An Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Play Your Part Fundraiser

Charles Dance is one of the country’s best-known - and most successful - actors. He learned his craft touring British theatres in rep before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Early television and film roles followed including, as he puts it, playing ‘third baddie from the left’ in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, starring Roger Moore. From there the villainous roles just kept coming, although not exclusively.

On television, he first made his name as dashing Sgt Guy Peron in The Jewel in The Crown. Other standout successes included Last Action Hero, White Mischief and Gosford Park (working with one of his all-time favourite directors, Robert Altman).

More recently, he played Lord Louis Mountbatten in The Crown and Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones. Along the way he also wrote the screenplay for, and directed, the much-acclaimed Ladies in Lavender, with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Charles looks back with candid honesty and the funniest of anecdotes on his decades-long career, as well as discussing new projects currently in the pipeline. He joins us in conversation with the journalist Tim Wapshott, as part of our ‘Play Your Part’ fundraising campaign.