- Michael Kitchen
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For the ice hockey player/coach, see Mike Kitchen.
Michael Kitchen Born Michael R. Kitchen
31 October 1948
Leicester, Leicestershire, EnglandOccupation Actor, television producer Years active 1971–present Michael Kitchen (born 31 October 1948 in Leicester) is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as DCS Foyle in the British TV series Foyle's War.
Contents
Early life
Kitchen worked with the National Youth Theatre and the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1969, while still at RADA, he won the "Emile Littler Award" for 'outstanding talent and aptitude for the professional theatre'.
Career
Television and film
Michael Kitchen was discovered at RADA by Top Talent Agent Peter Froggatt of Plant & Froggatt Ltd. Since the early 1970s, Kitchen has been a fixture of UK television. His early appearances include roles in Play for Today (Hell's Angels by David Agnew, 1971), Thriller and Beasts. He then played the role of Martin in the original production of Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle; Peter in Stephen Poliakoff's Caught on a Train; Edmund in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of King Lear; the Antipholi in the same series' production of The Comedy of Errors; Private Bamforth in the 1979 BBC television play of The Long and the Short and the Tall; Rochus Misch in The Bunker; Berkeley Cole in Out of Africa, the King of the United Kingdom in To Play the King (1996) (a character recognisably modeled on Prince Charles); and a recurring role as Bill Tanner in the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough. Other films include Enchanted April (1992), Fatherland (1994), The Hanging Gale (1995), Kidnapped (1995), Mrs. Dalloway (1997), The Railway Children (1999) and Proof of Life (2000) as Ian Havery.
From 2002-2010, Kitchen starred in the ITV mystery-drama Foyle's War as the lead character, DCS Christopher Foyle. He was also a producer for the show.
Other noted appearances include Dandelion Dead (1994), A Royal Scandal (1996), The Last Contract (1998), Paul Abbott's Alibi in 2003, Andrew Davies' dramatisation of Falling in 2005, and ITV's three-part drama series Mobile (2007). He has guest-starred in roles in other popular British television shows such as The Professionals, Minder, Chancer, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Between The Lines, Pie in the Sky and Dalziel and Pascoe.
Theatre
Kitchen is also a noted actor in British theatre. His roles have ranged from Ptolemy in Caesar and Cleopatra at the Belgrade in 1966 to Will in Howard Brenton's Magnificence at the Royal Court in 1973, to William Hogarth in Nick Dear's The Art of Success in 1986/87. He is also well known for his part in Enchanted April.
He played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet for the RSC at Stratford and was a member of The National Theatre Company and the Young Vic, where he played Iago in Othello. In 1974 he appeared at Sir Laurence Olivier's National Theatre in the play Spring Awakening, opposite Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Beryl Reid and Cyril Cusack. Later he appeared opposite Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, directed by Peter Hall.[1] In 1981 he played Melchior, the manservant of Zangler, in Tom Stoppard's play On the Razzle.[2] In 1984 he played the cabin steward Dvornicheck in Tom Stoppard's play Rough Crossing.[3][4]
Personal life
Kitchen is married to Rowena Miller, whom he met while she was a dresser at the RSC in the late 80s. They have two sons. Kitchen values his privacy and rarely gives interviews.
References
- ^ http://www.phyllis.demon.co.uk/theatricalia/05nt/nt70s.htm
- ^ On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard. Published 1981 by Faber and Faber, Ltd. ISBN 0-571-11835-6
- ^ Rough Crossing by Tom Stoppard. Published 1985 by Faber and Faber, Ltd. ISBN 0-571-13595-1
- ^ http://www.sff.net/people/mberry/crossing.htp
External links
Categories:- English stage actors
- English film actors
- English television actors
- People from Leicester
- 1948 births
- Living people
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
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