Timothy Peter Dalton was born March 21, 1944, in Colwyn Bay, Wales, where he lived briefly before moving with his family to Manchester, England. The grandson of a vaudevillian actor, he was bitten by the acting bug himself at age 15 after seeing his first Shakespearean play. “That did it,” he confirms. “[I] realized that [I] was not only excited by it, but [I] was actually sitting in the same room with real human beings who stood on the stage in front of you. It could be done.”
Timothy Dalton begins his apprenticeship
Timothy Dalton threw himself headlong into a number of school productions before embarking for the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he trained under the tutelage of the country’s top instructors for two years. His training paid off handsomely and he soon began performing in England’s major regional theaters playing a wide range of leading roles.
Timothy Dalton makes his big screen debut
Timothy Dalton made the leap from the stage to the screen in 1968 when he was cast opposite Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole in The Lion in Winter. “I was 19 years old… and there I was on the same set as two legends,” he recalls fondly. “I knew nothing about film… but Peter treated me like an equal and made sure everyone else did too.” The film went on to win three Oscars, and Timothy Dalton cashed in on his dazzling debut with subsequent roles in Wuthering Heights (1970), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) and Permission to Kill (1975). He capped off the decade by starring alongside legendary sex symbol Mae West in 1978’s Sextette. “She was a great lady,” he says. “I was very curious, very fascinated by her. Not to put too fine a point on it, we were all wondering, knowing how old she was, if we were going to be able to work with her. As it happened, she was delightful.”
Timothy Dalton stars in jane eyre
The 1980s were another highly productive decade for Timothy Dalton as he continued to assert himself as a viable leading man with roles in Flash Gordon (1980), Antony and Cleopatra (1983) and the critically acclaimed British mini-series Jane Eyre (1983). “[Jane Eyre] really seemed to have quite a powerful effect on people,” he says. “That’s so pleasing — to know that you’ve been in something that people have made a point of watching and have loved watching. That’s why we do it, after all.”
Timothy Dalton acquires his licence to kill
The series also appealed to the producers of James Bond, who cast him as the franchise’s fourth 007 in The Living Daylights. The film fared well at the box office, and Timothy Dalton received rave reviews from critics who applauded him for his refreshingly realistic portrayal of the iconic secret agent. Timothy Dalton brought Bond to the big screen again in 1989 in Licence to Kill, another thrilling joy ride that delivered plenty of action, suspense and adventure.
Timothy Dalton agreed to play James Bond for a third time in GoldenEye, but later dropped out due to a series of lengthy legal delays. “I was scheduled to do a third in 1989, but there were these huge court battles over who owned what part of the franchise,” he says. “By the time the suits were settled, I was already on with my life and my career. I count myself lucky. If (the litigation) hadn’t happened, Bond would have become my life instead of just a really memorable part of it.”
Timothy Dalton stars in made men and hot fuzz
Unfortunately, playing James Bond came with a price, and Timothy Dalton found it difficult to convince Hollywood power brokers that he was capable of disappearing into other roles. “Producers didn’t want me in their films because I was too specifically identified as James Bond. That’s why I went to TV to carve out a new niche,” he explains. “It’s the reason I agreed to play Rhett Butler in [the 1994 CBS mini-series] Scarlett. It took tackling another screen icon to break the Bond mold.” The gamble paid off and Timothy Dalton finished the decade with a string of strong performances in The Beautician and the Beast (1997), The Informant (1997) and Made Men (1999).
A new century has brought new triumphs for this veteran actor with a return to the theater and a bevy of memorable roles in films such as American Outlaws (2001), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) and, most recently, Hot Fuzz (2007).
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