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

  • Oliver! as Noah Claypole
  • Otley as Kid #3
  • Fragment of Fear as Joe
  • All the Way Up as Tom Midway
  • Up Pompeii as First Christian
  • Brother Sun, Sister Moon as Paolo
  • Vampira as Paddy, the Delinquent
  • Robin and Marian as Jack's Apprentice
  • Peer Gynt
  • Joseph Andrews as The Wicked Squire
  • Chocolat as Boothby
  • Stealing Heaven as Suger
  • Hellbound: Hellraiser II as Dr. Philip Channard / Channard Cenobite
  • Frederick Forsyth Presents: Just Another Secret as Brosch
  • A Little Bit Of Lippy as Reggie Titherington
  • Prospero's Books as Sebastian
  • Under Suspicion as Frank
  • Tale of a Vampire as Edgar
  • Bed of Roses as Simon
  • Deep in the Heart as Robert Flaherty
  • The Boxer as Matt MaGuire
  • RPM as Biggerman
  • Vigo as The Producer
  • Women Talking Dirty as George
  • The Last Yellow as Len
  • Kevin & Perry Go Large as Vicar
  • Gangster No. 1 as Tommy
  • Born Romantic as Barney
  • The Most Fertile Man in Ireland as Da
  • Shiner as Gibson
  • Two Men Went to War as Sgt. Peter King
  • Man Dancin' as D.I. Pancho Villers
  • Blackball as Chairman Collins
  • Trauma as Detective Constable Jackson
  • Layer Cake as Jimmy Price
  • Mangal Pandey: The Rising as Kent
  • A Good Year as Sir Nigel
  • Hot Fuzz as James Reaper
  • Valkyrie as Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel
  • Running in Traffic as Bill Cullen
  • Made in Dagenham as Monty Taylor
  • 5 Days of War as Michael Stilton
  • National Theatre Live: The Cherry Orchard as Firs
  • Flying Blind as Victor
  • Suspension of Disbelief as Bullock
  • Closed Circuit as Cameron Fischer
  • The Legend of Hercules as Lucius
  • Maleficent as King Henry
  • Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool as Joe Turner
  • Mr. Jones as David Lloyd George
  • Born a King as Lord Curzon
  • Official Secrets as Judge Hyam

    Television

  • City '68 as Len
  • Ways with Words
  • Boy Meets Girl as Tom Last
  • Z-Cars as Togo Millington
  • Softly, Softly: Task Force as Ken Buckley / Ashley
  • A Family at War as Charlie Collins
  • Hadleigh as Andrew Matlock
  • From a Bird's Eye View as Tim O'Donovan
  • New Scotland Yard as David Collins
  • Budgie as Inky Ballantine
  • Achilles Heel as Gordon
  • Crown Court as John Tucker / Clive Jessup QC
  • Village Hall as Lop
  • Against the Crowd as Geoff Smailes
  • Holding On as Ted Wheelwright
  • The Velvet Glove as Townie
  • Danger UXB as Sapper Salt / L / Corporal Salt
  • Donkeys' Years as Bill Taylor
  • Thérèse Raquin as Camille Raquin
  • Enemy at the Door as Jack Foster
  • Cribb as Francis Mostyn-Smith
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Whore as Giovanni
  • The Merchant of Venice as Gratiano
  • Strangers as Det. Chief Insp. Jim Lennard / Willie Bruce
  • Brideshead Revisited as Sergeant Block
  • The Bell as Nick Fawley
  • Shine on Harvey Moon as Harvey Moon
  • Reilly: Ace of Spies as Lenin
  • Heart of the High Country as Calvin Laird
  • Dead Man's Folly as Detective Inspector Bland
  • A Sort of Innocence as Eric Palmer
  • Inspector Morse as Cedric Downes
  • The Play on One: Normal Service as Peter
  • Just Another Secret as Brosch
  • Boon as Aiden Curtis
  • Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit as Pastor Finch
  • TECX as Colonel Braum
  • Casualty as James Lawrence
  • Dunrulin as Mr. Kneecap
  • El C.I.D. as Gus Mercer
  • Chimera as Hennessey
  • Bergerac as Gascoigne
  • Van der Valk as Dirk Boutsen
  • Murder Most Horrid as Inspector Salford
  • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as Colonel Schmidt
  • Between the Lines as D.C.I. Stubbs
  • Minder as Walter
  • Screen One as Douglas
  • Lovejoy as Litvak
  • Requiem Apache as Tony
  • On Dangerous Ground as Brig. Charles Ferguson
  • Heartbeat as Charlie Wallace
  • The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as Reverend Millward
  • Midnight Man as Brig. Charles Ferguson
  • Get Well Soon as Inspector Trussler
  • Our Mutual Friend as Silas Wegg
  • Kavanagh QC as Roy Lawrence
  • The Murder of Stephen Lawrence as Michael Mansfield QC
  • Justice in Wonderland as George Carman
  • Lady Audley's Secret as Sir Michael Audley
  • The Ancients as William Blake
  • The Sins as Gilbert
  • Without Motive as DCS Derek Henderson
  • NCS: Manhunt as Ricky Valesi
  • Dalziel and Pascoe as Tommy Collingwood
  • Night Flight as Ted Atwell
  • Dickens as John Forster
  • Believe Nothing as DI Aldiss
  • Pollyanna as Mr. Pendleton
  • Killing Hitler as Brigadier Sir Stewart Menzies
  • Sparkling Cyanide as George Barton
  • Bible Mysteries
  • M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team as Ray Morgan
  • Genghis Khan as Genghis Khan
  • Rome as Pompey Magnus
  • The Lavender List as Harold Wilson
  • The Chatterley Affair as Older Keith
  • Hustle as Francis Owen
  • Hannibal as Narrator
  • New Tricks as Lord McCready
  • The Line of Beauty as Sir Maurice Tipper
  • Afterlife as Stan Mundy
  • Victoria Cross Heroes as Narrator
  • Doc Martin as Terry Glasson
  • Lilies as Mr. Pritchard
  • Sinking of the Lusitania: Terror at Sea as Captain Turner
  • The Last Detective as Gary Solway
  • The Curry Club as Bob
  • Heroes and Villains as General Carteaux
  • Tess of the D'Urbervilles as Mr Clare
  • Merlin as Aulfric
  • Agatha Christie's Marple 'A Pocketful of Rye' as Rex Fortescue
  • Spanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen as MJ O'Loughlin
  • Midsomer Murders as Jude Langham
  • The Night Watch as Horace Mundy
  • Upstairs Downstairs as Sergeant Ashworth
  • Falcón as Alberto Montes
  • Panto! as Jerry
  • Death in Paradise as Father John
  • In the Flesh as Vicar Oddie
  • 37 Days as John Burns
  • Moving On as Mike
  • A.D. The Bible Continues as Tiberius
  • Neil Gaiman's Likely Stories as Dean Smith
  • War & Peace as Uncle Mikhail
  • The White Princess as John Morton
  • Bancroft as Charlie Baverstock
  • Inside No. 9 as Rupert
  • The Good Karma Hospital as Edmund Dalrymple
  • Hatton Garden as Brian Reader
  • Finding Alice as Gerry Walsh
  • Strike as Dennis Creed