Sir David Courtney Suchet ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor. He is known for his work on stage and in television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial Oppenheimer (1980) and received the RTS and BPG awards for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in the British serial The Way We Live Now (2001). International acclaim and recognition followed his performance as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989–2013), for which he received a 1991 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor nomination. "The Actor Behind Popular 'Poirot", The Christian Science Monitor, 25 March 1992. "Inside the mind of a media monster". Yorkshire Post. 27 April 2007.
A prolific stage actor, Suchet has been nominated for nine Olivier Awards and a Tony Awards.
Suchet's father was of Lithuanian Jews descent, the son of Izidor Suchedowitz, originally from Kretinga in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire. At some point, the family name was recorded as "Schohet", a Yiddish word, from Hebrew language shochet, defining the profession of kosher butcher. Suchet's father changed his surname to Suchet while living in South Africa. David's mother was born in England and was Anglican. She was of Russian-Jewish descent on her father's side, and English Anglican on her mother's side. He was raised without religion, but became a practising Anglican in 1986, and was confirmed in 2006. "Suchet's Acts of Faith", This Is London
Suchet and his brothers, John Suchet and Peter, attended Grenham House boarding school in Birchington-on-Sea, Kent. Then, after attending another independent school, Wellington School in Somerset, he took an interest in acting and joined the National Youth Theatre at the age of 16. He trained and graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, where he later became a vice president, retiring in 2018.
He made his West End debut opposite Saskia Reeves in the Kempinski play Separation, at the Comedy Theatre in 1987. In 1996–97 he played opposite Dame Diana Rigg in the West End production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was featured as Salieri from 1998 to 2000 in the Broadway production Amadeus. In 2007, at the Chichester Festival Theatre, he played Cardinal Benelli in The Last Confession, about the death of Pope John Paul I. In 2014, he reprised the role of Benelli in the Australian tour of the play.
He has been starring as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde at the Vaudeville Theatre in London since June 2015 and on tour. In January 2022, Suchet had a three-week residency at the Harold Pinter Theatre performing Poirot and More, A Retrospective.
In 1988, Suchet played Leopold Bloom in the Channel 4 documentary The Modern World: Ten Great Writers, in which some of James Joyce's Ulysses was dramatised. In 1988 Suchet appeared in the penultimate episode of the television series Tales of the Unexpected. He appeared as Yves Drouard, a scheming adulterer, in the episode A Time to Die.
In 1989, he took the title role of Hercule Poirot for the long-running television series Agatha Christie's Poirot. In his book, Poirot and Me, Suchet mentions that prior Poirot actor Peter Ustinov one day approached him and told him that Suchet could play Poirot and would be good at it. Suchet then spoke to Brian Eastman from ITV, who sent him some of the novels to read. "And as I did so, it slowly dawned on me that I'd never actually seen the character I was reading about on the screen...He was quite, quite different: more elusive, more pedantic and, most of all, more human than the person I'd seen on the screen."
Still unsure, Suchet rang his brother John, who advised him against it, calling Poirot "a bit of a joke, a buffoon. It's not you at all." Suchet took his brother's advice as a challenge and accepted the role. In preparation, he wrote a five-page character study of Poirot detailing 93 different aspects of his life. Suchet said he took the list on set with him and "gave a copy to every director I worked with on a Poirot film."
In 2001, he had the lead role in the David Yates-directed BBC television serial The Way We Live Now. In April 2002, he played the real-life barrister George Carman in the BBC drama Get Carman: The Trials of George Carman QC.
In 2003, Suchet starred as the ambitious Cardinal Wolsey in the two-part ITV drama Henry VIII opposite Ray Winstone as Henry VIII and Helena Bonham Carter as Anne Boleyn. In May 2006, he played the role of the fallen press baron Robert Maxwell in Maxwell, a BBC Two dramatisation of the final 18 months of Maxwell's life. In 2006, he voiced Poirot in the adventure game .
At Christmas 2006, he played the vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing in a BBC adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. He appeared in the disaster film Flood, released in August 2007, as the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, at a time when London is devastated by flooding. Suchet appeared on daytime-TV chat show Loose Women on 6 February 2008 to talk about his film The Bank Job, in which he played Lew Vogel, alongside Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows. In 2008, he took part in the genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?. Who Do You Think You Are? BBC. Broadcast on 17 September 2008
He starred in the 2009 CBC Television made-for-TV film Diverted. He starred as the main antagonist, Reacher Gilt, in the 2010 Sky TV adaptation of Going Postal, based on Pratchett's book of the same name. He appeared in the film Act of God as Benjamin Cisco. In 1987, Suchet played a bigfoot hunter in Harry and the Hendersons. He had roles in two Michael Douglas films, A Perfect Murder and The In-Laws. In 1997, he starred in the independent film Sunday.
Between 2014 and 2015, Suchet appeared in and narrated two BBC Television documentaries, undertaking an epic journey spanning the Mediterranean, inspired by the life and travels of the apostles Saint Peter and St. Paul.
In 2016, Suchet took on the role of the narrator in the BBC live production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, where he serves as the sole "professional" among the cast. At one point during the broadcast, when one of the actors is electrocuted, he is asked to distract the audience. His solution is to take Captain Hook's moustache and start acting like Poirot, even delivering his lines in a Belgian accent. This prompts the director (who is also playing Captain Hook) to retrieve the moustache and dismiss Suchet.
In 2017, Suchet starred as Dr Fagan in the BBC One adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall, and guest starred in the role of a character called "The Landlord", for an episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who entitled Knock Knock.
He was voted in as chairman of the River Thames Alliance in November 2005. At the July 2006 Annual General Meeting of the River Thames Alliance, he agreed to continue being chairman for another year. He is a patron of the River Thames Boat Project.
On 7 January 2009, he was awarded Freedom of the City of London, at the Guildhall in London. In July 2010, David Suchet was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for "services to drama". Poirot star awarded in UK honours, ABC News (Australia), 31 December 2010. On 18 March 2014, Suchet was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the RTS Programme Awards 2013 for his outstanding performance in Agatha Christies Poirot. Suchet is Honorary President of The Leica Society.
Suchet was Knight Bachelor in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.
+ !Year !Awards !Category !Nominated work !Result !Ref. | |||||
1979 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Once in a Lifetime | ||
1981 | Actor of the Year in a Revival | The Merchant of Venice | |||
1986 | Royal Television Society Programme Awards | Best Actor | Blott on the Landscape / A Song for Europe / Freud | ||
1988 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Actor of the Year in a New Play | Separation | ||
1989 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | A World Apart | ||
1991 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Actor | Agatha Christie's Poirot | ||
1994 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actor | Oleanna | ||
Variety Club Awards | Best Actor | ||||
1997 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | ||
1999 | Amadeus | ||||
Variety Club Award | Best Actor | ||||
2000 | Tony Awards | Best Actor in a Play | |||
2002 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Actor | The Way We Live Now | ||
Royal Television Society Programme Awards | Best Actor | ||||
2008 | International Emmy Awards | Best Actor | Maxwell | ||
2011 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actor | All My Sons | ||
2014 | Royal Television Society Programme Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award | |||
2016 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | The Importance of Being Earnest | ||
2019 | Best Actor | The Price |
Suchet is the brother of John Suchet, a former national news presenter for Five News, and former ITN newscaster, and presenter of the evening concert on Classic FM (2020). British Library Archival Sound Recordings. Retrieved on 13 February 2009 He is the uncle of broadcaster Richard Suchet, who is the son of Suchet's younger brother, Peter. Suchet's nephew is the RT broadcaster Rory Suchet.
Suchet's maternal grandfather, James Jarché, was a famous Fleet Street photographer notable for the first pictures of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and also for his pictures of Louis Blériot (1909) and the Siege of Sidney Street. Suchet first became interested in photography when his grandfather gave him a Leica M3 camera as a present. The Jarché family was originally named Jarchy, and were Russian Jews.
Suchet's great-great-great-grandfather, George Jezzard, was a master mariner. He was captain of the brig Hannah, which sank nine miles off the coast of Suffolk during a violent storm on 28 May 1860, in which more than 100 vessels sank and at least 40 people died. Jezzard and six others of his crew were saved by local rescuers just before their ship sank.
In 2012, Suchet made a documentary for the BBC on his personal hero, Saint Paul, to discover what he was like as a man by charting his evangelistic journey around the Mediterranean. In 2014, he filmed a documentary about the apostle Saint Peter.
In November 2012, the British Bible Society appointed David Suchet and Dr Paula Gooder as new vice-presidents. They joined the existing vice-presidents: John Sentamu (Archbishop of York), Vincent Nichols (Archbishop of Westminster), Barry Morgan (Archbishop of Wales), David F. Ford (Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge), Joel Edwards (International Director of Micah Challenge) and Lord Alton of Liverpool. Following the time when he bade farewell to his role as Hercule Poirot, Suchet fulfilled a 27-year ambition to make an audio recording of The Bible's New International Version, which was released in April 2014.
English version, Voice |
TV movie, Voice |
Voice |
English version, Voice |
And When You've Paid the Bill You're None the Wiser'x | |||
Episode: "Fighting Fund" | |||
Episode: "Where The Jungle Ends" | |||
TV movie | |||
6 episodes | |||
Episode: "The Cause" | |||
TV movie | |||
Howard | |||
Beria | |||
Bill | |||
Episode: "Prelude to War" | |||
3 episodes | |||
6 episodes | |||
2 episodes | |||
TV movie | |||
6 episodes | |||
TV movie | |||
Inspector Japp | |||
2 episodes | |||
TV movie | |||
Episode: "Partners" | |||
TV movie | |||
T.J. O'Connor K.C. | |||
Episode: "A Time to Die" | |||
TV movie | |||
13 series; 70 episodes | |||
Episode: "Separation" | |||
Episode: "Scenes of Money and Death" | |||
Episode: "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Link" | |||
3 episodes | |||
TV movie | |||
Ruben Roberts | |||
Episode: "Deadly Voyage" | |||
TV movie | |||
6 episodes | |||
3 episodes | |||
TV movie | |||
Episode: "Teacher" | |||
TV movie | |||
4 episodes | |||
Pilot & Series; 8 episodes | |||
TV movie | |||
Naji Al-Hadithi | |||
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey | |||
General Hallholland | |||
Abraham Van Helsing | |||
Robert Maxwell | |||
2 episodes | |||
TV movie | |||
2 episodes | |||
3 episodes | |||
Jaggers | |||
Episode: Richard II | |||
2014 | In the Steps of St. Paul | Narrator | 2 Episode BBC TV Documentary |
2015 | In the Steps of St. Peter | Narrator | |
TV movie | |||
3 episodes | |||
Episode: "Knock Knock" David Suchet to guest star in Doctor Who, Series 10 at radiotimes.com | |||
Episode: "Sang & Lumière" | |||
Episode: "The Dalí & The Cooper" | |||
3 episodes | |||
2019 | His Dark Materials | Kaisa (voice) | 5 episodes |
2025 | The Au Pair | George |
+ !Year !Title !Role(s) !Notes | |||
1973 | Romeo and Juliet | Tybalt | |
Richard II | Messenger | ||
As You Like It | Orlando | ||
The Taming of the Shrew | Player | ||
Toad of Toad Hall | Mole | ||
1974 | King John | Hubert | |
Cymbeline | Pisanio | ||
King Lear | Fool | ||
Summerfolk | Nikolai Zamislov | ||
Comrades | Willmer | ||
1975 | Love's Labour's Lost | Ferdinand | |
1976 | Sherlock Holmes | Professor Moriarty | |
1978 | The Tempest | Caliban | |
The Taming of the Shrew | Grumio | ||
Love's Labour's Lost | Sir Nathaniel | ||
Antony and Cleopatra | Pompey | ||
The Winter's Tale | Robert Cecil | ||
1979 | He That Plays the King | Gloucester, Henry V, Macbeth, Osric | |
Once in a Lifetime | Herman Glogauer | ||
Measure for Measure | Angelo | ||
1980 | Richard II | Henry Bolingbroke | |
Richard III | Edward IV | ||
1981 | The Merchant of Venice | Shylock | |
Troilus and Cressida | Achilles | ||
The Swan Down Gloves | Mazda | ||
1982 | Every Good Boy Deserves Favour | Ivanov | |
1985 | Othello | Iago | |
1987 | Separation | Joe Green | |
1993 | Oleanna | John | |
1994 | What A Performance | Sid Field | |
1996 | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | George | |
1999 | Amadeus | Antonio Salieri | |
2005 | Once in a Lifetime | Herman Glogauer | |
2007 | The Last Confession | Cardinal Giovanni Benelli | |
2009 | Complicit | Roger Cowan | |
2010 | All My Sons | Joe Keller | |
2012 | Long Day's Journey into Night | James Tyrone | |
2014 | The Last Confession | Cardinal Giovanni Benelli | |
2015 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Lady Bracknell | |
2018 | The Price | Gregory Solomon | |
2019 | The Collection | Harry | |
The Price | Gregory Solomon | ||
2022 | Mimma | Alfredo Frassati | |
2023 | Peter Pan | Captain Hook |
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