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Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett"Timothy L D Leggett" in the England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007, Apr–May–Jun quarter 1946, Aled, Denbighshire, mother's maiden name: Scholes (; born 21 March 1946)Sources disagree about his birth date, with some giving his year of birth as 1944:
whilst others state 1946:
is a British actor. He gained international prominence as the fourth actor to portray fictional secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, starring in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).
(1988). 9780810322035, Gale Research. ISBN 9780810322035
Margarida Araya (2025). 9781539171386, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781539171386
Beginning his career on stage, he made his film debut as Philip II of France in the 1968 historical drama The Lion in Winter. He took roles in the period films Wuthering Heights (1970), Cromwell (1970), and Mary, Queen of Scots (1971). Dalton also appeared in the films Flash Gordon (1980), The Rocketeer (1991), (2003), Hot Fuzz (2007) and The Tourist (2010).
On television, Dalton's role as Oliver Secombe made him one of the stars of Centennial (1978–1979). He later played Mr. Rochester in the BBC serial Jane Eyre (1983), Rhett Butler in the CBS miniseries Scarlett (1994), Rassilon in the BBC One sci-fi series Doctor Who (2009–2010), Sir Malcolm Murray on the Showtime horror drama Penny Dreadful (2014–2016), the Chief on the DC Universe/Max superhero series Doom Patrol (2019–2021), and Donald Whitfield on the Paramount+ western series 1923 (2023–). He portrayed Peter Townsend in the fifth season of The Crown (2022).
Before Dalton's fourth birthday, the family moved back to England to Belper in Derbyshire, where he attended Herbert Strutt Grammar School. As a teenager, he was a member of the Air Training Corps at LXX (Croft & Culcheth) Squadron.
He decided to become an actor at 16 after seeing a production of Macbeth and got a role in a production of the play at The Old Vic. He left school in 1962 at 16 to enroll in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and tour with the National Youth Theatre. Dalton did not complete his RADA studies, leaving the academy in 1966 to join the ensemble of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He had ambitions of being an actor, which pleased his father; "It pleased everybody on my father's side of the family. My mother and her side, however, were worried. None of them felt acting was a secure profession for a young man." Celebrity Magazine, March 1987.
With two exceptions, the films Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) and Permission to Kill (1975), he remained a theatre actor until 1978. That year he starred in Sextette as the husband of 85-year-old Mae West, hailing his return to cinema and the beginning of his American career. While in the United States, Dalton worked mainly in television, although he starred in several films. During this time, he played Prince Barin in the science fiction film Flash Gordon (1980) and played Mr. Rochester in a BBC serial of Jane Eyre (1983). Dalton starred alongside Jonathan Pryce in the film The Doctor and the Devils (1985).
Dalton co-starred with Joan Collins in the miniseries, Sins (1986). He was also replaced in two films in which he'd been signed to appear. He was offered the role of real-life British Prime Minister William Lamb in the film Lady Caroline Lamb. The filmmakers replaced him with Jon Finch at the last moment; Dalton sued for breach of contract and won an out-of-court settlement.
In 1985, Dalton was set to play Don Alfonso de la Torré in Roman Polanski's film Pirates. The two men did not get along, so Polanski replaced Dalton with Damien Thomas. Dalton co-starred with Anthony Edwards in the 1988 British comedy film Hawks about two terminally ill patients who set off on a road-trip together.
In August 1986, Dalton was approached to play Bond after Roger Moore had retired, Dalton would soon begin filming Brenda Starr and could do The Living Daylights only if the Bond producers waited six weeks. The producers were not willing to wait and offered the role to Pierce Brosnan. However, when news of Brosnan's hiring was leaked, the makers of television series Remington Steele, in which Brosnan starred, exercised their right to renew the series, and the offer to Brosnan was withdrawn. Having now completed the filming of Brenda Starr, Dalton was now available and he accepted the part of Bond for The Living Daylights.
With a worldwide gross of , The Living Daylights became the fourth-most-successful Bond film at the time of its release. In 1998, the second Deluxe Edition of Bond's soundtracks was released. The Living Daylights was one of the first soundtracks to receive Deluxe treatment. The booklet/poster of this CD contains MGM's quote about The Living Daylights being the fourth-most-successful Bond film.
Since Dalton was contracted for three Bond films, the pre-production of his third film began in 1990, in order to be released in 1991. What was confirmed is that the story would deal with the destruction of a chemical weapons laboratory in Scotland, and the events would take place in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. The film was cancelled due to legal issues between UA/MGM and Eon Productions, which lasted for four years.
The legal battle ended in 1993, and Dalton was expected to return as James Bond in the next Bond film, which later became GoldenEye. Since his contract had expired, negotiations with him to renew it took place. Dalton surprised everyone on 12 April 1994 with the announcement that he would not return as James Bond. At this time, he was shooting the miniseries Scarlett. Two months later, Brosnan, who had been hired to succeed Moore when Dalton had turned down the role in 1986, was announced as the new Bond. Dalton reflected in 2007, "I was supposed to make one more, but it was cancelled because MGM and the film's producers got into a lawsuit which lasted for five years. After that, I didn't want to do it anymore."
A fan of the literary character, often seen re-reading and referring to the novels on set, Dalton determined to approach the role and play truer to the original character described by Fleming. His 007, therefore, came across as a reluctant agent who did not always enjoy the assignments he was given, something seen on screen before, albeit obliquely, only in George Lazenby On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In The Living Daylights, for example, Bond tells a critical colleague, Saunders, "Stuff my orders! ... Tell M what you want. If he fires me, I'll thank him for it." This was an element that appealed to Dalton when he read the script.Q&A Interview With Timothy Dalton by Raymond Benson OO7 Issue #21 1989 In Licence to Kill, he resigns from the Secret Intelligence Service in order to pursue his own agenda of revenge.
This approach proved to be a double-edged sword. Film critics and fans of Fleming's original novels welcomed a more serious interpretation after more than a decade of Moore's approach. However, Dalton's films were criticised for their comparative lack of humour. Dalton's serious interpretation was not only in portraying the character, but also in performing most of the stunts of the action scenes himself. His director, John Glen, commented "Tim is a very convincing James Bond. When he has a gun in his hand, you believe he really could kill someone. I don't think that was ever the case with Roger Moore."Marshall Fine. "LICENCE TO ACT – TIMOTHY DALTON USES BOND TO GET WHAT HE WANTS". 1989 interview
Some modern critics have compared Dalton to Daniel Craig. In 2006, Gwladys Fouché of The Guardian wrote "while Connery was cool, and Brosnan brilliant, only Dalton could show the dark side of Fleming's fearless agent ...Bond want Bond to be closer to the original Ian Fleming character. They want him to be grittier, darker and less jokey. What they really want, it seems, is to have Dalton back." Dalton himself has claimed that the Bond films starring Daniel Craig are "believable" in the way he wanted his own Bond films to be:
Of his time as Bond, Dalton recalled:
His time as Bond allowed him to work on projects that were of interest to him; "''Hawks'' deals with the subject of extraordinary relevance: Why does it take a crisis to make you realize how bloody precious life is? Unfortunately, it's about cancer, which is a not a word the film business thinks of as being particularly commercial. Still, doing the first Bond film enabled me to get ''Hawks'' made. Doing the Bond film helped the O'Neill play find an audience. This is a commercial business. If you have a commercial success, you have enhanced viability."Marshall Fine Interview. 1989
During the second half of the 1990s he starred in several cable films, most notably the Irish Republican Army drama, The Informant, and the action thriller Made Men. In the TV film Cleopatra (1999) he played Julius Caesar. He played a parody of James Bond named Damian Drake in the film (2003). At the end of that year and the beginning of 2004, he returned to theatre to play Lord Asriel in the stage version of His Dark Materials. Dalton played Simon Skinner, who ran the local supermarket, in the action comedy film Hot Fuzz, which was released in 2007.
Dalton returned once again to British television in a guest role for the Doctor Who 2009–10 two-part special "The End of Time", playing Rassilon. He was first heard in the role narrating a preview clip shown at the 2009 Comic Convention. In 2010 and 2011, he starred in several episodes of the fourth season of the American spy comedy Chuck as Alexei Volkoff.
Dalton voiced the character Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3, which was released on 18 June 2010; and again in the television specials Toy Story of Terror! (2013) and Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014), and the sequel Toy Story 4 (2019). In 2012, Dalton voiced Lord Milori in Secret of the Wings, as part of the Disney Fairies franchise and the fourth film direct-to-DVD instalment of the Tinker Bell film series.
From 2014 to 2016, Dalton portrayed the character Sir Malcolm Murray for three seasons on the Showtime original television series Penny Dreadful.
From 2019 to 2021, Dalton portrayed the Chief in the DC Universe / HBO Max superhero series Doom Patrol.
He was in a relationship with musician Oksana Grigorieva in the 1990s; they met in 1995 while she was employed as a translator for filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov. Dalton and Grigorieva had a son together, born in 1997.. They broke up around 2003.
Dalton has residences in Chiswick in London, West Hollywood, California and St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda.
Dalton is a Manchester City F.C. supporter, and is often seen at the City of Manchester Stadium to watch the team play. Although he was born in Wales, Dalton has confirmed he is not "really Welsh other than being born there", but says he doesn't "mind one bit to be named among" the Welsh contingent of actors.
BBC North East Wales Showbiz; accessed 21 March 2015.
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