
Michael Byrne
Acting • Born 1943-11-07
Biography
Byrne was born in London, England. He has sometimes been cast in Nazimilitary roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Major Schroeder in Force 10 from Navarone, Reinhard Beck in The Scarlet and the Black, General Olbricht in The Plot to Kill Hitler and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris. Also seen as the aged but fanatical SS General Neurath in "Outpost 2 - Black Sun", former concentration camp commandant and involved in the Nazis's sinister reality-shifting experiments. Byrne appeared as a Jewish concentration camp survivor who is instrumental in the capture of a Nazi war criminal (played by Ian McKellen) in the film Apt Pupil. He is also familiar to audiences as Smythe, a soldier who attempts to rape William Wallace's wife and first inspires Wallace to seek independence from England in the film Braveheart. His other film credits include The Eagle Has Landed, A Bridge Too Far, The Medusa Touch, The Saint, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Good Father, The Sum of All Fears, Gangs of New York and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. On television, he has appeared in Z-Cars, Secret Army, Tales of the Unexpected, The Professionals, The Devil's Crown,Smiley's People, Yes, Prime Minister, Lord Mountbatten - the Last Viceroy, Between The Lines, Sharpe, The Mists of Avalon, Waking the Dead, The Body Farm, Honest, Hamish Macbeth, and Casualty. From April 2008 to January 2010, Michael starred in Coronation Street, as Ted Page, Gail Platt's long lost father and the ex-lover of Audrey Roberts. It is not known whether he will return to the show. Byrne appeared in State of Play at the Edinburgh Festival written by Zia Trench. He played Romeo to Siân Phillips' Juliet at the Bristol Old Vic. Father of actress Allie Byrne.
Filmography
135 credits
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Movie • 1989
Vogel

Blood: The Last Vampire
Movie • 2009
Elder

The Saint
Movie • 1997
Vereshagin

Gangs of New York
Movie • 2002
Horace Greeley

Battlefield Earth
Movie • 2000
Parson Staffer

The Search for Alexander the Great
Movie • 1981
Demosthenes

The Scarlet Blade
Movie • 1963
Lt. Hawke

The Musketeer
Movie • 2001
Treville, Head of the Musketeers

Beyond the Sea
Movie • 2004
Dr. Andretti

The Eagle Has Landed
Movie • 1976
Karl

Vampyres
Movie • 1974
Playboy

The Medusa Touch
Movie • 1978
Duff

Buster
Movie • 1988
Poyser

The Infiltrator
Movie • 1995
Dieter Creutz

Running Late
Movie • 1992
Clitheroe

The Island on Bird Street
Movie • 1997
Bolek

In the Secret State
Movie • 1985
Guy Preger

The Good Father
Movie • 1985
Leonard Scruby

Force 10 from Navarone
Movie • 1978
Schroeder

Hornblower: The Even Chance
Movie • 1998
Captain Keene

Sharpe's Company
Movie • 1994
Major Nairn

Outpost: Black Sun
Movie • 2012
Neurath

Rogue Male
Movie • 1976
Interrogator

Man and Superman
Movie • 1982
Henry Straker

Butley
Movie • 1974
Reg Nuttall

Diana
Movie • 2013
Christiaan Barnard

The Image
Movie • 1969
The Artist

Harry Price: Ghost Hunter
Movie • 2015
Sir Charles Harwood

Henry VI Part 1
Movie • 1983
Duke of Alencon

Henry VI Part 2
Movie • 1983
John Hume / Lieutenant

Henry VI Part 3
Movie • 1983
Marquess of Montague / Father that killed his son

The Tragedy of Richard III
Movie • 1983
Duke of Buckingham

Mortdecai
Movie • 2015
The Duke

Ms or Jill and Jack
Movie • 1974

Murderous Decisions
Movie • 1991
Octave

The Silent Playground
Movie • 1963
Roger

The Gold Machine
Movie • 2022
Andrew Norton

The Plot to Kill Hitler
Movie • 1990
Friedrich Olbricht

Much Ado About Nothing
Movie • 1967
Claudio

Headmaster
Movie • 1974

Tomorrow Never Dies
Movie • 1997
HMS Bedford Admiral Kelly

30 Years to Life
Movie • 1998
Oliver Mather

Mauá - O Imperador e o Rei
Movie • 1999
Mr. Carruthers

Braveheart
Movie • 1995
Smythe

A Few Short Journeys of the Heart
Movie • 1994
Blank/German/Old Geezer

Imogen's Face
Movie • 1998
Patrick

The Omen
Movie • 1976
Monk (uncredited)

Hildegard
Movie • 1994
Volmar

Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse
Movie • 1997
Venables

Sharpe: The Legend
Movie • 1997
Nairn

Break In
Movie • 1975
Clarke

The Sum of All Fears
Movie • 2002
Anatoli Grushkov

A Bridge Too Far
Movie • 1977
Lt. Col. Giles A.M. Vandeleur

If It's a Man – Hang Up!
Movie • 1975
Richard Lovell

The Mark of Cain
Movie • 2007
Lieut General Strathairn

The Scarlet and the Black
Movie • 1983
Reinhard Beck

Quartet
Movie • 2012
Frank White

Henry VIII and His Six Wives
Movie • 1972
Edward Seymour

The Crooked Man
Movie • 2003
Archie Saunders

The Return of the Dancing Master
Movie • 2004
Emil Wetterstedt

Champions
Movie • 1984
Richard Hussey

Sunday
Movie • 2002
Lord Widgery

Intrigo: Death of an Author
Movie • 2018
Keller

The Happy Valley
Movie • 1987
John Carberry

The First Line
Movie • 2014
Richard

The Last Witness
Movie • 2018
Coroner

The Fix
Movie • 1997
Sam Campbell

Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
Movie • 1986
Chorus

Proof of Life
Movie • 2000
Lord Luthan

Wednesday Love
Movie • 1975
Bruce

Alien Overlords
Movie • 2018
Michael

Coming Out
Movie • 1979
Gunnar Wedelman

Nostradamus
Movie • 1994
Inquisitor

Conduct Unbecoming
Movie • 1975
2nd Lt. Toby Strang

Apt Pupil
Movie • 1998
Ben Kramer

The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Movie • 1983
Antonio

Gunshy
Movie • 1998
Lange

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Movie • 2010
Gellert Grindelwald

Sharpe's Enemy
Movie • 1994
Major Nairn

Sharpe's Honour
Movie • 1994
Major Nairn

The Silence of the Sea
Movie • 1980
Werner Von Ebrennac

Intrigo: Samaria
Movie • 2019
Commissioner Keller

Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
Movie • 1979
Ratrick Marney

Rom - Schlacht der Gladiatoren
Movie • 2015

Bjorn of the Dead
Movie
Derek

Thriller
TV • 1973
Richard Lovell

Hornblower
TV • 1998
Captain Keene

Sharpe
TV • 1993
Major Nairn

Ultimate Force
TV • 2002

Double the Fist
TV • 2004

The Bill
TV • 1984

Tales of the Unexpected
TV • 1979
Patrick Marney

A Touch of Frost
TV • 1992
Alex Ormrod

Silent Witness
TV • 1996

Between the Lines
TV • 1992

The Practice
TV • 1997
Officer (uncredited)

Crown Court
TV • 1972

Waking the Dead
TV • 2001
Joe Brackley

The Enigma Files
TV • 1980
David Stanley

The Mists of Avalon
TV • 2001
Merlin

Empire
TV • 2005
Cicero

Yes, Prime Minister
TV • 1986

Play for Today
TV • 1970

A Sort of Innocence
TV • 1986

Smiley's People
TV • 1982
Peter Guillam

No Bananas
TV • 1996
Edward Grant

Oliver's Travels
TV • 1995
Moody

The Vice
TV • 1999

Heat of the Sun
TV • 1998

Oliver's Travels
TV • 1995

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
TV • 1987
DCC Charles Griswold

Saracen
TV • 1989
Col. Patrick Ansell

Secret Army
TV • 1977
Paul Vercors

Crossing Lines
TV • 2013
Edward Baxendale

Ellis Island
TV • 1984
Dr. Carl Travers

Bodies
TV • 2023
Old Mullins

The Living and the Dead
TV • 2016
Ebenezer Alsop

Shades of Greene
TV • 1975
Trevor's Father

Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy
TV • 1986
George Abell

Coronation Street
TV • 1960
Ted Page

Play for Today
TV • 1970
Russell

Midsomer Murders
TV • 1997
Keith Grundy

Play for Today
TV • 1970
Bruce

Lady Killers
TV • 1980
Edward Marshall-Hall

Lady Killers
TV • 1980
Edward Marshall-Hall KC

Agatha Raisin
TV • 2016
Bishop Parsons

Hamish Macbeth
TV • 1995
Duncan Scott

The Professionals
TV • 1977
Werner Dreisinger

Strike
TV • 2017
Roy Phipps

BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Viskovsky

The Chief
TV • 1990
Sir Robert Eaton

Accident
TV • 1978
Ian Shaw

The Devil's Crown
TV • 1978
Richard Lionheart

Edward the Seventh
TV • 1975
Fritz

Strangers
TV • 1978
Sgt Briscoe