David Warner

David Hattersley Warner was born July 29, 1941 in Manchester, England, to Ada Doreen (Hattersley) and Herbert Simon Warner. He was born out of wedlock and often accepted to be raised by each of his parents, eventually settling with his father and stepmother. His father changed jobs often and moved from town to town. David attended eight schools and "failed his exams at all of them". His parents separated when he was a teenager and he only saw his mother again seven years later - on her deathbed. After a series of odd jobs, he was accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) where he was very unhappy.

He has two roles in common with Peter Cushing, Nigel Davenport and Frank Finlay: (1) Cushing played Professor Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974), Davenport played him in Dracula (1974), Finlay played him in Count Dracula (1977) and Warner played him in Penny Dreadful (2014) and (2) Davenport played Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Edwardians: Conan Doyle (1972), Cushing played him in The Great Houdini (1976), Finlay played him in The Other Side (1992) and Warner played him in Houdini (1998).

After RADA, he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and got the role of Blifil in the adventure comedy Tom Jones (1963).

David Warner played the same role twice (King Henry VI) in two different productions of the same name, for two different directors, over two decades apart. First came The Wars of the Roses (1965) for director John Barton, and second came The Wars of the Roses (1989) for director Michael Bogdanov. Coincidentally, the later production was released in the same year as The War of the Roses (1989) which was unrelated in every way, but had a similar title, and which did not star Warner.

With the title role in the comedy-drama Morgan! (1966) and a two-year stint as Hamlet with the RSC, Warner became a star at age 24.

Has appeared with Ian Holm in six films: The Bofors Gun (1968), The Fixer (1968), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Holocaust (1978), S.O.S. Titanic (1979) and Time Bandits (1981).

He has two roles in common with both David Collings and Richard E. Grant: (1) Collings played Bob Cratchit in Scrooge (1970), Warner played him in A Christmas Carol (1984) and Grant played him in A Christmas Carol (1999) and (2) Grant played the Doctor in Comic Relief: Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death (1999) and Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka (2003), Collings played him in the Big Finish audio drama "Full Fathom Five" and Warner played him in the Big Finish audio dramas "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Masters of War".

David Warner's limp in Straw Dogs (1971) was real. He had smashed both his heels in a fall sometime before filming began and it was a long time before he could walk normally again. He clarified in a 2017 interview that this was unrelated to the fact his name is not in the credits (as has been claimed): his agent wanted him to have above-the-title billing with Dustin Hoffman and Susan George, Hoffman and George's agents refused, and he decided to resolve the quarrel by going uncredited.

He has often played villains in such films as The Thirty Nine Steps (1978), Time After Time (1979), Time Bandits (1981), TRON (1982) and Titanic (1997).

Has appeared in three films about the Titanic: S.O.S. Titanic (1979), Time Bandits (1981) and Titanic (1997).

Has vertigo and was doubled in Time Bandits (1981) in the scene where the Evil Genius walks up the steps after caging the bandits, because he could not handle the drop below him.

He was originally slated to play Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Make-up tests were done, but Warner had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Robert Englund was cast instead.

He was among the actors in the running for Dr. Armstrong and Dr. Bukovsky in the horror film Lifeforce (1985); Patrick Stewart and Michael Gothard won the roles.

He took over the role of Gul Madred on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) (two-part episode "Chain of Command") on three days' notice. He could not learn his lines in that short time, so he had to use cue cards. He said: "Every line I said, I actually was reading over Patrick Stewart's shoulder or they put it down there for me to do it. After I finished it, I thought it worked, which obviously it did.".

Has played three different species in the Star Trek universe: a human in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), a Klingon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), and a Cardassian on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).

Is one of only 32 actors or actresses to have starred in both the original Star Trek (up to and including Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)) and then in one of the spin-offs.

By appearing on Batman: The Animated Series (1992), he became the first actor to play the villain Ra's-Al-Ghul. To date, he has been succeeded by Ken Watanabe, Liam Neeson and Matt Nable.

Has made guest appearances on two different series about Superman. He played Superman's biological father Jor-El on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993) and Ra's-Al-Ghul on Superman: The Animated Series (1996).

Has played an ape in Planet of the Apes (2001), a character obsessed with gorillas in Morgan! (1966), and did a gorilla impression in The Man with Two Brains (1983).

He was considered for the role of Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), which went to David Kelly.

Pictured as the character Klingon Chancellor Gorkon on one of a set of 18 British commemorative postage stamps issued 13 November 2020, celebrating the "Star Trek" television and film franchise. Stamps were issued as 12 individual stamps, honoring captains and crew members; and 6 stamps in a single souvenir sheet, highlighting heroes and villains. All stamps were nondenominated and marked first class (76p on day of issue). Others honored by this set are William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, Jason Isaacs, Leonard Nimoy, Marina Sirtis, Alexander Siddig, Dominic Keating, Sonequa Martin-Green, Shazad Latif, Simon Pegg, Tom Hardy, Malcolm McDowell, Alice Eve, and Idris Elba.