Walter Charles Dance OBE (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor. He is known for playing intimidating, authoritarian characters and villains. Dance started his career on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) before appearing in film and television. For his services to drama, he was appointed an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006. He made his feature film debut in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981). He has since appeared in a string of critically acclaimed period films, including Michael Collins (1996), Gosford Park (2001), The Imitation Game (2014), Mank (2020), and The King's Man (2021). He has also appeared in the films The Golden Child (1986), Alien 3 (1992), Last Action Hero (1993), Dracula Untold (2014), and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). He made his directorial film debut with the drama film Ladies in Lavender (2004), which he also wrote and executive-produced. On television, Dance played Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Mr Tulkinghorn in Bleak House (2005), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Tywin Lannisterin Game of Thrones (2011–2015), and Lord Mountbatten in the third and fourth seasons of The Crown (2019–2020), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Description above from the Wikipedia article Charles Dance, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

• 2028The Batman: Part II — Christopher Dent
• 2026Ladies First — Fred Powell
• 2025Creditors — Gustaf
• 2025Frankenstein — Leopold Frankenstein
• 2025Wildcat — Frasier Mahoney
• 2024Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters — Narrator
• Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty — Old Michaelangelo
• 2024Rumours — Edison Wolcott
• 2024Samaná Sunrise — Noah Blum
• The Day of the Jackal — Timothy Winthrop
• 2024The First Omen — Father Harris
• Rabbit Hole — Dr. Ben Wilson
• 2023Savage Waters
• 2022Against the Ice — Minister Neergaard
• 2022Lancaster — Narrator (voice)
• 2022Portrait of the Queen
• 2022The Hanging Sun — Jacob
• The Sandman — Roderick Burgess
• The Serpent Queen — Clement VII
• This England — Max Hastings
• Moley — Mr. Moley (voice)
• 2021The Book Of Vision — Dr. Johan Anmuth
• 2021The King's Man — Kitchener
• 2020Mank — William Randolph Hearst
• The Singapore Grip — Mr Webb
• 2019Fanny Lye Deliver'd — John Lye
• 2019Godzilla: King of the Monsters — Alan Jonah
• 2019Iron Mask — Lord Dudley
• 2019Master Moley by Royal Invitation — Mr. James Moley (voice)
• The Widow — Martin Benson
• 2018Euphoria — Mr. Daren
• Hang Ups — Jeremy Pitt
• 2018Happy New Year, Colin Burstead — Uncle Bertie
• 2018Hero — Charles Reynard
• 2018Johnny English Strikes Again — Agent Seven
• 2018Spitfire — Narrator (voice)
• The Little Drummer Girl — Commander Picton
• The Woman in White — Frederick Fairlie
• 2017That Good Night — The Visitor
• 2017Wimbledon Official Film 2017 — Narrator (voice)
• 2016Despite the Falling Snow — Old Alexander Ivanov
• 2016Ghostbusters — Harold Fillmore
• 2016Me Before You — Stephen Traynor
• 2016Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — Mr. Bennet
• The Crown — Lord Mountbatten
• 2016Underworld: Blood Wars — Thomas
• 2015Admiral — King Charles II
• And Then There Were None — Justice Lawrence Wargrave
• 2015Child 44 — Major Grachev
• Childhood's End — Karellen
• Deadline Gallipoli — Sir Ian Hamilton
• 2015Game of Thrones The IMAX Experience — Tywin Lannister
• 2015Instruments of Darkness — Duncan
• 2015Victor Frankenstein — Frankenstein
• 2015Woman in Gold — Sherman
• 2014Dracula Untold — Master Vampire
• 2014Forbidden Empire — Lord Dudley
• 2014Retrospective — Jonathan Hoyle
• The Great Fire — Lord Denton
• 2014The Imitation Game — Commander Denniston
• 2013Father's Day — Don
• 2013Justin and the Knights of Valour — Legantir (voice)
• 2013Patrick — Doctor Roget
• 2013The Relics of Buddha — Narrator (voice)
• 2012Midnight's Children — William Methwold
• Secret State — John Hodder
• 2012St George's Day — Trenchard
• 2012The Door — Thomas Arlington
• 2012The Mapmaker — Rowan
• 2012Underworld: Awakening — Thomas
• Game of Thrones — Tywin Lannister
• 2011Going Postal 2in1 — Lord Vetinari
• 2011Ironclad — Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Neverland — Dr. Fludd
• Rosamunde Pilcher's Shades of Love — Edmund Aird
• 2011There Be Dragons — Solono
• 2011Your Highness — King Tallious
• Drama Trails
• Going Postal — Lord Vetinari
• 2010Paris Connections — Aleksandr Borinski
• Strike Back — Conrad Knox
• 2010The Clerk's Tale — Ralph
• 2010The Commuter — The Traffic Warden
• Trinity — Dr. Edmund Maltravers
• Merlin — Aredian
• 2007Consenting Adults — Jack Wolfenden
• Fallen Angel — David Byfield
• 2007Intervention — Private Investigator
• 2007The Contractor — DCS Andrew Windsor
• 2006Scoop — Mr. Malcolm
• 2006Starter for 10 — Michael Harbinson
• 2006Twice Upon a Time — Battar Master of Ceremonies
• Bleak House — Mr. Tulkinghorn
• Fingersmith — Mr. Chistopher Lilly
• Last Rights — Richard Wheeler
• 2005Titanic: Birth of a Legend — Narrator (voice)
• To the Ends of the Earth — Sir Henry Somerset
• Agatha Christie's Marple — Septimus Bligh
• 2004Ladies in Lavender — Director, Screenplay, Executive Producer
• 2004Saint John Bosco Mission to Love — Marchese Clementi
• Saint John Bosco Mission to Love — Marchese Clementi
• Henry VIII — Duke of Buckingham
• Looking for Victoria — Charles Greville
• 2003Swimming Pool — John Bosload
• 2002Ali G Indahouse — Deputy Prime Minister David Carlton
• 2002Black and White — Roderic Chamberlain
• Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future — Colonel Simon Lasker (voice)
• Foyle's War — Guy Spencer
• 2001Dark Blue World — Wing Commander Bentley
• 2001Gosford Park — Raymond Stockbridge
• 2001Jurij
• 2001The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby — Ralph Nickleby
• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby — Ralph Nickleby
• 2000Justice in Wonderland — Neil Hamilton
• 2000Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes — Sir Henry Carlyle
• Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)
• 1999Chrono-Perambulator — James 'Dougie' Douglas
• 1999Don't Go Breaking My Heart — Frank
• 1998Hilary and Jackie — Derek du Pré
• 1998What Rats Won't Do — Gerald Burton Jr
• 1997In the Presence of Mine Enemies — Captain Richter
• Rebecca — Maxim de Winter
• 1997The Blood Oranges — Cyril
• 1996Michael Collins — Soames
• 1996Space Truckers — Nabel / Macanudo
• 1996Undertow — Lyle Yates
• 1995The Surgeon — Dr. Ed Mittlesbay
• 1994China Moon — Rupert Munro
• 1994Kabloonak — Robert Flaherty
• 1994Shortcut to Paradise — Quinn
• 1993Century — Professor Mandry
• 1993Last Action Hero — Benedict
• 1992Alien³ — Clemens
• 1992La valle di pietra — Surveyor
• The Phantom of the Opera — Erik/The Phantom
• 1989Goldeneye — Ian Fleming
• 1988First Born — Edward Forester
• First Born — Edward Forester
• 1988Out of the Shadows — Michael Hayden
• 1988Pascali's Island — Anthony Bowles
• 1987Good Morning, Babylon — D.W. Griffith
• 1987Hidden City — James Richards
• Out on a Limb — Gerry Stamford
• 1987White Mischief — Josslyn Hay
• The Flying Doctors — Minister
• 1986The Golden Child — Sardo Numspa
• 1986The McGuffin — Paul Hatcher
• 1985Plenty — Raymond Brock
• Screen Two — Paul Hatcher, Professor Mandry
• Time for Murder — James Latimer
• 1984Rainy Day Women — John Truman
• The Jewel in the Crown — Guy Perron
• The Secret Servant — SAS Major Harry Maxim
• Natural World
• 1982Little Eyolf — Borghejm
• 1981For Your Eyes Only — Claus
• 1980Dreams of Leaving — Colin
• 1980Fatal Spring — Siegfried Sassoon
• Tales of the Unexpected — Robert Smythe
• Raffles
• The Professionals — Parker
• Father Brown — Commandant Neil O'Brien
• Playhouse — Siegfried Sassoon
• The Inheritors — Simon Leadbetter
• Play for Today
• BBC Play of the Month — Borghejm
• A Patriot — Dr. Hastings
• The Liar — Tickford
• Viy 3: Travel to India

Appearances as themselves (24)

• 2026The Big Fat Quiz of Telly — Self - Guest
• Churchill at War — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Testament: The Story of Moses — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2021The Magic of the Movies: Behind the Scenes of David Fincher's Mank — Self
• Rise of Empires: Ottoman — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2018The Muppets Take The O2 — Self
• Savage Kingdom — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2013Speeches That Shook the World — Self
• 2013The Science of Doctor Who — Self
• Was It Something I Said? — Self - Narrator
• Celebrity Antiques Road Trip — Self - Participant
• 2008Dickens' Secret Lover — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2007The 50 Greatest Television Dramas — Self
• Would I Lie to You? — Self
• Jam and Jerusalem — Self
• The One Show — Self
• Who Do You Think You Are? — Self
• 2003Wreckage and Rage: Making 'Alien³' — Self (archive footage)
• 2002The Making of Gosford Park — Self (uncredited)
• Top Gear — Self
• 2001Alien Evolution — Self / Clemens
• Room 101 — Self
• An Audience with... — Self
• Film '72 — Self