James Wilby

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James Wilby
James Wilby.jpg
Wilby in 2004
Born
James Jonathon Wilby

(1958-02-20) 20 February 1958 (age 67)
Rangoon, Burma, Myanmar
Education Grey College, Durham University, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
OccupationActor
Years active1982present
SpouseShana Louise
Children4

James Jonathon Wilby (born 20 February 1958) is an English actor.

Contents

Early life and education

Wilby was born in Rangoon, Burma to a corporate executive father. [1] He was educated at Terrington Hall and Sedbergh School, studied for a degree in Mathematics at Grey College, Durham, and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[ citation needed ]

Career

Wilby's first appearance on screen was in the Oxford Film Company production Privileged (1982) alongside Hugh Grant. He acted with Grant again in the Merchant Ivory period film Maurice (1987), which brought him to the attention of an international audience and earned Wilby and Grant the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award. He then starred in A Handful of Dust (1988), for which he won the Bari Film Festival Best Actor award. His further roles included A Tale of Two Cities (1989) for Granada Television, Howards End (1992), Regeneration (1997), Ismail Merchant's Cotton Mary (1999), Gosford Park (2001), and Alain Robbe-Grillet's C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle (2006), co-starring Arielle Dombasle, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

On stage, Wilby starred in the 1995 revival of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Theatre. [2] He then appeared in a production of Helping Harry at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2001; and in 2004 as the title character in a run of Don Juan at the Lyric Theatre. He has also starred in On Emotion (2008) at the Soho Theatre; The Consultant (2011) by Neil Fleming and the Hydrocracker Theatre Company at Theatre503 in London; and in tours of Terence Rattigan's Less Than Kind (2012) and Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight (2019). [3]

Personal life

Wilby is married to Shana Louise and has four children. [4] [5]

From 1994 to 2015, Wilby owned The Laines, an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex, near Lewes. It was the childhood home of Queen Camilla. [6]

Filmography

Film

YearFilmRoleNotes
1982 Privileged Jamie
1985 Dreamchild Baker
A Room with a View Party GuestUncredited
1987 Maurice Maurice Hall
1988 A Handful of Dust Tony Last
A Summer Story Mr. Ashton
1989ConspiracyStringer
1991The Siege of VeniceMilord Runbiff
Adam BedeArthur Donnithorne
1992 Howards End Charles Wilcox
Immaculate Conception Alistair
1994La partie d'échecsLord Staunton
1997 Regeneration 2nd Lt. Siegfried Sassoon
1998 An Ideal Husband Sir Robert Chiltern
1999 Tom's Midnight Garden Uncle Alan Kitson
Cotton Mary John MacIntosh
2001Jump TomorrowNathan
Gosford Park Freddie Nesbitt
2004 De-Lovely Edward Thomas
2006Gradiva (C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle)John Locke
2008 Lady Godiva Leofric
2009 Shadows in the Sun Robert
2011We Need to Talk About KeiranProfessor Hugh Merrill
2016ChickLitGeoffrey
The Swing of ItJimShort film
2017 The Sense of an Ending David Ford
2019SaltConradShort film
2020 The Duke Judge Aarvold
2022 Masquerade Thomas
TBA Vindication Swim Mr. Havers [7]

Television

YearFilmRoleNotes
1984 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Young BarclayEpisode: "The Crooked Man"
The Bill HigginsEpisode: "A Friend in Need"
1985 Dutch Girls DundineTV movie
1988 The Storyteller PrinceEpisode: "Sapsorrow"
1989 A Tale of Two Cities Sydney Carton TV mini-series
Mother Love Christopher "Kit" VeseyTV mini-series
1991Screen OneMichael EvansEpisode: "Tell Me That You Love Me"
1993You, Me and ItCharles HendersonTV mini-series, 3 episodes
Lady Chatterley Sir Clifford Chatterley4 episodes
1994 Crocodile Shoes Ade LynnTV mini-series, 6 episodes
1996 The Treasure Seekers Henry CarlisleTV movie
Witness Against Hitler Helmuth James von Moltke TV movie
Tales from the Crypt Nick MarvinEpisode: "Horrors in the Night"
1997 The Woman in White Sir Percival GlydeTV movie
Original SinGerard EtienneTV series
1999The Dark RoomDr. Alan ProtheroeTV movie
2000 Trial & Retribution James McCready2 episodes
2001 Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years Zippo Montefiore1 episode
2002 Bertie and Elizabeth King George VI TV film
Westlife: Unbreakable – The Greatest Hits, Volume IHigh class customer ("Uptown Girl")video
George Eliot: A Scandalous LifeGeorge SpencerTV film
2003 Murder in Mind Daniel Morton/Sir Richard MortonEpisode: "Echoes"
Sparkling CyanideStephen FarradayTV movie
2004 Island at War Sen. James DorrTV mini-series, 3 episodes
Silent Witness Matt GibbTV series, 2 episodes: "Nowhere Fast"
Foyle's War Major CornwallEpisode: "They Fought in the Fields"
2005 Jericho Alan MillsTV series (1 episode: "The Hollow Men")
2006 Surviving Disaster David SheahanEpisode: "Fastnet Yacht Race"
Agatha Christie's Marple: The Sittaford MysteryStanley KirkwoodTV movie
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire Ofonius TigellinusEpisode: "Nero"
2007 Lewis Hugh MalloryEpisode: "Expiation"
The Last Days of the Raj Lord Mountbatten TV movie
Clapham Junction Julian RowanTV movie
Little DevilAdrian BishopTV mini-series, Episode: "Episode #1.3"
Impact EarthJosh HaydenTV movie
2008A Risk Worth TakingPatrick TrenchardTV film
Agatha Christie's Poirot Andrew RestarickEpisode: "Third Girl"
2010 Midsomer Murders Edward MiltonEpisode: "The Made-to-Measure Murders"
2011 Secret Diary of a Call Girl HenryEpisode: "Episode #4.4"
2012 Titanic J. Bruce Ismay TV series, 4 episodes
The Best Possible TasteWilfred De'AthBBC TV movie
2013 The Great Train Robbery John WheaterTV mini-series, Episode: A Copper's Tale
2014 Law & Order: UK Charles HuttonEpisode: Bad Romance
Endeavour ACC Clive DeareEpisode: Neverland
2015 Death in Paradise Elias ThomsonEpisode: Stab in the Dark
2015 Strike Back Charles RidleyTV series, 5 episodes
2016–2017 Casualty Archie Grayling6 episodes
2016 Churchill's Secret Brendan Bracken TV movie
2017–2018 Poldark Lord Falmouth10 episodes
2018 Father Brown Sefton ScottEpisode: "The Cat of Mastigatus"
2024 The Famous Five Mr VincentEpisode: "Mystery at the Prospect Hotel" [8]
2025 I, Jack Wright Max PrestonTV series, 5 episodes

See also

References

  1. "James Wilby Biography (1958-)".
  2. A Patriot for Me by John Osborne, Barbican Theatre, 1995. Archived 28 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Ransome, Jeremy (22 October 2019). "THEATRE REVIEW: Gaslight". Spalding Today. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  4. Wylie, Ian. 'Titanic' (production notes), pp.63-64.
  5. The Telegraph, 'Claret's more than just a stage', 21 August 2004.
  6. Thompson, Flora (16 March 2015). "Asking price for Duchess of Cornwall's former home slashed by £100,000". The Argus. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  7. Yossman, K.J. (28 January 2022). "Elliott Hasler's 'Vindication Swim' Biopic Casts Douglas Hodge, James Wilby (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
  8. "BBC unveils first glimpse of The Famous Five - Mystery at the Prospect Hotel" (Press release). BBC Media Centre. 19 November 2024. Archived from the original on 20 November 2024. Retrieved 29 December 2024.

Interviews