Peter Firth

Infobox actor


imagesize = 150px
name = Peter Firth
birthname = Peter Firth
birthdate = birth date and age|1953|10|27|df=yes
birthplace = Bradford, Yorkshire, England
occupation = Actor
yearsactive = 1969-present
goldenglobeawards = Golden Globe - Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role
1978 "Equus" - Alan Strang
awards = Evening Standard British Film Award - Most Promising Newcomer - Actor
1977
KCFCC Award - Best Supporting Actor
1979 "Equus" - Alan Strang

Peter Firth (born 27 October, 1953) is an English actor. He is well known for a variety of starring roles in film and on television from the 1970s to the 2000s.imdb name|0278752|Peter Firth]

Career

Early career

Firth was a leading child actor by 1970, starring in the "Flaxton Boys" as Archie Weekes and a television series called "Here Come the Double Deckers", which featured British child actors in the leading roles. Firth played Scooper, the leader of the gang. In 1973, he starred in the London stage version of Peter Shaffer's play "Equus", playing a teenager being treated by a psychiatrist, and repeated the role in the Broadway production, receiving a Tony Award nomination for his performance as Alan Strang.

His first major role as an adult was in the title role in a 1976 BBC Television "Play of the Month" adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray". The adaptation was scripted by John Osborne and also starred Jeremy Brett and John Gielgud, becoming a major success with the critics. That same year saw the release of the World War I film "Aces High" which featured Firth as the inexperienced RFC pilot Lt Croft. "Aces High" also starred John Gielgud, as well as Malcolm McDowell.

The following year, Firth starred in the film adaptation of "Equus", the play in which he had starred in London and on Broadway. The film was a success and earned Firth a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and victory in the same category at the Golden Globe Awards. Further film work quickly followed, most notably Roman Polanski's "Tess" (1979), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel "Tess of the D'Urbervilles".

Film

Subsequent film work has included roles in "When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?" (1979), "Lifeforce" (1985), "Letter to Brezhnev" (1985), "Northanger Abbey" (1986) (playing Henry Tilney), "The Hunt for Red October" (1990), "White Angel" (playing mild mannered dentist Leslie Steckler, 1993, directed by Chris Jones), "Pearl Harbor" (2001), and "The Greatest Game Ever Played" (playing Lord Northcliffe, 2005).

Television

In parallel to his film career, Firth has continued to appear in various television productions, with several notable credits in various high-profile dramas. In 1980 he starred as the eponymous time traveller in the BBC's feelgood science-fiction play "The Flipside of Dominick Hide", and two years later starred in a sequel, "Another Flip for Dominick". Both of these were made as part of the BBC's famous "Play for Today" anthology drama strand. More recently, he has starred as senior MI5 officer Harry Pearce in the BBC's popular spy drama series "Spooks" (2002-present), and played Fred Hoyle in "Hawking", a BBC dramatisation of the early career of Stephen Hawking.

Firth has also appeared on American and Canadian television, on programmes such as "" and "Total Recall 2070", as well as in television films such as "The Incident" starring Walter Matthau.

Audiobooks

Firth has played many roles in theatre, film and television but is also a noted narrator of audio books. He has been responsible for performances reading Pat Barker's "Regeneration", "The Ghost Road" and "The Eye in the Door", "Suspicion" by Robert McCrum, "Maurice" by E. M. Forster, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, Sebastian Faulks' "Birdsong" and Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the d'Urbervilles".

Personal life

Firth was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, the son of Mavis (née Hudson) and Eric Macintosh Firth. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/41/Peter-Firth.html Peter Firth Biography (1953-) ] ] Twice divorced, he has four children named Rory, Amy, Alex and James.

References

External links

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* [http://www.peterfirth.co.uk/ peterfirth.co.uk] Peter Firth Fansite