Timothy Dalton - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

This page uses content from the Timothy Dalton biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Timothy Peter Dalton (born March 21, 1946) is a Welsh-born English actor of stage and screen, famous for being chosen as the fourth official James Bond.

Biography

Youth and early career

Born in Colwyn Bay, to an English father and an American mother, Timothy Dalton is of mixed English and Italian-Irish ancestry. Before he was born, his family moved to Wales; where his father was stationed during World War II. During the late 1940s, when he was reaching four years old, the family moved back to England to Belper, Derbyshire. He became interested in acting in his teenage years, and left school in 1964 to enroll in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and tour with the National Youth Theatre in the summer. He did not complete his RADA studies, leaving the academy in 1966 to join the ensemble of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He quickly moved to television, working mainly with BBC, and in 1968 made his film debut in The Lion in Winter, the first of several period dramas.

After a few more films, Dalton took a break in 1971 to concentrate on the theatre, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and other troupes throughout the world. With the exception of the 1975 film Permission to Kill, he remained a theatre actor until 1978. That year he starred in Sextette, hailing his return to cinema and the beginning of his American career. While in the United States, Dalton worked mainly in television, although he starred in several European films and gave notable performances for the BBC.

James Bond

In 1986, after Roger Moore's retirement from the role of James Bond, the lean, 6'2" green-eyed Dalton was approached to replace him, but obligations to the film Brenda Starr and the stage productions of Antony & Cleopatra and The Taming of The Shrew kept him from accepting the role. Sam Neill was then screen-tested for the part of Bond, but was ultimately rejected by Albert Broccoli. Pierce Brosnan was then approached for the role, but was forced by NBC to turn it down (after initially accepting it) because of his commitment to the television revival of Remington Steele. In the ensuing time, Dalton had completed the filming of Brenda Starr and was now able to accept the role of James Bond.

Previously, Dalton had been offered the role of James Bond twice. In 1968, he was asked to replace Sean Connery, who declared that he would not do another James Bond movie - which became On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - after You Only Live Twice (1967). Dalton turned the offer down, feeling he was too young for the role and because of what he felt was an imposing legacy left behind by Connery; the role finally went to George Lazenby. During the late 1970s, he was approached again, but he did not favour the direction the movies were taking. As he explained, his idea of Bond was different. Work commitments made him again refuse the role in 1986, but when asked a fourth time, he agreed to appear in three James Bond films. Dalton was also asked to star in Octopussy (film)in 1982, but turned down the film not liking the direction of where it was going.

Dalton's first outing as 007, The Living Daylights (1987) was successful and grossed more than the previous two Bond films with Roger Moore, as well as contemporary box-office rivals such as Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. His second film, Licence to Kill (1989), did not perform as well at the US box office, in large part due to a lackluster marketing campaign after the title of the film was abruptly changed from 'Licence Revoked'.

Timothy Dalton was the official James Bond until he left the role in April of 1994. It was rumored that he would make The Property of a Lady (which is one of Ian Fleming's short stories), but this was never confirmed. It was more believed that the plot would take place in London, Hong Kong, and Japan (see Licence to Kill). However, the film was cancelled due to legal issues between UA and MGM. Timothy Dalton was scheduled to star in Goldeneye, with a script all ready written for him as James Bond. But he turned down the role feeling he was too old for it.

Timothy Dalton's assertion that Michael France was writing the new film proved correct. Working closely with the Broccolis and Wilson, France had created a first draft screenplay named after Ian Fleming's house in Jamaica, GoldenEye. The first draft had been written with Dalton in mind and, when Brosnan came on board, it was rewritten by British writer Jeffrey Caine who retained a lot of France's original ideas (involving Bond's relationship with the traitorous 006, Alec Trevelyan) but added new angles to the piece - it was Caine who added the nine-years-previously prologue that opens the finished film. A third writer, Kevin Wade, was brought in to polish the script, followed by final tinkering by Bruce Feirstein, a friend of Barbara Broccoli and her husband Fred Zollo.

James Bond's parentage in Fleming's novels is that of the union of a Swiss mother and a Scottish father, both parents dying in a climbing accident in the Alps. In this way, Timothy Dalton's physical attributes closely match the result of such a parentage, and he has been described as being the closest genetic composite of James Bond.

Dalton's portrayal of Bond - darker, more grittily realistic and truer to the original character as portrayed in Fleming's novels - was something of a double-edged sword. Critics and fans of Fleming's original novels welcomed a more serious interpretation after more than a decade of Roger Moore's lighthearted approach . However, the reaction of Moore aficionados and those who had grown up with Moore as their Bond during his 12-year tenure (as well as Sean Connery before) was mixed, as most of them were generally unfamiliar with Ian Fleming's original novels. Connery later stated that he preferred Pierce Brosnan's portrayal of Bond over that of Dalton, feeling that Dalton had taken the character 'too seriously in the wrong way and was not cool', while the late Desmond Llewelyn, who played gadget master Q, stated that he favoured Dalton's performance for being closer to Fleming's original novels. Dalton's serious interpretation was not only in portraying the character, but also in performing most of the stunts of the action scenes by himself, with the assistance of stunt coordinator Jonas Carp.

After his Bond films, Dalton's career entered an uncertain period. Successes on stage and television were balanced by indifferent films. He also played Rhett Butler in Scarlett, the television mini-series sequel to Gone with the Wind. In 2003, he played a parody of James Bond named Damian Drake in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

Selected filmography

Hot Fuzz (2007) .... Simon Skinner
Marple: The Sittaford Mystery (TV) (2006) .... Clive Trevelyan
Hercules (TV miniseries) (2005) .... Amphitryon
Dunkirk (TV) (2004) .... Narrator
Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) .... Damien Drake
American Outlaws (2001) .... Allan Pinkerton
Possessed (TV) (2000) .... Fr. Willam Bowden
Time Share (2000) .... Matt
The Reef (aka Passion's Way) (1999) .... Charles Darrow
Made Men (1999) .... Sheriff Dex Drier
Cleopatra (TV) (1999) .... Julius Caesar
Stories from My Childhood (TV) (1998) (voice) .... Prince Guidon
The Informant (1997) .... DCI Rennie
The Beautician and the Beast (1997) .... Boris Pochenko
Salt Water Moose (1996) .... Lester Parnell
Scarlett (TV miniseries) (1994) .... Rhett Butler
Lie Down with Lions (aka Red Eagle) (TV) (1994) .... Jack Carver
Last Action Hero, cameo role (1993)
Naked in New York (1993) .... Elliot Price
Framed (TV) (1992) .... Eddie Myers
Tales from the Crypt: Werewolf Concerto (TV) (1992) .... Lokai
The Rocketeer (1991) .... Neville Sinclair
Putain du roi, La (aka The King's Whore) (1990) .... Le Roi Vittorio Amadeo
Brenda Starr (1989) .... Basil St. John
Licence to Kill (1989) .... James Bond
Hawks (1988) .... Bancroft
The Living Daylights (1987) .... James Bond
Sins (TV miniseries) (1986) .... Edmund Junot
Faerie Tale Theatre: The Emperor's New Clothes (TV) (1985) (voice) .... Narrator
The Doctor and the Devils (1985) .... Doctor Thomas Rock
Florence Nightingale (TV) (1985) .... Richard Milnes
The Master of Ballantrae (TV) (1984) .... Col. Francis Burke
Mistral's Daughter (TV miniseries) (1984) .... Perry Kilkullen
Jane Eyre (TV miniseries) (1983) .... Edward Fairfax Rochester
Antony and Cleopatra (TV) (1983) .... Marc Antony
Chanel Solitaire (1981) .... Boy Capel
Flash Gordon (1980) .... Prince Barin
Charlie's Angels: Fallen Angel (TV) (1979) .... Damien Roth
The Flame Is Love (TV) (1979) .... Marquis de Guaita
Agatha (1979) .... Col. Archibald Christie
Centennial (TV miniseries) (1978) .... Oliver Seccombe
Hombre que supo amar, El (1978) .... Juan de Dios
Sextette (1978) .... Sir Michael Barrington
Permission to Kill (aka The Executioner) (1975) .... Charles Lord
Play of the Month: Candida (TV) (1971)
Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) .... Lord Henry Darnley
Play of the Month: Five Finger Exercise (TV) (1970)
Cromwell (1970) .... Prince Rupert
Wuthering Heights (1970) .... Heathcliff
Giochi particolari (1970) .... Mark
Judge Dee: A Place of Great Evil (TV) (1969)
The Three Princes (TV) (1968)
The Lion in Winter (1968) .... King Philip of France
Sat'day While Sunday (TV series) (1967) .... Peter

Selected stage career

His Dark Materials (2003-2004)
Star Crossed Lovers (1998)
Love Letters (1991)
A Touch of the Poet (1988)
The Taming of the Shrew (1986)
Antony and Cleopatra (1986)
Henry IV, Part 2 (1982)
Henry IV, Part 1 (1982)
The Romans (1977)
The Lunatic, the Lover and Poet (1977)
The Vortex (1976)
White Lies (1975)
Black Comedy (1975)
The Samaritan (1975)
Henry IV, Part 2 (1974)
Henry IV, Part 1 (1974)
Romeo and Juliet (1972-1973)
Henry V (1972)
Love's Labour's Lost (1972)
King Lear (1972)
Macbeth (1971)
St. Joan (1966)
The Doctor's Dilemma (1966)
Love's Labour's Lost (1966)
As You Like It (1966)
Richard III (1966)
The Merchant of Venice (1966)
Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunochs (1966)
A Game Called Arthur (1966)

References

External links

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