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Michael Dennis Bryant CBE (5 April 1928 – 25 April 2002) was a British stage and television actor.

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (June 2012)

Michael Bryant CBE
Born	(1928-04-05)5 April 1928 London, England
Died	25 April 2002(2002-04-25) (aged 74) London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–2000
Spouses	Josephine Martin ​ ​ (m. 1958; div. 1980)​ Judith Coke ​ (m. 1990)​ [1]
Children	4

Biography

Bryant attended Battersea Grammar School and, after service in the Merchant Navy and the Army, attended drama school and appeared in many productions on the London stage. He made his film debut in 1955. He had a role as Mathieu in the BBC2 serial The Roads to Freedom, a 1970 adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's trilogy of the same name. His guest star appearance as Wing Commander Marsh, who feigns insanity in the 'Tweedledum' episode of the BBC drama series Colditz (1972), is still widely remembered.

Bryant was chosen by Orson Welles to play the lead role in The Deep, Welles's adaptation of the Charles Williams novel Dead Calm. The production frequently ran out of money, and following the death of actor Laurence Harvey in 1973, Welles stopped production and announced the movie – which had been completed except for one special effects shot of a ship exploding – would not be released. (The novel was finally adapted to film in 1989.)

In 1969 Bryant took his love of the stage on a strange trip into the realm of cult films, playing a clever male prostitute who outwits a delusional family of killers in the dark comedy Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly, an adaptation of a play by Maisie Mosco. Due to poor marketing and a lack of faith in the project by the distributor, the film quickly sank into obscurity.

One of Bryant's most memorable performances was in the classic BBC television play The Stone Tape (1972), in which he plays the leader of a team of scientists who investigate ghost sightings in a brooding Gothic mansion. Equally memorable is his later performance in an adaptation of M. R. James's The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974).

Bryant also had a supporting role as a sadistic psychiatrist in the cult classic black comedy The Ruling Class, with Peter O'Toole and Alastair Sim. He also appeared in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982) as a British diplomat.

Having played Vladimir Lenin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra, Bryant later reprised the role in Robert Bolt's play State of Revolution (1977), having previously co-starred in Bolt's unsuccessful Gentle Jack. State of Revolution was significant for featuring the first role Bryant performed at the National Theatre, where he went on to be a constant presence for a quarter of a century.[1] Described by Michael Billington as a "rock-solid company man",[1] he had earlier performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1964, including the premiere production of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming (1965), in which he played Teddy, the returning academic.

In 1980, Bryant won the London Drama Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor, and his other theatrical performances were equally well-thought-of. He won Laurence Olivier Awards in 1988 and 1990 and was nominated twice more.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	Passage Home	Stebbings
1956	Uranium Boom
1958	A Night to Remember	Sixth Officer James Moody
1962	Life for Ruth	John's counsel
1963	The Mind Benders	Dr. Danny Tate
1966	The Deadly Affair	Gaveston	Uncredited
1967	Torture Garden	Colin Williams	(segment 1, "Enoch")
1969	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Max Staefel
1970	Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly	New Friend
1970	The Deep	John Ingram
1971	Nicholas and Alexandra	Vladimir Lenin
1972	The Ruling Class	Dr. Herder
1974	Fall of Eagles	Rachkovsky
1974	Caravan to Vaccares	Zuger
1982	Gandhi	Principal Secretary
1984	Sakharov	Syshchikov
1992	Bikini Summer II	Sammy
1996	Hamlet	Priest
2000	The Miracle Maker	God / The Doctor	Voice (final film role)

References

External links

• Michael Bryant at IMDb
• Michael Bryant at the Internet Broadway Database

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