Charles Gray(1928-2000)
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
The son of a surveyor, Charles Gray was born and raised in Queen's Park, Bournemouth. As a young actor, he
received his vocal training from the Royal Shakespeare Company in
Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Old Vic, having long abandoned his first
job as clerk for a real estate agent. His voice was to become one of
his most valuable tools. In fact, from January 1966, he subtly, almost
imperceptibly, dubbed for
Jack Hawkins after this actor
became unable to speak his lines due to throat cancer. In later years,
Gray's trademark voice was regularly heard on television commercials.
Gray's theatrical debut came in 1952 in the part of Charles the
Wrestler (he measured 6 foot, 1 inches in height) in "As You Like It",
appearing under his original name,
'Donald Gray'. From 1956, as 'Charles' Gray (since there already was a one-armed actor named Donald Gray),
he took to leading dramatic roles, and won critical plaudits as
Achilles in "Troilus and Cressida", Macduff in "Macbeth" and as the
gluttonous Sir Epicure Mammon in
Tyrone Guthrie's up-dated version of "The
Alchemist", in 1962. He repeated his Old Vic performance as Henry
Bolingbroke for his Broadway debut at the Winter Garden Theatre in
1956. A notable later performance, while touring the U.S. and Canada,
was as the Prince of Wales in
Peter Stone's tale of the famous
19th century actor Edmund Kean ("Kean", 1961). In 1964, Gray won the
Clarence Derwent Award as Best Supporting Actor for his part in the
controversial play "Poor Bitos", by
Jean Anouilh, co-starring
Donald Pleasence. He was offered his
first role on the big screen, reprising a success on the West End stage
in 1958, as Captain Cyril Mavors,in the satirical musical
Expresso Bongo (1959).
For the next forty years, heavy-set, silver-haired, jut-jawed Charles
Gray used his imposing frame and mellifluous voice to great effect in
creating for the screen a memorable gallery of egocentric, imperious
toffs, and suave, sardonic super-villains. While his performances at
times verged on the camp, Gray cheerfully allowed himself to be cast
within his range of basically unsympathetic characters, which he could
play well and with ease. He tended to favour television as his
preferred medium, though some of his most popular roles were for the
big screen. Among his niche of staple characters were the coldly
pompous military heavies (General Gabler in
The Night of the Generals (1967),
or the perpetually sneering, overbearing upper-class twits
(true-to-form, as defecting spy Hillary Vance in the
Thriller (1973) episode "Night is
the Time for Killing"). At his evil best, he was commanding as the
demonic acolyte Mocata, in
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
and as the feline-stroking, velvety-voiced nemesis of James Bond, Ernst
Stavro Blofeld, in
Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
He was also suitably sinister as Bates the Butler, one of the red
herrings of Agatha Christie's
The Mirror Crack'd (1980).
Gray's recurring roles included Lord Seacroft (senior, as well as
junior) in the short-lived satirical miniseries
The Upper Crusts (1973) as a
down-on-his-heels aristocrat, keeping up appearances after being forced
to live in a high-rise housing estate; and as the sedentary brother of
the famous sleuth at 221b Baker Street, Mycroft, in
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976).
Later, he was utilised as temporary replacement, first for
Edward Hardwicke,and, subsequently, for
the hospitalised star Jeremy Brett, in
Granada Television's various instalments of the Sherlock Holmes saga
(1985-1994). Gray died of cancer in March 2000, aged
71.
received his vocal training from the Royal Shakespeare Company in
Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Old Vic, having long abandoned his first
job as clerk for a real estate agent. His voice was to become one of
his most valuable tools. In fact, from January 1966, he subtly, almost
imperceptibly, dubbed for
Jack Hawkins after this actor
became unable to speak his lines due to throat cancer. In later years,
Gray's trademark voice was regularly heard on television commercials.
Gray's theatrical debut came in 1952 in the part of Charles the
Wrestler (he measured 6 foot, 1 inches in height) in "As You Like It",
appearing under his original name,
'Donald Gray'. From 1956, as 'Charles' Gray (since there already was a one-armed actor named Donald Gray),
he took to leading dramatic roles, and won critical plaudits as
Achilles in "Troilus and Cressida", Macduff in "Macbeth" and as the
gluttonous Sir Epicure Mammon in
Tyrone Guthrie's up-dated version of "The
Alchemist", in 1962. He repeated his Old Vic performance as Henry
Bolingbroke for his Broadway debut at the Winter Garden Theatre in
1956. A notable later performance, while touring the U.S. and Canada,
was as the Prince of Wales in
Peter Stone's tale of the famous
19th century actor Edmund Kean ("Kean", 1961). In 1964, Gray won the
Clarence Derwent Award as Best Supporting Actor for his part in the
controversial play "Poor Bitos", by
Jean Anouilh, co-starring
Donald Pleasence. He was offered his
first role on the big screen, reprising a success on the West End stage
in 1958, as Captain Cyril Mavors,in the satirical musical
Expresso Bongo (1959).
For the next forty years, heavy-set, silver-haired, jut-jawed Charles
Gray used his imposing frame and mellifluous voice to great effect in
creating for the screen a memorable gallery of egocentric, imperious
toffs, and suave, sardonic super-villains. While his performances at
times verged on the camp, Gray cheerfully allowed himself to be cast
within his range of basically unsympathetic characters, which he could
play well and with ease. He tended to favour television as his
preferred medium, though some of his most popular roles were for the
big screen. Among his niche of staple characters were the coldly
pompous military heavies (General Gabler in
The Night of the Generals (1967),
or the perpetually sneering, overbearing upper-class twits
(true-to-form, as defecting spy Hillary Vance in the
Thriller (1973) episode "Night is
the Time for Killing"). At his evil best, he was commanding as the
demonic acolyte Mocata, in
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
and as the feline-stroking, velvety-voiced nemesis of James Bond, Ernst
Stavro Blofeld, in
Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
He was also suitably sinister as Bates the Butler, one of the red
herrings of Agatha Christie's
The Mirror Crack'd (1980).
Gray's recurring roles included Lord Seacroft (senior, as well as
junior) in the short-lived satirical miniseries
The Upper Crusts (1973) as a
down-on-his-heels aristocrat, keeping up appearances after being forced
to live in a high-rise housing estate; and as the sedentary brother of
the famous sleuth at 221b Baker Street, Mycroft, in
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976).
Later, he was utilised as temporary replacement, first for
Edward Hardwicke,and, subsequently, for
the hospitalised star Jeremy Brett, in
Granada Television's various instalments of the Sherlock Holmes saga
(1985-1994). Gray died of cancer in March 2000, aged
71.