Kenneth Cranham
Acting • Born 1944-12-12
Biography
Scottish born actor Kenneth Cranham is one of the most recognisable character actors in Britain. Having trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA, Cranham first came to prominence as Noah Claypole in the 1968 Carol Reed musical Oliver! In the late '70s, Cranham memorably played Sapper Salt in Euston Films' Danger UXB, before taking the title role in the popular postwar set period comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon. His most famous film role from around this time was Dr. Philip Channard in Hellraiser II. In more recent years he has starred in the HBO series Rome, as well as the films Hot Fuzz, Layer Cake, Valkyrie, Made in Dagenham, Maleficent and Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool. Among many stage credits are West End productions of Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot, An Inspector Calls (both transferring to Broadway), The Ruffian on the Stair, The Birthday Party and Gaslight (at the Old Vic). For his role as Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. In 2016, Cranham won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Andre in Florian Zeller's The Father. The play originated at the Theatre Royal Bath's Ustinov Studio in the Autumn of 2014, before touring the country and transferring to the West End in the Summer of 2015, and returning to the Duke of York's Theatre in Spring 2016. The play received an unprecedented five star review from every leading national press publication, and Cranham's performance was described as "the performance of his life" His first wife was actress Diana Quick. He has two daughters: Nancy Cranham with actress Charlotte Cornwell, and Kathleen Cranham with his second wife, actress Fiona Victory, whom he met on the set of Shine on Harvey Moon.
Filmography
168 credits
Brother Sun, Sister Moon
Movie • 1972
Paolo
Gangster No. 1
Movie • 2000
Tommy
Layer Cake
Movie • 2004
Jimmy Price
Bed of Roses
Movie • 1996
Simon
Prospero's Books
Movie • 1991
Sebastian
Chocolat
Movie • 1988
Jonathan Boothby
Dead Man's Folly
Movie • 1986
Insp. Bland
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Movie • 1988
Dr. Philip Channard / Channard Cenobite
A Good Year
Movie • 2006
Sir Nigel
Under Suspicion
Movie • 1991
Frank Vance
Joseph Andrews
Movie • 1977
The Wicked Squire
Tale of a Vampire
Movie • 1993
Edgar
Sinking of the Lusitania: Terror at Sea
Movie • 2007
Captain Turner
The Vision Thing
Movie • 1993
Dick Naughton
Royal Celebration
Movie • 1993
Douglas
Sling Your Hook
Movie • 1969
Roland
Death of a Private
Movie • 1967
Young intellectual
Two Men Went To War
Movie • 2002
Sgt. Peter King
Oliver!
Movie • 1968
Noah Claypole
A Master of the Marionettes
Movie • 1989
Teddy
On Dangerous Ground
Movie • 1996
Brigadier Charles Ferguson
Midnight Man
Movie • 1997
Brigadier Charles Ferguson
Killing Hitler
Movie • 2003
Brigadier Sir Stewart Menzies
Pollyanna
Movie • 2003
Mr. Pendleton
Maleficent
Movie • 2014
King Henry
Women Talking Dirty
Movie • 2001
George
Stealing Heaven
Movie • 1988
Vice Chancellor Suger
Closed Circuit
Movie • 2013
Cameron Fischer
Flying Blind
Movie • 2013
Victor
The Legend of Hercules
Movie • 2014
Lucius
Normal Service
Movie • 1988
Peter
A Little Bit of Lippy
Movie • 1992
Reggie Titherington
Hannibal: Rome's Worst Nightmare
Movie • 2006
Narrator
Making Waves
Movie • 1987
Joe Nash
Just Another Secret
Movie • 1989
Brosch
The Lavender List
Movie • 2006
Harold Wilson
All the Way Up
Movie • 1970
Tom Midway
Graffiti Wars
Movie • 2011
Narrator (Voice)
The Night Watch
Movie • 2011
Horace Mundy
Monkey Boy
Movie • 1992
Hennessey
Born Romantic
Movie • 2000
Barney
Trauma
Movie • 2004
DC Jackson
Panto!
Movie • 2012
Jerry
Donkeys' Years
Movie • 1980
Bill Taylor
Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Movie • 2015
Self
The Black and Blue Lamp
Movie • 1988
Supt. Cherry
Vampira
Movie • 1974
Paddy
Hot Fuzz
Movie • 2007
James Reaper
RPM
Movie • 1998
Biggerman
Lady Windermere's Fan
Movie • 1985
Lord Darlington
Man Dancin'
Movie • 2004
D.I. Walter 'Pancho' Villers
Hannibal: The Man Who Hated Rome
Movie • 2004
Narrator
Valkyrie
Movie • 2008
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel
The Changeling
Movie • 1974
Antonio
Sparkling Cyanide
Movie • 2003
George Barton
Spanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen
Movie • 2009
MJ O'Loughlin
Requiem Apache
Movie • 1994
Tony
Made in Dagenham
Movie • 2010
Monty Taylor
Harold Pinter: A Celebration
Movie • 2010
Self
National Theatre Live: The Cherry Orchard
Movie • 2011
Firs
Deep in the Heart
Movie • 1996
Robert Flaherty
Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
Movie • 2017
Joe Turner
'Tis Pity She's a Whore
Movie • 1980
Giovanni
Fragment of Fear
Movie • 1970
Joe
Otley
Movie • 1969
Kid
Shiner
Movie • 2000
Gibson
Lady Audley's Secret
Movie • 2000
Sir Michael Audley
Official Secrets
Movie • 2019
Judge Hyam
Blackball
Movie • 2003
Chairman Collins
The Murder of Stephen Lawrence
Movie • 1999
Michael Mansfield QC
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Espionage Escapades
Movie • 2000
Colonel Schmidt
Night Flight
Movie • 2002
Ted Atwell
Robin and Marian
Movie • 1976
Jack's Apprentice
Vigo
Movie • 1998
The Producer
The Caretaker
Movie • 1981
Aston
The Boxer
Movie • 1997
Matt MaGuire
The Sin Bin
Movie • 1981
Alan Grieves
Egon Schiele: Dangerous Desires
Movie • 2018
Leopold Czihaczek
Dark Ditties Presents: The Offer
Movie • 2017
The Host
Kevin & Perry Go Large
Movie • 2000
Vicar
The Birthday Party
Movie • 1987
Stanley Webber
Mr. Jones
Movie • 2019
Lloyd George
Joe Orton Laid Bare
Movie • 2017
Himself
The Merchant of Venice
Movie • 1980
Gratiano
Achilles Heel
Movie • 1973
Gordon
Suspension of Disbelief
Movie • 2012
Bullock
The Dumb Waiter
Movie • 1985
Gus
Butterflies Don't Count
Movie • 1978
Tom
The Most Fertile Man in Ireland
Movie • 2000
Da
The Last Yellow
Movie • 1999
Len
Heroes & Villains: Napoleon
Movie • 2007
General Carteaux
The Party
Movie • 1988
Joe Shawcross
Born a King
Movie • 2019
Lord Curzon
The Voynich Mystery
Movie • 2002
Narrator
Up Pompeii
Movie • 1971
Christian
5 Days of War
Movie • 2011
Michael Stilton
The Man from Montevideo
Movie • 2007
Gary Solway
The Chatterley Affair
Movie • 2006
Older Keith
Mangal Pandey - The Rising
Movie • 2005
Mr. Kent
Murder Most Horrid
TV • 1991
Inspector Salford
Believe Nothing
TV • 2002
DI Aldiss
Budgie
TV • 1971
Inky Ballantine
Rome
TV • 2005
Gnaeus Pompey Magnus
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
TV • 1992
Colonel Schmidt
Finding Alice
TV • 2021
Gerry
Hustle
TV • 2004
Francis Owen
Heartbeat
TV • 1992
Charlie Wallace
Dalziel & Pascoe
TV • 1996
Tommy Collingwood
Inspector Morse
TV • 1987
Cedric Downes
Murder Investigation Team
TV • 2003
Ray Morgan
Between the Lines
TV • 1992
Lovejoy
TV • 1986
Litvak
Brideshead Revisited
TV • 1981
Sergeant Block
Shine on Harvey Moon
TV • 1982
Harvey Moon
Van der Valk
TV • 1972
Dirk Boutsen
New Tricks
TV • 2004
A Sort of Innocence
TV • 1986
Chimera
TV • 1991
Hennessey
Natural World
TV • 1983
From a Bird's Eye View
TV • 1970
Tim O'Donovan
Moving On
TV • 2009
Mike
Without Motive
TV • 2000
DCS Derek Henderson
War and Peace
TV • 2016
Uncle Mikhail
Crown Court
TV • 1972
John Tucker
37 Days
TV • 2014
John Burns
Lilies
TV • 2007
Rules of Engagement
TV • 1989
Martin Goodman
In the Flesh
TV • 2013
Vicar Oddie
The Bell
TV • 1982
Nick Fawley
Casualty
TV • 1986
James Lawrence
Minder
TV • 1979
Walter
Enemy at the Door
TV • 1978
Jack Foster
Kavanagh Q.C.
TV • 1995
Roy Lawrence
Neil Gaiman's Likely Stories
TV • 2016
The Line of Beauty
TV • 2006
Sir Maurice Tipper
Lilies
TV • 2007
Health Inspector
The Genius of Mozart
TV • 2004
Leopold Mozart
The White Princess
TV • 2017
John Morton
Bancroft
TV • 2017
Charlie Haverstock
Heroes and Villains
TV • 2007
Merlin
TV • 2008
Aulfric
The Addictions of Sin: WH Auden in His Own Words
TV • 2009
W H Auden
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
TV • 1990
Pastor Finch
Hatton Garden
TV • 2019
Brian Reader
Midsomer Murders
TV • 1997
Jude Langham
Inside No. 9
TV • 2014
Rupert
Death in Paradise
TV • 2011
Father John
Danger UXB
TV • 1979
Sapper Salt
Danger UXB
TV • 1979
L / Corporal Salt
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Alan Grieves
The Play on One
TV • 1988
Joe Shawcross
The Play on One
TV • 1988
Peter
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
TV • 2008
Mr Clare
Reilly: Ace of Spies
TV • 1983
Lenin
The Spanish Princess
TV • 2019
John Morton
Strike
TV • 2017
Dennis Creed
Theatre Night
TV • 1985
Stanley
Agatha Christie's Marple
TV • 2004
Rex Fortescue
Trying
TV • 2020
Barry
BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Antonio
Coronation Street
TV • 1960
Roy
Our Mutual Friend
TV • 1998
Silas Wegg
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
TV • 1996
Reverend Michael Millward
Dickens
TV • 2002
John Forster
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Tom
Therese Raquin
TV • 1980
Camille Raquin
Strangers
TV • 1978
Willie Bruce
Strangers
TV • 1978
DCI Jim Lennard