Oliver Cotton

Oliver Cotton
Born	20 June 1944 (1944-06-20) (age 80) London, England
Occupations	Actor comedian playwright

Oliver Charles Cotton (born 20 June 1944) is an English actor and playwright, known for his prolific work on stage, TV and film. He remains best known for his role as Cesare Borgia in the BBC's 1981 drama series The Borgias.

Early life

Cotton was born in London on 20 June 1944, the son of Ester and Robert Norman Cotton. He trained at the Drama Centre, London.

Career

Cotton worked extensively at the National Theatre Company during the period when Sir Laurence Olivier was its artistic director. Cotton played leading roles in many productions including The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Much Ado in About Nothing, As You Like It, Peter Brook’s Oedipus, In His Own Write and many others.

At the Royal Court in London, Cotton has played leads in many productions including The Local Stigmatic, The Duchess of Malfi, Man is Man, The Tutor by Bertholt Brecht, Lear and Bingo by Edward Bond. He was a founder member of Joint Stock appearing in the company's inaugural production The Speakers by Heathcote Williams.

For the Royal Shakespeare Company he has played leading roles in Granville Barker's The Marrying of Ann Leete, Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III, The Plain Dealer, Some Americans Abroad by Richard Nelson, and as the Mayor in Brand by Ibsen in 2003.

In the West End he has starred in The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, Children of A Lesser God by Mark Medoff, Benefactors by Michael Frayn, An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde, Life x 3 by Yasmina Reza (RNT transfer), "Passion Play" (by Peter Nichols). He also played King Lear at the Southwark Playhouse and performed as Malvolio in a (historically correct all-male) production Twelfth Night at the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe. At the Old Vic, under the directorship of Kevin Spacey, he appeared as Seth Lord in The Philadelphia Story, as Northumberland in Richard II, and as Dr Finache in A Flea in Her Ear. In 2010 he played Henry IV in Shakespeare's Henry IV at the Globe Theatre. At Chichester he has appeared as Jim Casy in The Grapes Of Wrath in 2009 and as Arturo Santaniello in The Syndicate. In 2012, he played Victor Velasco in a major tour of Barefoot in the Park. In 2013 he played Jim in Passion Play by Peter Nichols at the Duke of York's Theatre – and in 2014 starred as Billy in his own play Daytona at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

His numerous TV appearances have included The Borgias (Cesare Borgia), David Copperfield, The Year of The French, The Party, Room at the Bottom, Space:1999, Redemption, Poirot, The Camomile Lawn, Westbeach, Sharpe's Battle, Rhodes, All Quiet on the Preston Front, Innocents, Judge John Deed, Inspector Lynley, Waking The Dead, Murder Investigation Team, Beastly Games, Margaret, Money, Ripper Street and Lovejoy.

His films include Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, The Day Christ Died, Oliver Twist, Firefox, The Sicilian, Eleni, Hiding Out, Christopher Columbus, Son of the Pink Panther, The Innocent Sleep, Phoenix Blue, The Opium War, Beowulf, Baby Blue, The Dancer Upstairs, Shanghai Knights, Bone Hunter, Rain Dogs, Colour Me Kubrick, Pope Joan, The Dark Knight Rises, Gangs of Tooting Broadway, A Long Time Coming.

Writing

For the stage his writing includes: The Enoch Show (Royal Court), Scrabble (National Theatre), Wet Weather Cover (King's Head Theatre), Daytona, Dessert, Sans Souci. His TV and film scripts include: A Touch of Frost, Diamond Geezer, Trace, The Intruder, Singing for Stalin, Sofa, Wet Weather Cover: The Movie, Peeping Through and The English Game.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush	Curtis
1982	Firefox	Dmitri Priabin
1985	Eleni	Katis
1987	The Sicilian	Cmdr. Roccofino
	Hiding Out	Killer
1992	Christopher Columbus: The Discovery	Harana
1993	Son of the Pink Panther	King Haroak
1996	The Innocent Sleep	Lusano
1997	Queen: Made in Heaven	Man
	Yapian zhanzheng
1999	Beowulf	Hrothgar
2000	Innocents	Mike Angelini
2001	Baby Blue	Ron Wood
2002	The Dancer Upstairs	Merino
2003	Shanghai Knights	Jack the Ripper
	The Bone Hunter	Regulus
2004	Raindogs	Duke
	Steamboy	Robert Stephenson	Voice
2005	Colour Me Kubrick	PC Metcalf	Uncredited
2009	Pope Joan	Arsenius
2012	The Dark Knight Rises	2 Star Air Force General
2013	Gangs of Tooting Broadway	Marcus
2015	North v South	Brian Galloway
2017	Pylon	The Chairman
2020	Wonder Woman 1984	Simon Stagg
2021	The Last Duel	Jean de Carrouges III

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970–1973	Z-Cars	Chick Randall / Robert Durley / John North	4 episodes
1975	Space: 1999	Spearman	1 episode
1981	The Borgias	Cesare Borgia	10 episodes
1982	Oliver Twist	Monks	TV movie
1983	Bergerac	Jacques Laronde	1 episode
	Jemima Shore Investigates	Renard	1 episode
1986	Lovejoy	Frobel	1 episode
	Robin of Sherwood	Lord Owen of Clun	2 episodes
	C.A.T.S. Eyes	Stefan Johns	1 episode
1986–1988	Room at the Bottom	Tom	6 episodes
1989	Boon	Raoul Gomez	1 episode
1990	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Gregorie Rolf	1 episode
1992	The Camomile Lawn	Max	3 episodes
1993	West beach	Alan Cromer	10 episodes
1995	Sharpe's Battle	Loup	TV movie
1997	Heartbeat	Harry Adams	1 episode
2001	The Bill	DI Hubbard	1 episode
	Judge John Deed	Maurice Phillips QC	1 episode
2003	Casualty	Dr. Chris Cassidy	1 episode
2004	Waking the Dead	Sir Charles Stewart	1 episode
	Dalziel and Pascoe	Keith Henshaw	Episode: "Great Escapes"
2005	Midsomer Murders	Michael Maybury	1 episode
2009	Margaret	Michael Heseltine	TV movie
2014	Penny Dreadful	Father Matthews	1 episode
	New Tricks	Hugh Dryden	1 episode

Video game

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Fable II	Lucien Fairfax
2016	Hitman	Additional Voices, Civilian Male 05, Tharn Srisai, Hotel Staff Member, Hotel Groundskeeper, Hospital Director, Hotel Staff, Landlord, Wes Liston, Ezra Berg, The Curator
2021	Hitman 3	Gregory Carlisle, Mr. Fernsby

External links

• Oliver Cotton at IMDb