Charles Dance

Walter Charles Dance (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor. Known for playing intimidating authoritarian characters and villains, he is the recipient of two Actor Awards and a Critics' Choice Award in addition to four Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dance started his career on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) before appearing in film and television. For his services to drama he was appointed an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006.

He made his feature film debut in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981). He has since acted in a string of critically acclaimed period films including Michael Collins (1996), Gosford Park (2001), The Imitation Game (2014), Mank (2020), and The King's Man (2021). He has also appeared in the films The Golden Child (1986), Alien 3 (1992), Last Action Hero (1993), Dracula Untold (2014), and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). He made his directorial film debut with the drama film Ladies in Lavender (2004), which he also wrote and executive produced.

On television, Dance played Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Mr Tulkinghorn in Bleak House (2005), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones (2011–2015), and Lord Mountbatten in the third and fourth seasons of The Crown (2019–2020), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.