Ken Bones (born 11 June 1947)[1] is an English actor. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.[2]

Ken Bones
Born (1947-06-11) 11 June 1947 (age 77)
Dartford, Kent, England
NationalityEnglish
OccupationActor
Known forMember of the Royal Shakespeare Company
Notable workThe Bill

Career

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Theatre

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Bones trained at RADA between 1971 and 1973, where he won the Honours Diploma, the Ronson Prize, the Kendal Award, the Poel Prize and John Barton Prize. His first professional stage appearance was as Roy in The Odd Couple at Crewe in January 1974. His other appearances in that season included Wick in Little Malcolm, Vincent Crummles in Nicholas Nickleby and Dr Hennessey in Count Dracula.

During 1974 and 1975 Bones was a member of the Prospect Theatre Company, taking part in the company's national tour in such venues as the Edinburgh Festival and London's Roundhouse, playing Gower in Henry IV and Henry V with Timothy Dalton, and the Narrator in the rock musical Pilgrim with Paul Jones and Peter Straker.

Bones joined the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury in 1976, and with whom he played Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret, Mr Shanks in Habeas Corpus, Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard, Milo Tindal in Sleuth and Curly Delafield in Knuckle. In 1977 he toured with the Mermaid Theatre educational company 'The Molecule Club' teaching science to children. In 1978 Bones played Lucifer in the first modern revival of The Lincoln Mystery Cycle in Lincoln Cathedral.

During 1978 he joined Southern Exchange Theatre Company, which was established by Charles Savage to provide regional theatre for civic theatres without resident repertory companies playing at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, the Hexagon in Reading and the Lighthouse in Poole. With this company he played Ramble in Lock Up Your Daughters, Leonard in Time and Time Again, Saul Hodgkin in The Ghost Train, Alec Kooning in Dear Janet Rosenberg.., The Man in Chekov's The Lady with the Little Dog and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.

In 1979 Bones played the Earl of Warwick in Saint Joan, Eilert Loevborg in Hedda Gabler with Gayle Hunnicutt, and John in Absent Friends. In 1980 he appeared in a national tour of Woyzeck with Foco Novo Theatre Company playing the Drum Major.

His other stage appearance include the Duke in The Revenger's Tragedy and Dr Klein in Her Naked Skin for the National Theatre, and, for the Royal Shakespeare Company he has appeared in 21 plays, including Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, Othello, The Duchess of Malfi, Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, Cyrano de Bergerac, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Tamburlaine, Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear.[2]

In London's West End Bones has appeared in You Never Can Tell, Communicating Doors, Becket, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Antony and Cleopatra; and for other theatres Design for Living, Relative Values, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream Doctor Faustus with Ben Kingsley, and Sir Thomas More.[2]

Most recently he played Reverend Brown in Inherit the Wind with Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic.

Film and television

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Bones' first television appearance was in the BBC Jubilee Play "A Day in the Life" by Ray Connolly, in 1977. In 1980 he appeared in an episode of Fox as Kemble. Bones played Sergeant Parkes in an episode of Spearhead (1981), played a small role in Series 3 of the long running TV series, The Bill (1987), Paul Roussillon in Bergerac (1988), and a Superintendent in London's Burning (1988). Also in 1988 Bones played Victorian medium Robert James Lees in ITV's Jack the Ripper starring Michael Caine which was huge ratings success around the world.[3] His first feature film was Bellman and True (1987) directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Bernard Hill. The New York Times film critic said "Mr Bones makes a memorable screen debut as the bullying Gort." In 1995 Bones played Toussant in the film Cutthroat Island, and in 1998 made appearances in Dangerfield and Cold Feet. He played Admiral Bill Wilson in the 1999 film Wing Commander, and in 2001 he played Banquo in a made-for-television film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Macbeth which starred Antony Sher as Macbeth. The film was the televised version of a stage show which had an enormously successful run in Britain, Japan and the United States.[3]

In 2002 Bones played Keith Burns in an episode of Spooks and in 2003 appeared in Casualty as Robbie. His 2004 roles include Hippasus in the film Troy starring Brad Pitt, Mr Mansell in Heartbeat and Assistant Commissioner Bob Mullen in New Tricks.[3]

During recent years Bones has appeared in Doctors (2007), Holby City (2008 and 2010) and The Bill (1987-2009) as DCI Ted Ackroyd, as well as in the film Perfect Hideout (2008) starring Billy Zane. In 2009, he played Erasmus in Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant,[3] and in 2011 he appeared in the six-part series The Hour. He has also played a character named Sethius in popular CBBC television series Young Dracula.

Ken Bones portrays Lord Halifax, British Foreign Secretary from 1938 to 1940, in 2012's Season 2 of Upstairs Downstairs, the 2010 British television series.

He appeared in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special The Day of the Doctor as The General in 2013,[4] and reprised the role in the Series 9 finale Hell Bent (2015) before passing the role on to T'Nia Miller. Bones played Publican No. 7 in The World's End (2013), and the same year it was announced that he had joined the cast of Atlantis. His most recent film appearance was as an Egyptian scribe in the 2014 epic Exodus: Gods and Kings. In 2016, he appeared in the TV series Medici: Masters of Florence.

In 2017 Bones appeared in the BBC TV series Father Brown episode 5.3 "The Eve of St John" as a warlock, Eugene Bone. He played Cardinal Leto[5] the Papal envoy in Versailles (2018).

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1985 Cyrano de Bergerac Carbon de Castel Jaloux TV film
1987 Bellman and True Gort
1992 Split Second Forensic Expert
1995 Cutthroat Island Toussant
1997 Police 2020 Commander Johnson
1998 A Life for a Life Ronald Outteridge TV film
1999 Wing Commander Admiral Bill Wilson
The Winter's Tale Polixenes TV film
2000 Blue Murder Henstock TV film
2001 Macbeth Banquo TV film
2004 Troy Hippasus
Spooks Interactive Colonel Tim Briggot TV film
2005 Brothers of the Head Henry Couling
Wallis & Edward Maitland TV film
2006 Lasko: Death Train [de] Saratoga TV film
Final Contract: Death on Delivery [de] Hillman
2007 Too Much Too Young Sir Reginald Morris
2008 Perfect Hideout Roth
2010 Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Salazar Slytherin Short
2013 The World's End Publican 13
2014 Walking with the Enemy Samuel Stern
Exodus: Gods and Kings Ramses' Scribe
2018 Vlad Vlad Short
2019 Baghdad in My Shadow Graham Foster

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1977 Jubilee Paul Crawford Episode: "An Hour in the Life..."
1980 Fox Kemble Episode: "Fox: Big 'F' - Family"
1981 Spearhead Sergeant Parkes Episode: "Loyalties"
1986 Screen Two Detective Inspector Mercer Episode: "Frankie and Johnnie"
1987 The Bill Phil Teesdale Episode: "What Are Little Boys Made Of?"
1988 Bergerac Paul Roussillon Episode: "Crossed Swords"
London's Burning Superintendent 1 episode
Jack the Ripper Robert James Lees Mini-series
1993 Seekers Tony Laytham 1 episode
Screen One John Kavanagh Episode: "Wall of Silence"
The Bill Detective Superintendent Corby Episode: "Hard Evidence"
1994 A Skirt Through History Arthur Munby Episode: "An Experiment"
Moving Story Commissionaire Episode: "A Piece of Cake"
Paris Helmut Episode: "L'infamie"
1996 The Bill Leon Chase Episode: "The Right Thing"
1997 Crime Traveller Kirby Episode: "Death Minister"
Bramwell Mr. Herne 1 episode
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman Ted Fulton Episode: "Sacrifice"
1998 Cold Feet Detective 1 episode
Dangerfield D.C.I. Miller Episode: "Double Helix"
1999 The Bill Paul Hilman Episode: "Borderline"
2001 Roy Stenning Episode: "Liquid City"
2002 In Deep DCI Geary Episode: "Untouched"
Spooks Keith Burns Episode: "Thou Shalt Not Kill"
2003 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries Rodney Aronson Episode: "In the Presence of the Enemy"
Casualty Robbie Episode: "Fool for Love"
Murphy's Law Tyler Episode: "Reunion"
Heartbeat Mr. Mansell Episode: "Out of the Blue"
2004 Trevor Godwin Episode: "In the Bleak Midwinter"
Hustle DCI Mullens Episode: "The Con Is On"
New Tricks Assistant Commissioner Bob Mullan Episode: "Talking to the Dead"
2005 Timewatch Otto Strasser Episode: "Inside the Mind of Adolf Hitler"
The Virgin Queen Bishop Latimer Mini-series
2007 Doctors Tyrrel Recurring role
2008 Holby City Lawrence Parker Episode: "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
2009 The Bill DCI Ted Ackroyd Episode: "Feet of Clay"
Law & Order: UK Ediz Kilic Episode: "Paradise"
Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant Erasmus Mini-series
2010 Identity Halit Kemal Mini-series
Midsomer Murders Giles Braithwaite Episode: "The Noble Art"
Any Human Heart Mr. Mountstuart Mini-series
The Nativity Bethlehem Rabbi Mini-series
Holby City William Chase Recurring role
2011 The Hour Wallace Sherwin Recurring role
Young Dracula Sethius Episode: "All for One"
2012 Upstairs Downstairs Lord Halifax Recurring role
2013 The Bible Ira Episode: "Exodus"
Foyle's War Max Hoffman Episode: "The Eternity Ring"
Da Vinci's Demons The Jew 3 episodes
Starlings Mr. Cooke 1 episode
Casualty Alan Pitney Episode: "Rock and a Hard Place"
The Great Train Robbery Commander George Hatherill Episode: "A Copper's Tale"
2013-2015 Atlantis Melas Series regular
Doctor Who The General 2 episodes
2014 Scott & Bailey John Rivington 1 episode
2015 A.D. The Bible Continues Annas Series regular
Tyrant Qadi Episode: "The Other Brother"
2016 Medici Ugo Bencini Series regular
Jonathan Creek Nathan Clore Episode: "Deamons' Roost"
2017 Father Brown Eugene Bone Episode: "The Eve of St John"
2018 Versailles Cardinal Leto Recurring role
A Discovery of Witches Sigismund Recurring role
2019 Queens of Mystery Quentin Foster Episode: "Smoke and Mirrors"
2020 Des Judge Croom-Johnson Mini-series

References

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  1. ^ "Ken Bones". Aveleyman.
  2. ^ a b c "Bones on the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] website". Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d Bones on the Internet Movie Database
  4. ^ Bones CV at Eamonn Bedford Agency
  5. ^ "Eamonn Bedford Agency".
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