British character actor Nigel Davenport, who had the distinction of appearing in two very different Best Picture Oscar winners, has died. He was 85-years-old.
The Guardian reported his death on Tuesday. He was born near Cambridge and went to Trinity College, Oxford. Davenport was a founder of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court and made his London stage debut in 1952 during a production of Noël Coward's Relative Values.
Davenport was friends with British director Tony Richardson and they worked together during the 1950s. He earned an uncredited role in Richardson’s breakthrough film, 1960’s The Entertainer with Laurence Olivier.
He would go on to appear in several more key films, including Fred Zinnemann’s 1966 film A Man For All Seasons, playing the Duke of Norfolk. The film won Best Picture that year. In 1981, he appeared in Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire, another Best Picture winner. Hudson worked with him again in 1984’s Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan.
His IMDb profile lists over 120 credits, with his last appearance being an uncredited role in 2003’s Shanghai Knights.
He is the father of actor Jack Davenport, who appeared in the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films and in NBC’s Smash.