Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy,
CBE, FSA (born 29 October 1925)
is an English
actor with a long career in the theatre, film and
television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the
longbow.
Biography
Early life
Hardy was
born in Cheltenham
, England, the son of
Jocelyn (née Dugdale) and
Henry Harrison Hardy. His father was headmaster of Cheltenham
College
. He was educated at Rugby School
and Magdalen College, Oxford
University where he gained a BA Honours degree in
English.
Career
Hardy began his career as a classical actor, appearing as
Shakespeare's
Henry V on stage and in television's
An Age of Kings (1960), and
subsequently played
Coriolanus and Sir Toby Belch for the
BBC.
It was while playing Henry V that Hardy
developed an interest in medieval warfare, and he later wrote and
presented an acclaimed television documentary on the subject of the
Battle of
Agincourt
. He has also written two books on the
subject of the longbow,
Longbow: A Social and Military
History and
The Great War Bow with Matthew Strickland
(Sutton Publishing 2005. ISBN 0750931671 ISBN 978-0750931670).
He was one
of the experts consulted by the archaeologist responsible for raising the
Mary
Rose
.
Over the years, Hardy has played a huge range of parts on
television and film. His first continuing role in a TV series was
as businessman Alec Stewart in the award-winning oil company drama
The Troubleshooters for
the BBC, which he played from 1966 to 1970. He won further acclaim
for his portrayal of the mentally-unhinged
Abwehr Sgt Gratz in
LWT's 1969 war
drama
Manhunt. In 1975,
Hardy appeared in the episode "Such a Lovely Man" in the fifth
season of the series
Upstairs,
Downstairs. But his most famous role was as Siegfried
Farnon in the long-running
All Creatures Great
and Small(1978–1990), a stylish and much loved adaptation
of
James Herriot's novels.
He also made an appearance in the 1987
ITV
comedy series
Hot Metal, in which
he played a dual role, that of a newspaper proprietor, Twiggy
Rathbone (who bore more than a passing resemblance to
Rupert Murdoch) and his put-upon and harassed
editor, Russell Spam.
In 1993 Hardy appeared in an episode of
Inspector Morse, playing Andrew Baydon in
"Twilight of the Gods". Hardy played the part of the successful
businessman with a murky wartime past with a characteristic blend
of the vulnerable and the bombast.
He holds the distinction of having played both
Winston Churchill and
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and having played both
roles on more than one occasion. He played Churchill most notably
in
Winston
Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981), for which he won a
BAFTA award, but also in
The
Sittaford Mystery,
Bomber Harris and
War and Remembrance. He
played Roosevelt in the BBC serial,
Bertie and Elizabeth, and in the
French TV mini-series,
Le Grand
Charles, about the life of
Charles DeGaulle.
He also played
Robert
Dudley, Earl of Leicester in
Elizabeth R, and Prince Albert in
Edward the Seventh
(known as
Edward the King to the American audience). He
took a role in the 1995 film version of
Sense and Sensibility. His
most recent roles were as
Minister of
Magic Cornelius Fudge in the
Harry Potter movies, and as
Lord Malan in
His
Master's Voice.
His voice performance as
Robin Hood in
Tale Spinners For
Children Robin Hood, a
LP
from the 1960s, is considered one of the best Robin Hood
renditions.
He was appointed a
Commander of the
Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's Birthday
Honours of 1981.
Personal life
His first marriage, in 1952, was to Elizabeth Fox, the daughter of
Sir Lionel Fox. This marriage ended in 1956. In 1961 he married
Sally Pearson, the daughter of Dame
Gladys
Cooper and, thus, sister-in-law of
Robert Morley. This marriage ended in 1986.
Robert Hardy has three children.
He was a close friend of actor Richard Burton whom he met at the University of
Oxford
.
Filmography
References
- Robert Hardy Biography (1925-)
-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Longbow-Military-History-Robert-Hardy/dp/1852604123
Longbow: A Social and Military History
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