IAN RICHARDSONThe sudden death of Ian Richardson on 9 February, 2007 at the age of 72, cut short an acting career still in its prime.
Star of both the stage and the screen, he was an RSC legend, has starred on Broadway, The West End, the small and the big screens throughout his life.
But most of all he will remembered for one role – that of devious Chief Whip Francis Urquhart in the TV drama House of Cards , who successfully plots his way to Number 10.
It gave the world of politics a new catchphrase: “You may very well think that. I couldn’t possibly comment.”
Ian Richardson was born 7 April 1934, in Edinburgh , Scotland , and studied in Glasgow at the College of Dramatic Art .
His big break came in 1960 while playing Hamlet at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1960, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in which he became the leading artist for the next few years.
While at the RSC, he acted as Jean-Paul Marat in Marat/Sade and on Broadway in 1965. He would reprise this role again in the 1967 film version.
He was nominated for a Tony award for his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady in 1976.
His Shakespearean roles continued, playing Oberon in Peter Hall’s interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1968 and in 1978 as Don John in the BBC Much Ado About Nothing.
Returning to Broadway in 1981 for a production of Lolita, it lasted for twelve performances and was considered a failure, though he appeared with Donald Sutherland.
He was never shy of working on films and first appeared in the 1985 French comedy, ‘ Brazil ’ though these never heightened his fame. In 1989 he was made a Commander of the British Empire .
As well as starring in Shakespeare TV adaptations, one of his most memorable roles was as crooked politician Francis Urquhart in three dramas House of Cards – for which he won a BAFTA for Best Television Actor, To Play the King and The Final Cut in 1995.
Other notable television performances are Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, in Porterhouse Blue, Private Schulz and in Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes.
In 2000 he was in the film ‘102 Dalmations’ aswell as the BBC production ‘Gormenghast’ and in 2003, in BBC’s series ‘Strange’.
In 2004 he acted in ‘Miss Marple’, in BBC's popular ‘Bleak House’ the following year and was the voice of Death in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather at Christmas 2006.
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