Drummond, Rosie Armstrong and Finty Williams, tour of Britain (September - November 2014)

Film

• Royd Erris in an adaptation of George R. R. Martin's Nightflyers (1987)
• Max Schrek in the vampire flick Son of Darkness: To Die For 2 (1991)
• Andrew in Writer's Block with Morgan Fairchild (1991)
• Gary in Staggered with Martin Clunes (1994)
• The Hitman in Darkness Falls with Ray Winstone (1999)
• The Queen in Nine Dead Gay Guys (2002)
• Himself in the documentary The King's Head: A Maverick in London (2006)

Audio

• Narrated Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch for Erotic Classics (1989, reissued 1994)
• Professor Slyde in the Big Finish audio drama Doctor Who: The Dark Flame (2003)
• Narrated Caroline Lawrence's The Roman Mysteries audio books (2004–05)
• Narrated Stephen Clarke's A Year In The Merde (2005)
• Narrated Paul Stewart's Beyond the Deepwoods (2005)
• Narrator of BBC TV's The Wild West documentary mini-series (2007)
• Soris in the B7 Media/SciFi Channel UK podcast of the Blake's 7 adventure Rebel (2007)
• Co-narrator on the Oneword radio series Mills & Boon at the Weekend (2006–2008)
• Ladiver in the Big Finish audio drama adaptation of the 1960s Doctor Who stage play, The Curse of the Daleks (2008)
• Regular narrator of BBC TV's Timewatch documentary series (2003–09)

Trivia

Between the ages of 2 and 8 Praed grew up in Iran.^[2]

References

Further reading

Reviews

• Spencer, Charles (2002-10-25). "The Swing's the Thing (review of Contact, Queen's Theatre, London)". The Daily Telegraph. 
• Spencer, Charles (2004-05-11). "Reach for a Sick-Bag – or the Bottle (review of Beautiful and Damned, Lyric Theatre, London)". The Daily Telegraph. 
• Sullivan, John (2004-05-19). "Beautifully Brazen (letter to the editor about Beautiful and Damned)". The Daily Telegraph. 
• Cavendish, Dominic (2005-10-06). "Misery is Pure Pleasure (review of Misery, King's Head, London)". The Daily Telegraph. 
• Spencer, Charles (2006-05-29). "Murder Plot Stretched Too Thin (review of Killing Castro, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford)". The Daily Telegraph. 
• Ramsden, Timothy (2008-04-29). "The old games still work, with or without a police presence. (review of Sleuth, Richmond Theatre, Richmond)". Reviews Gate. 

External links

• Official website of Michael Praed
• Michael Praed at the Internet Movie Database