Martin Jarvis | |
---|---|
Born | Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England | 4 August 1941
Alma mater | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1964–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Martin Jarvis OBE (born 4 August 1941) is an English actor. [1] Described by the BBC as "one of Britain's most distinguished and versatile actors", [2] he has had a varied career in theatre, film and television, and is particularly noted for radio acting and voicing audiobooks.
Jarvis was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, to Denys Harry Jarvis and Margot Lillian Scottney, and grew up in South Norwood and Sanderstead, north Surrey.
He was educated at Whitgift School, an independent school in Croydon, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he won the Vanbrugh Award and the silver medal. [3]
Jarvis has acted in many stage productions in London and abroad, including alongside Diana Rigg and Natascha McElhone in Joanna Murray-Smith's Honour at London's Wyndham's Theatre in 2006. His other stage work includes Woman in Mind and Henceforward... by Alan Ayckbourn, Other Places by Harold Pinter, Exchange by Michael Frayn, and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (opposite Judi Dench). [2]
Jarvis appeared on Broadway in 2001 as P. G. Wodehouse's character Jeeves in the musical By Jeeves , a performance for which he was awarded a Theatre World Award. [4]
Jarvis has had a long association with the BBC, particularly BBC Radio 4. In the 1980s Michael Frayn's columns for The Guardian and The Observer , described by some as models of the comic essay, were adapted and performed in many voices for BBC Radio 4 by Jarvis. He read a four part adaptation of John Gordon's The Giant Under the Snow in 1981. [5] He performs regularly in radio dramas and readings, both comic and serious. In David Mamet's Mind Your Pantheon he played the actor Strabo. He is known for his long series of readings of Richmal Crompton's Just William stories, which show his characteristic and flexible reading voices. He has also narrated the Billy Bunter series by Frank Richards. As a result of this extensive work, Jarvis has been satirised in the radio show Dead Ringers by Mark Perry, highlighting his seeming ubiquity in Radio 4 programmes.
Jarvis has performed the role of Jeeves in multiple radio dramas based on P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories, including the 1997 L.A. Theatre Works adaptation of The Code of the Woosters , [6] the 2014 BBC radio adaptation of Ring for Jeeves , [7] and the 2018 BBC radio adaptation of Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves . [8] He performs live dramatic readings of some of the stories in the intermittent radio series Jeeves Live! (2007–2020). [9]
In America, Jarvis and his wife Rosalind Ayres perform frequently in audio drama with the L.A. Theater Works and Hollywood Theater of the Ear.
In 2011, he appeared in a Radio 4 production of Terence Rattigan's In Praise of Love .
Jarvis's first television appearance was in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who as Hilio, captain of the butterfly-like Menoptra, in The Web Planet (1965). [10] He returned to Doctor Who as the scientist Dr. Butler in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974) and as the beleaguered governor of the planet Varos in Vengeance on Varos (1985). He became a familiar face on television when he played Jon in the BBC's landmark 1967 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga , the title role in a BBC serial of Nicholas Nickleby (1968), The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1970) and Uriah Heep in the 1974 BBC version of David Copperfield , and when he was the male lead in the sitcom Rings on Their Fingers (1978–80) with Diane Keen. In 1993, he starred with Ewan McGregor and Rachel Weisz in a BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black . He also appeared in the 2002 BBC children's miniseries Bootleg .
He has appeared as a guest on 161 episodes of Channel 4's Countdown between 1990 and 2008.
His appearances on American television include such series as Murder, She Wrote , Walker, Texas Ranger , and more recently Stargate Atlantis and Numb3rs . He also made a brief appearance as George VI in the ABC television miniseries Ike: The War Years.
Jarvis was the subject of BBC television's This Is Your Life in 1999.[ citation needed ]
He appeared in ITV 1's The Bill in July 2008. In March 2010, it was announced that he would appear in the BBC soap opera EastEnders playing journalist Harvey Freeman. [11]
Jarvis appeared in a 2014 episode of Law & Order: UK as Eddie Stewart, a man arrested and charged with murder.[ citation needed ] In September 2022, Jarvis appeared alongside his wife in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors as John Chilton. [12]
Among his work, Jarvis did the voiceovers for the 2010 BBC series Just William and voices the animal characters, as well as Voltaire the wise Weather-Cock, in the 1993 children's television series Fourways Farm . He has also voiced various characters in animated series such as The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee . In the former, he inherited the role of the character Nergal from his Titanic co-star David Warner. In 2000, Jarvis voiced John Dread in the TV series Max Steel . He has also voiced all the characters in the children's stop-motion animated series Huxley Pig and narrated "The Tempest" in Shakespeare: The Animated Tales .
Jarvis has also undertaken audiobooks of P. G. Wodehouse's works, and won the Audie Award for these. He is the narrator of the 2011 audiobook of The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde. Further work in 2011 includes an audiobook of the Wilbur Smith novel The Leopard Hunts in Darkness . He has also appeared in Jubilee , a Doctor Who spin-off audio drama by Big Finish Productions, alongside his wife. Focus on the Family used Jarvis' voice for two of their audio dramas, Ben-Hur and a Father Gilbert Mystery entitled The Play's the Thing. In film, Jarvis appeared in Disney's 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph as Saitine, one of the video game villains who attends the Bad Anon self-help groups with Ralph (John C. Reilly).
Jarvis has also performed voiceovers for video games, beginning in 2007 as the role of The Chronicler in the Spyro the Dragon video game series. He also provided the voice of Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib in Mass Effect 2 (2010) and Mass Effect 3 (2012). Also in 2011, Jarvis also performed a voice-over part for the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic . Jarvis also voiced Alfred Pennyworth in the Batman: Arkham series of video games. He first voiced the character in the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City and would reprise for the 2013 video game Batman: Arkham Origins and the 2014 DC Universe animated movie Batman: Assault on Arkham , and the 2015 video game Batman: Arkham Knight .[ citation needed ]
He read Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities for the Chivers Audio Books production on cassette, later released on CD by Barnes & Noble Audio Classics.[ citation needed ]
Jarvis married Rosalind Ayres on 23 November 1974 in Ealing; he has two sons by a previous marriage. He met Ayres when they played in Hamlet together; she played Ophelia. Together with his wife, Jarvis runs the radio production company "Jarvis & Ayres Productions", [10] frequently used by BBC Radio 4.
He was awarded the OBE in 2000. He has also published a book of memoirs titled Acting Strangely: A Funny Kind of Life ( ISBN 0413728501 hardback, ISBN 0-413-74550-3 paperback). Jarvis has homes in West Hollywood and London. [13]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1966 | Secrets of a Windmill Girl | Mike, Windmill Stage Manager | |
1970 | The Last Escape | Lt. Donald Wilcox | |
1970 | Taste the Blood of Dracula | Jeremy Secker | |
1981 | The Bunker | Johannes Hentschel | |
1988 | Buster | Inspector Mitchell | |
1992 | Emily's Ghost | Papa | |
1996 | Police Story 4: First Strike | Australian Group #8 | Alongside his real life wife Rosalind Ayres as "Australian Group #1" |
1997 | Titanic | Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon | Alongside Rosalind Ayres as Lady Duff-Gordon |
2001 | Beginner's Luck | Old luvvie | |
2002 | Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War | JB | |
2008 | Framed | Richard | |
2011 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Birger | |
Neander-Jin: The Return of the Neanderthal Man | Peter Blodnik | ||
2012 | Wreck-It Ralph | Saitine (voice) | |
2014 | Batman: Assault on Arkham | Alfred Pennyworth (voice) | Direct-to-video |
United Passions | Sir Stanley Rous |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1996 | The Tick | Breadmaster (voice) | Episode: "Tick vs. Europe" |
1996 | Richie Rich | Cadbury, Bascomb (voice) | 6 Episodes |
2000 | Max Steel | John Dread (voice) | 6 Episodes |
2003–2008 | The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy | Nergal (voice) | 7 Episodes Replacing David Warner |
2005–2006 | The Life and Times of Juniper Lee | William, King Teddy, Bartok (voice) | 2 Episodes |
2007 | Stargate: Atlantis | Davos | Episode: "The Seer" |
2022 | Doctors | John Chilton | Episode: "Mustn't Grumble" |
![]() | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(October 2021) |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown | Sheriff of Nottingham | |
2006 | The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy | Nergal | |
2007 | The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night | The Chronicler | |
2008 | The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon | ||
2009 | The Lord of the Rings: Conquest | Gandalf | |
2009 | Dragon Age: Origins | Avernus | Warden's Keep DLC |
2010 | Mass Effect 2 | Zaal'Koris | |
2011 | Batman: Arkham City | Alfred Pennyworth | |
2011 | Star Wars: The Old Republic | Additional Voices | |
2012 | Mass Effect 3 | Zaal'Korris | |
2012 | Kinect Rush: A Disney–Pixar Adventure | Finn McMissile | |
2013 | Batman: Arkham Origins | Alfred Pennyworth | |
2015 | Batman: Arkham Knight | ||
Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligence manages to save Bertie or one of his friends from numerous awkward situations. Bertie Wooster and Jeeves have been described as "one of the great comic double-acts of all time".
Richard David Briers was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television.
David Hattersley Warner was an English actor who worked in film, television and theatre. Warner's lanky, often haggard appearance lent itself to a variety of villainous characters as well as more sympathetic roles across stage and screen. He received accolades such as a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for a BAFTA Award and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Jeeves and Wooster is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. Set in the UK and the US in an unspecified period between the late 1920s and the 1930s, the series starred Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster, an affable young gentleman and member of the idle rich, and Stephen Fry as Jeeves, his highly intelligent and competent valet. Bertie and his friends, who are mainly members of the Drones Club, are extricated from all manner of societal misadventures by the indispensable Jeeves.
Augustus "Gussie" Fink-Nottle is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a lifelong friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a country member of the Drones Club. He wears horn-rimmed spectacles and studies newts.
Dahlia Travers is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Bertie Wooster's bonhomous, red-faced Aunt Dahlia. She is much beloved by her nephew, in contrast with her sister, Bertie's Aunt Agatha.
Peter MacNicol is an American actor. He received a Theatre World Award for his 1981 Broadway debut in the play Crimes of the Heart. His film roles include Galen in Dragonslayer (1981), Stingo in Sophie's Choice (1982), Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II (1989), Gary Granger in Addams Family Values (1993), Renfield in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), and David Langley in Bean (1997).
Madeline Bassett is a fictional character in the Jeeves stories by English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being an excessively sentimental and fanciful young woman to whom Bertie Wooster intermittently, and reluctantly, finds himself engaged.
Roderick Spode, 7th Earl of Sidcup, often known as Spode or Lord Sidcup, is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. In the first novel in which he appears, he is an "amateur dictator" and the leader of a fictional fascist group in London called the Saviours of Britain, also known as the Black Shorts. He leaves the group after he inherits his title.
Kevin Conroy was an American actor. He appeared in a variety of stage performances, television series, and television films, but earned fame for voicing the DC Comics superhero Batman in various animated media, beginning with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. Conroy went on to voice the character for dozens of animated television series, feature films, and video games over the next three decades.
Vengeance on Varos is the second serial of the 22nd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 19 and 26 January 1985.
India Fisher is a British actress, narrator and presenter. Her father is the ex-MP Mark Fisher. She is also the stepsister of musician Crispin Hunt and of actress Francesca Hunt, who appears with her in the play Other Lives.
Lisa Bowerman is a British actress. She is best known for portraying Sandra Mute, the paramedic, in the first two series of the BBC One medical drama Casualty, and Doctor Who companion Professor Bernice Summerfield in a series of the same name and many related audio dramas for Big Finish Productions productions, as well as directing many series for the company.
Sir Roderick Glossop is a recurring fictional character in the comic novels and short stories of P. G. Wodehouse. Sometimes referred to as a "nerve specialist" or a "loony doctor", he is a prominent practitioner of psychiatry in Wodehouse's works, appearing in several Jeeves stories and in one Blandings Castle story.
Hildebrand "Tuppy" Glossop is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories by humorist P. G. Wodehouse. Tuppy is a member of the Drones Club, a friend of Bertie Wooster, and the fiancé of Angela Travers, Bertie's cousin.
Rosalind Ayres is an English actress, director and producer. Active since 1970, Ayres is well known for her role in the 1997 film Titanic, in which she played Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. Her husband, Martin Jarvis, played Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon in the film.
The DC Comics character Batman has been adapted into various media including film, radio, television, and video games, as well as numerous merchandising items. The Batman franchise has become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
Garrick Hagon is a British-Canadian actor in film, stage, television and radio, known for his role as Biggs Darklighter in Star Wars: A New Hope. His many films include Batman, Spy Game, Me and Orson Welles and The Message. He was the rebel leader Ky in the Doctor Who serial The Mutants, and played Simon Gerrard, Debbie Aldridge's husband in the BBC's The Archers.
Colin Andrew Ignatius Peter McFarlane is a British actor, narrator and voice actor. He is known for his roles in film and television including Gillian B. Loeb in two films of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy and Ulysses in the STARZ television drama series Outlander. McFarlane's voice roles include JJ in Bob the Builder, Bulgy in Thomas & Friends and PC Malcolm Williams in Fireman Sam. He was the voice of The Cube in the ITV game show.
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor. He starred as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, in the original and sequel trilogies.