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James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, an International Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.
Broadbent received an Academy Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the film Iris (2001). Broadbent won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Moulin Rouge! (2001). His early film roles include the Terry Gilliam films Time Bandits (1981) and Brazil (1985) before a breakthrough role in Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet (1990). Notable film roles include Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Gangs of New York (2002), Another Year (2010), The Iron Lady (2011), Le Week-End (2013), and Brooklyn (2015).
Broadbent is also known for his roles in franchise films such as Horace Slughorn in the Harry Potter film series, Digory Kirke in (2005) and Samuel Gruber in the Paddington film series. He also acted in blockbuster and studio films such as The Borrowers (1997), Robots (2005), Hot Fuzz (2007), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Arthur Christmas (2011), and Cloud Atlas (2012).
Broadbent's television roles include playing Roy Slater in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, Desmond Morton in the HBO / BBC film The Gathering Storm (2002), and Lord Longford in the Channel 4 film Longford (2006), which won him a BAFTA Award for Best Actor. He portrayed Archmaester Ebrose in the seventh season of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones in 2017. He also acted in London Spy (2015), War & Peace (2016), King Lear (2018) and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023).
Broadbent was educated at Leighton Park School, a Quaker school in Reading, and briefly attended art college before transferring to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1972. Newsmakers, Issue 4. Gale, 2008 His early stage work included appearances as Patrick Barlow's assistant in the mock National Theatre of Brent.
During that decade, his stage work included the original productions of Kafka's Dick (1986) and Our Country's Good (1988) at the Royal Court Theatre, and work for the Royal National Theatre including "The Government Inspector". Work on the stage with Mike Leigh includes Goosepimples and Ecstasy. He had worked with Stephen Frears in The Hit (1984), and Terry Gilliam in Time Bandits (1981) and Brazil (1985).
Broadbent also appeared in 1983, 1985 and 1991 as DCI Roy Slater, an associate character in the enormously popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses. The character appeared in three episodes over an eight-year period. He had originally been offered the lead role of Del Boy in the series, but he turned it down due to other commitments. He also made occasional guest appearances in other comedy shows including Happy Families, and Victoria Wood As Seen on TV. In 1983, he portrayed Don Speekingleesh in The Queen of Spain's Beard in the first series of The Black Adder. He later played Prince Albert in Blackadder's Christmas Carol, first broadcast in 1988. One of his final roles that decade, was as the disgruntled Northern playwright Alan Hammond in the final episode of the playlet series Victoria Wood.
Broadbent's television work during the Nineties included playing Jim Morley in Gone to the Dogs, and Monty in the follow-up series Gone to Seed. Further comic roles included Murder Most Horrid as Selwyn Proops, The Comic Strip Presents as George and most notably the lead role of branch manager Peter Duffley in the sitcom The Peter Principle which ran for two series, broadcast between 1995 - 2000. He also appeared as Charlie Bennett in an episode of Inspector Morse. In 1999, he made a notable appearance as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in the Doctor Who spoof .
In 2001, Broadbent starred in three of the year's most successful films: Richard Curtis' Bridget Jones's Diary, Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!, and Richard Eyre's Iris, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. In 2002, he appeared in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, and in the film adaptation of Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby. In 2005, Broadbent appeared in the film adaptation of C. S. Lewis' classic children's fantasy novel as Digory Kirke. That same year Broadbent had voice roles in Robots, Valiant, and The Magic Roundabout. He also joined Rowan Atkinson in his Spider-Man spoof Spider-Plant Man, as a disgruntled and envious Batman.
Broadbent played the lead role of the TV film Wide-Eyed and Legless. Based on a true story, the drama tells of Deric Longden wife, Diana and her fight against a mysterious wasting illness which turned out to be myalgic encephalomyelitis. It began as a type of flu but it grew progressively worse. She was subject to blackouts and became so debilitated that she could barely get out of her wheelchair. It led to years of pain and paralysis that ended in her death. Broadbent portrayed the title role in the Channel 4 drama Longford in October 2006, earning a BAFTA TV Award, a Golden Globe and a 2007 Emmy nomination for his performance as Frank Pakenham (1905–2001), Earl of Longford, which was centred on Longford's ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the parole of Myra Hindley from her life imprisonment for the Moors Murders. Broadbent appeared as Inspector Frank Butterman in Hot Fuzz in 2007. He was also a regular in Stephen Fry's radio comedy show Saturday Night Fry, which aired on BBC Radio 4 in 1988. In 2008, he starred as pro-Newtonianism physicist Oliver Lodge in the fact-based single drama Einstein and Eddington for the BBC.
In 2010, Broadbent reunited with director Mike Leigh, in Another Year In 2012, he played Denis Thatcher opposite Meryl Streep as the former Prime Minister in The Iron Lady. That same year he also starred in Cloud Atlas with Tom Hanks, Hugh Grant, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, and Ben Whishaw. In 2014, he starred alongside Lindsay Duncan in the Roger Mitchell directed film, Le Week-End.
In 2015, Broadbent starred alongside Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson and Julie Walters in the Oscar award nominated film Brooklyn. Later that year, he also appeared alongside Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings in Alan Bennett's comedy film The Lady in the Van (2015). In 2015, Broadbent along with Daniel Rigby, Antonia Thomas, Fearne Cotton and Jane Horrocks are revealed to be the new cast with Broadbent as a Voice Trumpet in the reboot of classic British children's television series Teletubbies. Since 2016, Broadbent narrates Kevin the Carrot Christmas adverts for the UK branch of Aldi. In the 2020 advert, Broadbent portrayed Santa Claus, who was revealed to be the narrator. Broadbent has also appeared alongside Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters and Ben Whishaw in the British comedy films, Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2018).
In 2016, he was cast in the seventh season of the HBO series Game of Thrones. In 2017 he starred alongside Charlotte Rampling, Michelle Dockery, and Emily Mortimer in the ensemble thriller The Sense of an Ending.
On 28 May 2018, he played Gloucester in the BBC Two production of King Lear acting alongside Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Florence Pugh.
In 2018, he played Hans Christian Andersen in the premiere of Martin McDonagh's play A Very Very Very Dark Matter at the Bridge Theatre in London. In 2020, Broadbent starred in the limited series Black Narcissus based on the Black Narcissus. The series premiered on 23 November 2020 on FX. The series also stars Gemma Arterton, Alessandro Nivola and Diana Rigg. Broadbent starred opposite Helen Mirren in the comedy drama film The Duke. The film had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on 4 September 2020 and was pushed to be released in cinemas in the UK on 25 February 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 26 June 2018, Fantagraphics published the graphic novel Dull Margaret, a collaboration between The Guardian cartoonist Dix and Broadbent. The novel is inspired by the 1563 painting Dull Gret by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
In 2024, he was involved in the third Paddington Bear film alongside Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters, Carla Tous, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Colman and Emily Mortimer in Paddington in Peru (2024).
Broadbent was offered an OBE in 2002, but he declined it, stating that there were more deserving recipients than actors and that the British Empire was not something he wanted to "celebrate". Broadbent was made an Honorary Associate of London Film School.
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