Julian Glover

Julian Wyatt Glover was born on March 27, 1935 in Hampstead, London, England, to Honor Ellen Morgan (Wyatt), a BBC journalist, and Claude Gordon Glover, a BBC radio producer. He is of English, Scottish and Welsh ancestry.

Made his professional debut in pantomime at Bromley in 1953.

Acted in a romantic story with his real-life (second) wife Isla Blair on the Dixon of Dock Green (1955) episode Dixon of Dock Green: A Slight Case of Love (1975).

Primarily a classical stage actor, Glover trained at the National Youth Theatre, performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and became a familiar face to British television viewers by appearing in many popular series during the 1960s and 1970s. His talent for accents and cold expression made him an ideal choice for playing refined villains.

Glover's guest appearances on television include series such as The Avengers (1961), Doctor Who (1963), Space: 1999 (1975), Blake's 7 (1978), Remington Steele (1982) and Merlin (2008).

He played King Richard the Lionheart in both Doctor Who (1963) and Ivanhoe (1982). He was cast in both by the same director, Douglas Camfield.

He admitted to Gary Russell on the DVD commentary for Doctor Who: The Wheel of Fortune (1965) that playing the Doctor in Doctor Who (1963) was an unfulfilled ambition.

He was the narrator of "The London Experience", a multimedia event presented by Bernard Delfont in Piccadilly during the 1970s and 80s.

He was considered for the role of James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973). The older and more famous Roger Moore won the role instead. He later portrayed Kristatos, the main villain in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981) opposite Moore.

During the 1980s, Glover achieved some fame in Hollywood with roles in popular films such as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the Greek villain Aristotle Kristatos in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981), Brian Harcourt-Smith in the Cold War thriller The Fourth Protocol (1987) and Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989).

He has appeared in three movies focusing on apartheid in South Africa: The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (1981), Mandela (1987) and Cry Freedom (1987).

He was on the possibles list for Dr. Armstrong and Dr. Bukovsky in the horror film Lifeforce (1985); Patrick Stewart and Michael Gothard won the roles.

His performance in the title role of the Royal Shakespeare Company's staging of "Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2", at the Barbican Centre in London, earned him the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in 1993.

In the film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), he provided the voice of the giant spider Aragog.

He also played the recurring role of Grand Master Pycelle on 31 episodes of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2011).

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.

With the passing of Michael Lonsdale on September 21, 2020, Glover is the oldest-living actor who played a main villain in the James Bond franchise.