Kenneth Cranham


Kenneth Cranham is a British film, television, radio and stage actor. His most notable screen roles were in Oliver!, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Chocolat, Layer Cake, Gangster No. 1, Hot Fuzz, Maleficent and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.
On television he appeared in Budgie, Boon, Minder, Rome, War & Peace and The White Princess.
On stage he has been twice been nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play, for Inspector Goole in the National Theatre award-winning production of An Inspector Calls and winning it in 2016, for his performance in The Father. He appeared in three Orton plays including the radio and stage premieres of The Ruffian on the Stair and the first successful revival of Loot.

Early life

Cranham was born in Dunfermline, Fife, the son of Lochgelly-born Margaret McKay Cranham and Ronald Cranham, a London-born civil servant. Cranham trained at the National Youth Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1966 with a RADA Diploma.

Career

Television and film

He starred in the title role in the popular 1980s comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon, prior to which he had appeared as Charlie Collins in A Family at War. He also appeared in Oliver!, Up Pompeii, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Danger UXB Chocolat, Gangster No. 1, Layer Cake, Hot Fuzz, Maleficent and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool. He was cast as the deranged Philip Channard and his Cenobitic alter-ego in the Horror film Hellbound: Hellraiser II.
On television he has appeared in Budgie, Boon, Minder, Rome, Merlin, Death in Paradise, War & Peace and The White Princess.

Theatre

Among many stage credits are West End productions of Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot, An Inspector Calls, The Ruffian on the Stair, The Birthday Party and Gaslight. For his role as Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls, he was nominated for a Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play. It took another 23 years before winning the award when in 2016, Cranham won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Andre in Florian Zeller's The Father. Cranham's performance was described as "the performance of his life" by Michael Coveney of WhatsOnStage.com.

Radio

For BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play, Cranham has played DS Max Matthews in The Interrogation by Roy Williams and starred as Thomas Gradgrind in BBC Radio's 2007 adaptation of Dickens' Hard Times.

Personal life

His first wife was actress Diana Quick. He has two daughters: Nancy Cranham from a relationship with actress Charlotte Cornwell, and Kathleen Cranham with his second wife, to whom he is still married, actress Fiona Victory.
Cranham was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

Filmography

Film

Television

City '68 as LenWays with Words Boy Meets Girl as Tom LastZ-Cars as Togo MillingtonSoftly, Softly: Task Force as Ken Buckley / AshleyA Family at War as Charlie CollinsHadleigh as Andrew MatlockFrom a Bird's Eye View as Tim O'DonovanNew Scotland Yard as David CollinsBudgie as Inky BallantineAchilles Heel as GordonCrown Court as John Tucker / Clive Jessup QCVillage Hall as LopAgainst the Crowd as Geoff SmailesHolding On as Ted WheelwrightThe Velvet Glove as TownieDanger UXB as Sapper Salt / L / Corporal SaltDonkeys' Years as Bill TaylorThérèse Raquin as Camille RaquinEnemy at the Door as Jack FosterCribb as Francis Mostyn-Smith'Tis Pity She's a Whore as GiovanniThe Merchant of Venice as GratianoStrangers as Det. Chief Insp. Jim Lennard / Willie BruceBrideshead Revisited as Sergeant BlockThe Bell as Nick FawleyShine on Harvey Moon as Harvey MoonReilly: Ace of Spies as LeninHeart of the High Country as Calvin LairdDead Man's Folly as Detective Inspector BlandA Sort of Innocence as Eric PalmerInspector Morse as Cedric DownesThe Play on One: Normal Service as PeterJust Another Secret as BroschBoon as Aiden CurtisOranges Are Not the Only Fruit as Pastor FinchTECX as Colonel BraumCasualty as James LawrenceDunrulin as Mr. KneecapEl C.I.D. as Gus MercerChimera as HennesseyBergerac as GascoigneVan der Valk as Dirk BoutsenMurder Most Horrid as Inspector SalfordThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as Colonel SchmidtBetween the Lines as D.C.I. StubbsMinder as WalterScreen One as DouglasLovejoy as LitvakRequiem Apache as TonyOn Dangerous Ground as Brig. Charles FergusonHeartbeat as Charlie WallaceThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall as Reverend MillwardMidnight Man as Brig. Charles FergusonGet Well Soon as Inspector TrusslerOur Mutual Friend as Silas WeggKavanagh QC as Roy LawrenceThe Murder of Stephen Lawrence as Michael Mansfield QCJustice in Wonderland as George CarmanLady Audley's Secret as Sir Michael AudleyThe Ancients as William BlakeThe Sins as GilbertWithout Motive as DCS Derek HendersonNCS: Manhunt as Ricky ValesiDalziel and Pascoe as Tommy CollingwoodNight Flight as Ted AtwellDickens as John ForsterBelieve Nothing as DI AldissPollyanna as Mr. PendletonKilling Hitler as Brigadier Sir Stewart MenziesSparkling Cyanide as George BartonBible Mysteries M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team as Ray MorganGenghis Khan as Genghis Khan Rome as Pompey MagnusThe Lavender List as Harold WilsonThe Chatterley Affair as Older KeithHustle as Francis OwenHannibal as Narrator New Tricks as Lord McCreadyThe Line of Beauty as Sir Maurice TipperAfterlife as Stan MundyVictoria Cross Heroes as NarratorDoc Martin as Terry GlassonLilies as Mr. PritchardSinking of the Lusitania: Terror at Sea as Captain TurnerThe Last Detective as Gary SolwayThe Curry Club as BobHeroes and Villains as General CarteauxTess of the D'Urbervilles as Mr ClareMerlin as AulfricAgatha Christie's Marple 'A Pocketful of Rye' as Rex FortescueSpanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen as MJ O'LoughlinMidsomer Murders as Jude LanghamThe Night Watch as Horace MundyUpstairs Downstairs as Sergeant AshworthFalcón as Alberto MontesPanto! as JerryDeath in Paradise as Father JohnIn the Flesh as Vicar Oddie37 Days as John BurnsMoving On as MikeA.D. The Bible Continues as TiberiusNeil Gaiman's Likely Stories as Dean SmithWar & Peace as Uncle MikhailThe White Princess as John MortonBancroft as Charlie BaverstockInside No. 9 as Rupert The Good Karma Hospital as Edmund DalrympleHatton Garden as Brian ReaderFinding Alice as Gerry WalshStrike as Dennis Creed

Radio

He has also performed a number of readings for BBC Radio.