Acclaimed character and voice actor with an imposing build and a rich, deep voice John Rhys-Davies (JRD) was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire on 5th May 1944, but spent his childhood in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales. His mother was a nurse and his father was a colonial police officer and due to this role JRD spent several years in the early 1950s living in Tanzania. He was educated at Truro School in Cornwall and at The University of East Anglia from 1963 where he helped in establishing the university dramatic society.
On graduation he spent
a while teaching at Watton County School in Norfolk before auditioning and
winning a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In February
1969 he was a cast member of a student production of the Euripides tragedy Heracles followed by a production of A
Month in the Country during June the same year. Early professional roles
included the stage play Removal Day at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry during August and September 1969, The Royal Hunt of the Sun in November
and a version of Cinderella during
December 1969 and January 1970. He was also cast as Owen Glendower in a production of Henry IV Part One at the Mermaid theatre
during March and April 1970.
Don Taylor’s play The Roses of Eyam premiered at the
Northcott theatre in Exeter during the end of November 1970. JRD was cast in the dual role of puritan Edward Thornley and as Sir George
Saville. The Stage described his
acting as “immensely impressive[1]”
and his work was also noted by Don Taylor who would later utilise
his vocal talents in the Beasts episode 'During Barty’s Party'.
JRD made his television debut in 'This Is Quarmby' (21st August 1971), an episode of the dystopian ITV drama The Guardians, briefly seen as one of the fascist military Guardians. His first notable role on TV came with the Adam Faith starring drama Budgie when Rhys-Davies took on the semi-regular role of Laughing Spam Fritter, an imposing East End gangster. He occupied himself with theatre work for the majority of 1972 including a production of Rosencratz and Guildenstern during April and May in Liverpool.
JRD made his film debut
in the British police drama Penny
Gold (1973) as a rugby player and after this began to accrue television
credits that started to steer away from his standard casting as a heavy. During
this period he had guest roles in a variety of continuing series; Detective
Sergeant Hill in 'Property, Dogs and Women' (28th July 1973), an
episode of police drama New Scotland Yard,
Danton in a production of 'Buttons' (19th August 1973) for the anthology series Once Upon A
Time and as circus conman Alfred
Kidney in 'Where’s Jonah?' (6th January 1974), for the family drama The Adventures of Black
Beauty.
More drama anthology work
came with 'Up and Under' (20th January 1974), an episode of the BBC
series Sporting Scenes which
collected plays around a sports theme umbrella. This was followed by a role in
the first episode of Zodiac, an
offbeat detective series co-created by Roger Marshall and Jaqueline Davis, starring
Anton Rodgers as Detective Inspector David Gradley who teams up with the
astrologer Esther Jones (Anouska Hempel). Rhys-Davies
appears as Aikman in the episode 'Death of a Crab' (25th February
1974). Stage work for early 1974 included Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Lives at The Liverpool Playhouse and a revival
of Hedda Gabler at the same venue.
1975 saw JRD undertake several guest roles in popular TV series. He was an underworld accomplice of a violent criminal in The Sweeney story 'Poppy' (20th October 1975), a police inspector in Within These Walls episode 'Getting Out' (8th November 1975) and just under two weeks later he could be seen in Quiller episode 'Thundersky' (21st November 1975) as Leindorf. His final piece of television for the year was in the celebrated feature length single drama The Naked Civil Servant (17th December 1975) which brought John Hurt acclaim for his role as Quentin Crisp. Rhys-Davies appears as the character Barndoor.
Into 1976 and the BBC naval drama Warship fashioned JRD with the role of Chief Petty Officer Cook
Mantell in the episode 'Heart of Oak' (23rd March 1976). His next
role saw him appear opposite 'Murrain' actor
David Simeon in the ATV police series Hunter’s
Walk followed by his vocal performance as Peter Newell in 'During
Barty’s Party'. To round off the year Rhys-Davies joined
the prestigious cast of the BBC period drama I Claudius, which reunited him with John Hurt. October saw him busy
in a stage production of Macbeth at the Theatre Royal in York. During
December 1976 he could be seen on stage in the children’s play Christmas Crackers, written by Willis
Hall, and presented at the Shaw Theatre
During April 1978 he
was a cast member of the Warehouse Theatre’s production of The Lorenzaccio Story and this was followed in June with a
production of David Rudkin’s The Sons of
Light at the same venue. His fellow cast included Charlotte Cornwell, Nigel
Terry and Edwin Richfield and both were Royal Shakespeare Company
productions. Back in the world of television he was cast as Terry Larkin in the
Z Cars episode 'Fat Freddie BA' (9th
August 1978) and in the BBC 2 Play of the
Week episode 'Fearless Frank' (4th October 1978) he portrayed the French writer Guy de Maupassant.
Target was the BBC’s
answer to The Sweeney headlined by
Patrick Mower as Detective Superintendent Steve Hackett. JRD played a
character called Hecht in the episode 'Fringe Banking' (13th October
1978) before moving on to his final television engagement of the year in an American TV movie
retelling The Nativity (17th
December 1978). He played Nestor in a role that took advantage
of his middle-eastern looking complexion, an attribute that would bring
him worldwide recognition for a film role he would undertake at the start of
the next decade…
The following year Rhys-Davies undertook
the role of the ambassador Capucius in a BBC production
of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII (25th
April 1979) which featured John Stride as the titular king and Claire Bloom as
Katharine of Aragon. The Danedyke Mystery
(3rd June 1979 – 15th July 1979) was a six part Granada
mystery thriller starring Michael Craig as policeman turned man of the cloth Reverend
Septimus Treloar. JDR appears in all six episodes as the
descriptively titled character Armchair. Cinema wise JDR had a fleeting
role as a solicitor in the crime drama A
Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square (1979). His first role of the new decade was in Enemy
at the Door, a series which
depicted life under the Nazis on the Channel Islands during World War Two, as one of the islanders in the second season episode 'Committee
Man' (2nd February 1980). Fox was
a gritty production which depicted the loves and lives of a family headed by Peter Vaughan. JRD appeared in two episodes; 'Big F
Family' (5th May 1980) and 'Just another Villain in a Cheap Suit' (19th
May 1980) as the character Warleigh. He then appeared opposite Richard
Chamberlain in the American mini-series Shogun
(15th September – 18th September 1980), based on the
period novel by James Clavell. JRD portrayed the 17th
Century Portuguese seafarer Vasco Rodrigues. His final TV credit for the year
was in a BBC production of Shakespeare’s The
Merchant of Venice (17th December 1980).
Sphinx
(1981) was an American adventure film which starred Lesley Ann Down and Frank
Langella. Rhys-Davies was on hand to essay one of a trio of characters of Middle Eastern ethnicity he would undertake this year. This was followed
by Peter and Paul (1981), a Biblical
epic, which told the story of Paul of Tarsus (Anthony Hopkins) and Peter The
Fisherman (Robert Foxworth). Rhys Davies, as Silas, joined an interesting line
up of thespians including Raymond Burr as King Herrod, Herbert Lom as
Barnabas and Downtown Abbey creator
Julian Fellowes as the Emperor Nero. Rhys-Davies' third cinema role was to be one of his
most enduring and went a considerable way to cementing his later career. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) saw him cast as Sallah, an indigenous sidekick for archaeologist adventurer
Indiana Jones.
His movie roles for 1982 include the children’s film Island
of Adventure (1982), based on the Enid Blyton book of the same name and the epic Douglas Camfield directed TV movie version of Ivanhoe (1982). Rhys Davies was cast as Front-de-boeuf. In cinemas he was seen as Andre
Cassell in the Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews comedy Victor Victoria (1982).
On TV he guest starred
in 'Force Seven' (23rd May
1982), an episode of the popular show CHiPs, playing the baddie of the week,
Nakura, who is blackmailing an expert into arming a missile. He stuck with
American TV by playing Gamal Abdel Nasser, in the mini-series Sadat (April 1983). Grizzly 2: The Predator AKA Grizzly 2: The Concert (1983) was a belated
sequel to the 1970s horror film Grizzly and was one of the many exploitation
horror films that Rhys Davies would go on to make as his career progressed. The
film was shot in Hungary and was beset by production difficulties and a lack of
money according to those who worked on it. JRD plays a character called
Bouchard and George Clooney has a small, very early role as Ron.
Back to British
television and JRD was cast as another ethnic character, Tanyatos, in
the first episode of the Euston Films period adventure series Riley Ace of Spies, 'An Affair with a Married Man' (5th September 1983).
Yet another ethnic role, as Rasoul, was in the cheesy action adventure flick Sahara which also featured Brooke
Shields in the cast. He then played Deakins, one of the witnesses in the first
episode of the Crown Court case 'Whisper
Who Dares' (24th January 1984) and continued to be much in demand for the rest of 1984; he was an impostor King
Richard in the Robin of Sherwood
episode 'The King’s Fool' (29th March 1984), played Babu in the film
Kim (1984) and was Grimshaw in the TV movie No Man’s Land (27th May 1984). He was cast alongside
Peter Cushing, Trevor Howard as an almost senile King Arthur and a menacing
Sean Connery as The Green Knight in the 1984 cult British fantasy film Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir
Gawain and The Green Knight. Rhys Davies was on hand to play Baron
Fortinbras. His final TV role for the year was in the American series Scarecrow and Mrs King. He plays Lord
Ralph Bromfield in the episode 'Affair at Bromfield Hall' (26th
November 1984).
He made only one
appearance on screen in 1985 as Dogati in the action film King Solomon’s Mines (1985) which was headlined Richard Chamberlain and
Sharon Stone. December 1985 saw him appearing in a stage production of Mozart’s
The Magic Flute at the ICA in London.
His next screen credits were all in cinema; In The Shadow of Kilimanjaro
(1986) was horror film that featured marauding baboons. Firewalker (1986) was a
Cannon Films action comedy starring Chuck Norris and Louis Gossett Jnr as
treasure hunters on the trail of lost ancient gold treasures. The James Bond film The Living Daylights (1987) cast Rhys-Davies as General Leonid Pushkin who had replaced General Gogol as the head of
the KGB in the film series.
Marjorie and the Preacherman (9th
June 1987) was a one-off comedy drama for the BBC co-written by Jim
Broadbent and Stephen Bill with JRD appearing as Seymour
Littlejohn. Next was an appearance in the TV movie Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
(4th October 1987) as Edward Tremaine, the first of two appearances
opposite Raymond Burr’s lawyer. He was then cast as Police Chief Murphy in the
seasonal American TV movie The Little
Match Girl (21st
December 1987).This was followed by the film Tusks (1988)
which he also co-wrote alongside director Tara Moore as well as starring in the
lead role as Roger Singh. Waxwork (1988) is a classic 80s horror film
that has acquired a cult following and has the spectacle of JDR as a werewolf. More TV
movie work followed with Goddess of Love
(20th November 1988) in which the god Zeus (Rhys-Davies) sends the
goddess of love Venus to Earth to find her own love.
JRD then appeared
alongside his 'During Barty’s Party' co-star Anthony Bate in the US television
mini-series War and Remembrance which
continued the saga of the Henry family begun in The Winds of War. He appears as Sammy
Mutterperl, a Jew interned at Auschwitz who is part of a work detail that have
been ordered to find any valuables on the bodies of the dead. Mutterperl eventually goes insane
and snatches a gun from a prison guard and is killed in a hail of bullets. JRD continued to work in American TV movies with a role as Milton Fisk in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (7th
May 1989), a character otherwise known in the Marvel
Comics world as the super villain Kingpin.
His major role for 1989 was his return to the character of Sallah in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Other credits include the NBC TV movie The Gifted One (25th June 1989) as Carl Boardman in the story of a boy who finds he can heal sick people with the power of his mind. Another TV movie followed, this time a western, Desperado: Badlands Justice (17th December 1989) with JRD as Richard Marriott. The Princess and the Dwarf (1989) was a family fantasy filmed that was lensed in Colorado Springs with Rhys-Davies as part of a cast that also featured Warwick Davis, Dom DeLuise and Richard Kiel. The production appears to have run of funding before completion and has never been released in any format. Rhys-Davies was reunited with his Raiders of the Lost Ark co-star Karen Allen in his only on screen appearance for 1990. This was an Australian TV movie called Secret Weapon (19th March 1990) which featured Griffin Dunne as the Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu who committed treason when he leaked information about Israeli plans to make a nuclear weapon. In response Israel sent Ruth (Karen Allen), one of their top agents, to assassinate him. JRD makes an appearance as the head of Mossad, the Israeli secret service.
The
Strauss Family (1991) was a mini-series
produced by German and American companies. John Rhys-Davies plays Prince Gribov as
part of a star studded cast that also includes Edward Fox, Alice Krige and
Cherie Lunghi. Under Cover was a short-lived series that was cancelled after just six
weeks which revolved around the lives of a husband and wife spies. The series
can be considered to prescient when it comes to some of the events depicted,
especially the two-part story “Sacrifices”, which featured an American incursion into Iraq. I
Misteri Della Giungla Nera (AKA The Mystery of the Black Jungle) was a three-part Italian
television mini-series transmitted between 3rd and 17th
February 1991 and adapted from the 1895 novel of the same name by Emilio
Salgari. Stacey Keach headlined as Colonel Edward Corishant with JRD supporting him as O’Connor. Journey of
Honor AKA Kabuto or Shogun Warrior (1991)
was an epic period adventure film set in 17th Century Japan.
Christopher Lee and David Essex headlined with Rhys-Davies roped in to play
another ethnic character, El Zaidan.
JRD then managed to squeeze in another TV guest appearance with 'Dead Wait' (3rd July 1991), an episode of the third season of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt. Great Expectations was a six part series first broadcast between 21st June 1991 and 25th August 1991. Rhys-Davies played Joe Gargery, the blacksmith brother-in-law to central character Pip, with the other roles filled by Jean Simmons, Ray McAnally and Anthony Hopkins. The Double O Kid (1992) was a direct to video family film, a spoof of spy films, in which JRD was the villain, with the unlikely moniker Rudi Von Kseenbaum. He spent the next few months in Canada and completed several projects. The actor joined forces with his colleague David Warner to bring the Arthur Conan Doyle characters Professor’s Challenger and Summerlee to life for a Canadian film production of The Lost World (1992). JRD was well cast as Challenger against Warner’s equally well fitting Summerlee, though the dinosaur effects are poorly executed and stilted looking. This didn’t stop a sequel being lensed back to back on location in South Africa, Return to the Lost World (1992), which sees both Warner and Rhys-Davies reprise their roles. This time the adventurous duo return to the isolated plateau to stop big business drilling for oil. Canvas (1992) continued his run of Canadian films with JRD cast as Nick, together with Gary Busey as Ozzy Decker, as a pair of art thieves.
His next role helped pave a new stream of work for the actor when
he appeared as the guest voice artist in 'The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy' (14th
October 1992), an episode of Batman: The
Animated Series. In the coming years JRD’s dulcet tones would be
heard regularly on animated series and video games.
Rhys-Davies is a jobbing actor and he has proved this with his ability to never seemingly turn down a role. He can shine in a big budget Hollywood film or help give a little gloss and respectability to the cheaper end of genre output and his role in The Unnameable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1992) is definitely in the latter category. Rhys-Davies plays an educated man, Professor Warren, and is paired again with David Warner who pops up as Thayer, a college chancellor. His next role is possibly one of the worst productions on his extensive CV. JRD is Maurice Treville in the execrable TV movie Ring of the Musketeers (1st December 1992) which updates The Three Musketeers to the modern day. The descendants of the original trio, Peter Porthas (Thomas Gottschalk), John Smith D’Artagnan (David Hasselhoff[3]) and Anne-Marie Athos (Alison Doody) who run around rescuing kidnapped children and bashing local gangsters. Cheech Marin also pops up as the missing fourth musketeer, Burt Aramis whilst Rhys-Davies’ Treville is on hand as their handler much like the Bosley character in Charlie’s Angels.
Sunset
Grill (1993)
was directed by Kevin Connor who had begun his directorial career with the
horror anthology From Beyond the Grave
(1974). JRD plays the leader of a nasty bunch of terrorists who become
entangled with a local detective played by Robocop himself, Peter Weller. The
Seventh Coin (1993) had Peter O’Toole filling the villain’s role in the
tale of a hunt for a rare gold coin which once belonged to King Herod. JRD supplied some much needed entertainment as the Israeli policeman Captain
Galil. Voice over duties
followed with the animated TV movie The
Magic Paintbrush (22nd April 1993), various voices for episodes
of the animated series The Pirates of
Dark Water (1992 – 1993), King Hugo in animated series The Legend of Prince Valiant (1992 – 1993) and a single episode of
Animaniacs – 'Piano Rag / When Rita Met Runt' (21st September
1993) as the voice of Tympannini.
Cyborg Cop (1993) is schlock of the
highest order with JRD as Kessel, a mad
scientist who is creating an army of cyborg policemen. Next Rhys-Davies
undertook the regular role of Agent Michael Malone in twenty eight episodes of the TV
series The Untouchables (1993 – 1994),
a reinvention of the Desilu TV series which ran from 1959
- 1963. Still in villain mode JRD's next film appearance was in the
family friendly adventure film Robot In
The Family (1994) which featured him as the main baddie in a vaguely Raiders of the Lost Arkish hunt for a
valuable relic involving a father, son and robot.
German
sci-fi comedy film The High Crusade
(1994), based on the book by Poul Anderson, and produced by Roland (Independence Day) Emmerich, cast JRD as Brother Parvus, the narrator of a story of a band of Crusaders who
come into contact with an alien spaceship and set off to conquer the Holy Land
with it. There are apparently two versions of the film; in the first version
the aliens speak in an alien language with English subtitles whilst in version
two the alien dialogue and subtitles are removed and it is redubbed with
Pythonesque dialogue and silly voices.
The movie was heavily criticised for changing several elements of the novel and
is considered a poor rendition of the story.
JRD returned to
Wales to appear in the popular Welsh detective series A Mind to Kill in the first episode, 'Black Silence' (13th
November 1994). Distinguished actor Philip Madoc played the downbeat Detective
Chief Inspector Bain with Rhys-Davies as Roderick Taylor. The episode was
actually filmed in two versions, one in English language and one in Welsh. Voice only duties resumed for his next role in A Flintstones Christmas Carol (21st
November 1994) as Charles Brickens!
Video game voice work
also provided a regular income with Wing
Commader III: Heart of the Tiger (1994) which also recruited the talents of
Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell. He was the narrator on the video game Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness
(1994). He also recreated the role of Sallah for his narration of a short film
specially created for the Disneyland ride Indiana
Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye which was launched in 1994. Blood of the Innocent (1995) was a
straight to video low thrills action film filmed featuring a Chicago cop who
goes to Poland to seek the gangsters who killed his brother. JDR stars
alongside Rutger Hauer. His main role for the next few years was as Professor
Maximillian Arturo in the science fiction TV series Sliders. Rhys-Davies would appear in forty episodes of the first two
seasons starting with the pilot episode transmitted on 22nd
March 1995. A return to video game voice work was followed with the Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom
(1996). Voice only roles continued
with the semi-regular character Macbeth in the animated TV series Gargoyles (1995-1996). JRD also provided voices for other characters
in the programme including Arthur Morwood Smith.
JRD then joined Paul McGann, Catherine Zeta Jones, Ian Richardson and Brian Blessed among others in the
American TV movie Catherine The Great
(28th April 1996). Rhys-Davies appears as Pugachev. Next was a role
in the comedy film Great White Hope
(1996) which starred Samuel L Jackson and Jeff Goldblum. Voice over work continued to be extremely lucrative for JRD and he
clocked up several credits in animated series such as 'The Road To Dendron' (11th May 1996), an episode of the
animated series Duckman: Private
Dick/Family Man. He also supplied
the voice of Cassim for the Walt Disney film Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). He reprised the role of
Macbeth in 'The Journey' (7th September 1996), an episode of the
animated series Gargoyles: The Goliath
Chronicles (a sequel to the original Gargoyles series) and continued with Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
supplying the vocals for the character Asgarth in the episode 'Overthrown' (14th
December 1996). Cats Can’t Dance
(1997) was an animated feature which sees various animals play out of work
actors and musicians trying to overcome obstacles to their career in Hollywood.
JDR voices the character Woolie Mammoth, an elephant pianist. Further
vocal work during this period took in children’s animated series Aaahh!! Real Monsters, acting as the
narrator for the Pinky and the Brain
episode 'Brainie The Pooh / Melancholy Brain' (7th February 1998)
and Oberon in an episode of Mickey Mouse
Works (25th September 1999) which adapted Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
He
also played a hologram version of Leonardo Da Vinci in two episodes of Star Trek Voyager – 'Scorpion: Part One' (21st May 1997) and 'Concerning
Flight' (26th November 1997) - as well as continuing to be ubiquitous on
American television with the role of Mustafa in four episodes of the US comedy
series You Wish (1997) and TV movie
romcom Au Pair (22nd
August 1999).
Scorcher (2002) was a
terrible straight to video disaster flick with Rhys-Davies appearing alongside
an equally slumming it Rutger Hauer. Following underground nuclear tests the
Earth’s tectonic plates have shifted creating enormous pressure which threatens
to blow the world apart. Rhys Davies plays Dr Matthew Sallin who has a plan to
save the world by detonating an atomic bomb in Los Angeles! Sabretooth (2002) was more direct to
video tosh with JRD on hand to play Anthony Bricklin. He was then back
in the role of Gimli to supply voice work for the video game The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(2002). Endangered Species (2002) was a direct to video
science fiction horror film which Rhys Davies in a yawn inducing tale of an
alien killing machine landing on Earth to hunt humans. Just
in time to rescue him from sinking further into the direct to video mire along
came The Lord of the Rings: The Two
Towers (2002) with Rhys-Davies
playing not only Gimli, but also supplying the vocal tones of Treebeard.
2003 saw Rhys-Davies still very much in demand with the actor supplying voice work to a variety of projects such as the role of Ranjan’s father in the Walt Disney film The Jungle Book 2 (2003), video game The Freelancer (2003) and narration for the direct to video film Vlad (2003). As well as appearing in the role of Gimli in the film version of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) he also supplied the voices of Gimli and Treebeard for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) video game. He was the villain Hakim in bargain bin direct to video film with Never Say Never Mind: The Swedish Bikini Team (2003) and was cast as the despotic Presidente Hugo Luis Ramos in the German adventure comedy film Coronado (2003). Slightly more respectable and with higher production values was the Jackie Chan film The Medallion (2003) with JRD cast as the unwieldy named Commander Hammerstock-Smythe. On TV he could be seen as King Priam of Troy in the US TV mini-series Helen of Troy (20th April 2003).
The following year bought more B movie badness with the sci-fi TV movie Dragon Storm (24th January
2004) with Rhys-Davies on hand to play King Fastrad. He was also seen as
Viscount Mabrey in The Princess Dairies
2: Royal Engagement (2004) and was once again cast as Porthos in the
Hallmark mini-series The Lady Musketeer
(2004). Finally there
was voicing Gimli once more for the video game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth (2004) and then
back to direct to video roles with Chupacabra
Terror (2005) as Captain Randolph. More roles in films you’ve never heard of followed; The Game of Their Lives (2005) was based on the true story of 1950
American football team that beat England 1 – 0 against all odds, The Lost Angel (2005) which also featured Clint Eastwood’s daughter Alison in a
lead role and a supporting role as Andrew Benton in Shadows in the Sun (2005) which was headlined by Harvey Kietel. He
continued to be a ubiquitous voice over artist; The Legend of the Sasquatch (2006) was a family animated film which
Rhys Davies voiced Ranger Steve, Thorton in the family animated film Shark Bait (2006) and returning to voice
Gimli and Treebeard in the video game The
Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth (2006). Another clutch of voice
acting roles; Captain Proteus in the kid’s animated series Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! and video game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle
Earth II – The Rise of the Witch King (2006) playing Gimli and Tree Beard
once again. He also acted narrator on the six part animated mini-series Takezo Kensei: Sword Saint.
2007 was a fairly quite year for the actor compared to previous years. He graced the New Zealand horror film The Ferryman (2007) with a short guest role. He then rocked up in the awkwardly titled In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007), an Uwe Boll film based on a video game. The only merit the film has is in its eclectic casting which includes not only Rhys-Davies but Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds and Ron Perlman. The quality of the productions that JRD appeared in continued to be poor. Kiss Me Deadly AKA The Delphi Effect (2008) a low powered action film starring Shannen Doherty. Anaconda: The Offspring (26th July 2008) was a Sci-Fi Channel TV movie sequel to the theatrical film Anaconda (1997). Rhys-Davies plays the industrialist J D Murdoch who is funding a genetic research facility experimenting with the giant anacondas seen in the previous films. Needless to say one of the giant snakes escapes (thanks to Murdoch provoking it) and eats lots of people.
Filmed back to back
with the previous Anaconda film was the
further sequel Anacondas: Trail of Blood
(28th February 2009). Rhys-Davies reprised his role as the evil
industrialist Murdoch. Krod Mandoon and
the Flaming Sword of Fire (9th April 2009 – 7th May
2009) was a misfiring spoof sword and sorcery series co-produced by the BBC and
Comedy Central. JRD played the rebel wizard Grimshank in the six-part series. He
then played a fictional British prime minister, John Hammond, who compromises
the position of the SAS during an arms deal to help ensure his re-election, in
the film 31 North 62 East (2009). His
video game voice work for the year included Risen
(2009) alongside his Lord of the Rings colleague Andy Serkis.
By now Rhys-Davies had settled into a pattern of voice work and appearances in
low budget movies. He was cast as Elliott Carbon in the horror TV movie Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf (6th
August 2010), could be seen as circus owner Alistair Winston in the family
film Sophie and Sheba (2010) and
appeared in the time travel romantic drama Three
Wise Women (2010). Another clutch of voice work credits for the year
included Dr Watson in the straight to video animated film Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes (2010) and portraying Gimli
again in the video game The Lord of the
Rings: Aragon’s Quest (2010).
Sci-Fi Channel TV movie
Ferocious Planet (9th
April 2011) was next. Rhys Davies played Senator Jackson Crenshaw, part of a
group of people who find themselves transported to an alternate dimension full
of hungry beasts! His Raiders of the Lost
Ark appearance led to him being cast in Spanish film Treasure Hunters (2011) whilst Psych was a detective series which
featured Rhys Davies in the episode Indiana
Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger (29th
February 2012), an affectionate tribute to the Indiana Jones films. Rhys Davies
played the curator of a museum.
More film roles followed; as Malcolm Andrews, an Englishman held captive for
ransom in Thailand, in the film Escape
(2012), Colonel Ralph Dillard in the cheapo disaster movie 100 Degrees Below Zero (2013) and Kostas Jakobatos in the crime thriller
Concrete Blondes (2013). His Indiana
Jones appearance continued to influence his career when he was cast as
Professor Hayden Masterton in the science fiction fantasy film Prisoners of the Sun (2013). Professor
Masterton is the leader of an expedition to a lost city hidden beneath a
pyramid where ancient gods reawaken and threaten to destroy Egypt. Worse still
was the direct to video disaster film Apocalypse
Pompeii (2014) made the same year as sci-fi film Time Lapse (2014) which saw Rhys Davies role as Mr Bezzerides hit
the cutting room floor. More worthy of his talents was the BBC Wales production
of Under Milk Wood (5th
May 2014) which benefitted from Rhys Davies’ booming narration. In recent years
Rhys Davies has also featured in several religious or biblical themed productions
including Saul: The Journey to Damascus (2014)
which cast him as Caiphas, Killing Jesus
(29th March 2015), a National Geographic mini-series that chronicled
the life of Jesus, in which he was seen as in the role of Annas, and The Apostle Peter: Redemption (2nd
August 2016) as the eponymous Peter.
Given that Rhys Davies featured as a voice actor in Beasts it is notable that he is still much in demand in the field
given the decades since he made 'During Barty’s Party'. His more recent voice
over work takes in acting as the narrator for the animated TV movie Once Upon A Time: Storybrooke Has Frozen
Again (28th September
2014), vocal work for animated programmes The
Barefoot Bandits and Harvey Breaks
(2015) and Disney animated TV series The
Lion Guard (2016). His most recent high profile voice acting has been for The Adventures of Puss in Boots, a
Netflix animated series that featured the adventures of the famous cat seen in
the Shrek franchise. RD lends his booming vocals to the character Goodsword
in the episode 'Sword' (8th May 2015). Rhys-Davies is also a popular casting choice in science fiction or fantasy flavoured
productions and in recent years he has graced such series the sci-fi anthology Metal Hurtlant Chronicles (playing
Holgarth in the episode “Loyal Khondor” (5th May 2014) and a regular
role as Eventine Elessedil in The
Shannara Chronicles (2015 – 2016).
Being so much in demand his CV is constantly growing and this resume of his career will quickly go out of date. As this piece is being written he has several projects either in post-production, filming or in the early planning stages. On 8th October 2017 he was awarded the BAFTA Cymru Lifetime Achievement Award. He married Suzanne Wilkinson in December 1966 and had two sons, Tom and Ben. They separated in 1985 but remained married until her death in 2010. Wilkinson suffered from Alzheimer’s in her final years and Rhys-Davies remained as her companion and carer until she was overcome by the illness. In 2004 he began a relationship with Lisa Manning and they have a daughter called Maia.
No comments:
Post a Comment