Matthew Scurfield

Matthew Scurfield: 

Distinctive beaky character actor who crops up in a lot of popular TV from the '70s onward... That's how I would usually kick off one of these little salutes to a character actor, peppering the entry with references to popular cultural touchstones, perhaps TV favourites such as 'The Sweeney', 'Pie In The Sky' or 'The Bill', or marginal roles in popular movies like '1984' (1984), 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark' (1981).  

I get the feeling, though, that Matthew Scurfield has some more interesting stuff going on. 

Playing a KGB agent in the Michael Caine and Lawrence Olivier
spy thriller, 'The Jigsaw Man' (1983)

He certainly has popped up in a bunch of that stuff, but the more I find out about him, the more interesting he seems. I could list a lot of middling '70s-'90s sitcoms and prime-time dramas from 'C.A.T.S. Eyes', 'Wycliffe'  and 'Boon' to 'Ripping Yarns', 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' and 'Educating Marmalade'. Like some other British character actors, he was also rounded up for 'Game Of Thrones'. 
Brought up in an academic household but encumbered with undiagnosed dyslexia, he has tracked back and forth across high, mid and low-brow culture, from hanging out with Syd Barrett and Steven Berkoff to appearing in 'The Bill' and 'Coronation Street'. 

Waving at West London from a Lincoln Continental with
Pete Townshend in the art school project 'Lone Ranger' (1968)

Perhaps a better idea of the man comes from his pre-professional outing in the art school project 'Lone Ranger' (1968) - Storm Thorgerson and Alfreda Benge were also involved - a slightly rambling affair as you might imagine, but worth having a look at [you can see it here].           

Roughing up Ford Prefect (David Dixon) and Arthur Dent (Simon Jones)
in the BBC TV version of 'The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy' 

Giving Arthur some grief in the rebooted 'Minder' 

Still acting, but these days he is principally a counsellor based in Malta. His autobiography 'I Could Be Anyone' looks to be well worth investigating.          

Matthew Scurfield-imdb

Roger Ashton-Griffiths

Roger Ashton-Griffiths:

The name might mean nothing to you, but pale and jowly Roger Ashton-Griffiths has appeared in a number of high-profile films, including Terry Gilliam's 'The Brothers Grimm' and 'Brazil', Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York' (playing Phineas T Barnum), Roman Polanski's 'Pirates', Peter Greenaway's 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' and Woody Allen's 'You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger'.

Originally trained as a singer, he was a member of the ENO before making his TV debut as a red-painted demon in an episode of 'The Young Ones' alongside the late David Rappaport. This seems to have led directly into a steady stream of work from the mid-'80s onwards.  

As Orgo the Demon in 'The Young Ones'

As well as the big cinema names listed above, he was seen in a roll-call of some of the most popular, if not always primetime, television of the last three decades: ' Young Indiana Jones Chronicles', 'Cadfael', 'The Darling Buds of May', 'C.A.T.S. Eyes', 'Lovejoy', 'Grange Hill' and inevitably, 'The Bill'. Recent interesting parts have included 'Torchwood' and that great salvation for the British character actor,  'Game of Thrones' in which he plays high lord something-or-other Mace Tyrell.

In the Matthew Holness short 'A Gun for George' (2011)

As Dr Johnson in 'Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man'

 Other appearances include the very dark comedy short (by 'Garth Marenghi's Darkplace' maverick Matthew Holness) 'A Gun For George'. He is also cast as Alfred Hitchcock in Olivier Dahan's forthcoming 'Grace of Monaco' (2014), which sounds interesting, not least for having Robert Lindsay playing Aristotle Onassis.

Roger Ashton-Griffiths-imdb

Roy Dotrice

Roy Dotrice

A venerable and serious actor, but for some reason, not quite a superstar, despite an acting CV that goes back to WWII and a who's who of co-stars. Although a member of the RSC since it was called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford, he is now probably better known in the US, after moving there in the late '70s. As a result, he can be seen cropping up in the likes of 'Remington Steele', 'Babylon 5', 'The A-Team', 'Hart to Hart', 'Magnum P.I.' and 'Murder She Wrote'. He was also in 'The Equalizer' with Edward Woodward - his real-life son-in-law, husband of his daughter Michelle Dotrice of 'Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em' fame. A recent boost has come through his portrayal of Hallyne in 'Game of Thrones'.

In 'Game of Thrones'

In earlier years, he was a regular on British screens, playing Charles Dickens in the much admired 1976 TV series 'Dickens of London' and appearing in quality stuff like 'Clochemerle', 'The Wars of the Roses' and 'The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes' as Guy Boothby's raffish burglar Simon Carne. As well as a steady stream of television plays, he also found time to appear in fluffier stuff like 'Sykes', 'Space:1999' and even 'Jackanory'.

As the irascible Commissioner Simmonds in 'Space:1999'

As Israel Tonge in the strange 1978 BBC2 Play of the Week,
'Stargazy on Zummerdown' with Toni Arthur

In the execrable 'Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers' (1984)

His film credits also fall into two periods, the Pinewood and the Hollywood. He appears in 'The Criminal' (1960), 'The Heroes of Telemark' (1965), Lionel Bart's 'Lock Up Your Daughters' (1969), and the groovy sci-fi romp 'Toomorrow' (1970), with a bubblegum pop soundtrack by Mark Barkan who wrote the Banana Splits theme. After heading to the states, he lends his gravitas to some big (but not always classy) productions ranging from 'Amadeus (1984) and 'The Scarlet Letter' (1996) to 'Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers' (1984), 'Hellboy II' (2008) and of course the Hulk Hogan classic, 'Suburban Commando' (1991).

Roy Dotrice - imdb

Peter Vaughan

Peter Vaughan:
† Apr 4 1923 – Dec 6 2016

A big man, and something of a giant in the realm of British TV comedy and drama. Emanating an aura of cunning and dead-eyed menace, he is part of the collective consciousness as 'genial' Harry Grout, the Mr Big of Slade Prison in the classic sitcom 'Porridge', forever asking Ronnie Barker's wily, but good-natured Fletcher to run him some little errand. When not in prison blues, he was also Cheryl's dad in 'Citizen Smith' and one of the Fox clan in the tough 1980 drama series 'Fox'.

His acting career stretches back to the mid-'50s and traces a line through most of the cult TV output of the following decades: 'The Saint', 'Adam Adamant Lives!', 'Man In A Suitcase', 'The Avengers', 'The Strange Report', and 'The Protectors'. He also lent his innate gravitas and looming presence to some lavish and heavyweight dramas, such as playing Bill Sikes in an early '60s 'Oliver Twist';  the BBC's 1967 'Great Expectations' (playing Jaggers - the late Ronald Lacey played Orlick); a memorable Long John Silver in 'Treasure Island', and the ruthlessly unprincipled Horace Dorrington in 'The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'. Coming up to date, he is to be seen in stuff ranging from 'Our Friends in The North' to 'Lark Rise to Candleford' and 'Game of Thrones'.

(pictured above in 'The Avengers' episode 'My Wildest Dream'; and in 'The Gold Robbers' with a teenaged Sally Thomsett)

'Eyewitness' (1970) 

In the cinema, notable titles include: 'Village of the Damned' (1960), 'Make Mine Mink' (1960), 'The Punch and Judy Man' (1963), 'Fanatic' - aka 'Die, Die My Darling' (1965), the Boulting brothers comedy 'Rotten to the Core' (1965), 'Straw Dogs' (1971), Ken Russell's 'Savage Messiah' (1972), and Terry Gilliam's 'Time Bandits' (1981) and 'Brazil' (1985).

†Edit: Sad to hear today that the wonderful Peter Vaughan has died. Tue 6th Dec 2016.

Peter Vaughan - imdb profile

James Cosmo

James Cosmo: 

Craggy, red-headed Scottish actor with an extensive and impressive portfolio of work. Emanating an almost palpable Scottishness, he's been an obvious choice for roles ranging from hardcase copper to woad-covered warrior. He's instantly recognisable but, again, it's probably not a name you could easily put your finger on. You'll have seen him in any of quite an array of major films, from 'Battle Of Britain' and 'The Virgin Soldiers' (both 1969) and playing Father Christmas in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' (2005), to an undeniably tartan trio of 'Highlander' (1986), 'Braveheart' (1995) and 'Trainspotting' (1996). 

In the 'UFO' episode 'Reflections in the Water' from 1971

As for TV, it would be surprising if he hadn't popped up in 'Taggart', 'Rab C Nesbitt' and 'Rebus', but he was also seen in dramas such as 'Softly Softly', 'The Onedin Line' and 'Strangers', comedies like 'George & Mildred' and 'Fairly Secret Army', and cult classics 'Doomwatch', 'The Stone Tape', 'UFO' and, what a surprise, 'The Sweeney'. His movie profile has got him into some high-end fantasy shows like 'Merlin' and 'Game of Thrones', and more recently the FX biker drama 'Sons of Anarchy'. Rock solid stuff.

In 'Game of Thrones'

James Cosmo -imdb