Usually forged as a villain, Warner had roles within the 1976 horror traditional “The Omen,” the time-travel journey “Time After Time” and the 1997 blockbuster “Titanic.”
LONDON, UK — David Warner, a flexible British actor whose roles ranged from Shakespearean tragedies to sci-fi cult classics, has died. He was 80.
Warner’s household stated he died from a cancer-related sickness on Sunday at Denville Corridor, a retirement dwelling for entertainers in London.
Usually forged as a villain, Warner had roles within the 1971 psychological thriller “Straw Canines,” the 1976 horror traditional “The Omen,” the 1979 time-travel journey “Time After Time” — he was Jack the Ripper — and the 1997 blockbuster “Titanic,” the place he performed the malicious valet Spicer Lovejoy.
Educated on the Royal Academy of Dramatic Artwork in London, Warner grew to become a younger star of the Royal Shakespeare Firm, taking part in roles together with King Henry VI and King Richard II. His 1965 efficiency within the title function of “Hamlet” for the corporate, directed by Peter Corridor, was thought-about one of many best of his technology.
Gregor Doran, the RSC’s inventive director emeritus, stated Warner’s Hamlet, performed as a tortured scholar, “appeared the epitome of 1960’s youth, and caught the unconventional spirit of a turbulent age.”
Warner additionally starred in Corridor’s 1968 movie of “A Midsummer Evening’s Dream,” reverse Helen Mirren and Diana Rigg.
Regardless of his acclaim as as a stage actor, power stage fright led Warner to want movie and TV work for a few years.
He was nominated for a British Academy Movie Award for the title function in Karel Reisz’s Swinging London tragicomedy “Morgan: A Appropriate Case for Therapy,” launched in 1966. He later gained an Emmy for his function as Roman politician Pomponius Falco within the 1981 TV miniseries “Masada.”
He had a prolific profession on movie and TV in each Britain and the USA, and have become beloved of sci-fi followers for roles in Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits,” pc film “Tron,” Tim Burton’s remake of “Planet of the Apes,” and the “Star Trek” franchise, the place he made a number of appearances in numerous roles.
Warner returned to theater in 2001 after virtually three many years to play Andrew Undershaft in a Broadway revival of George Bernard Shaw’s “Main Barbara.” In 2005 he starred in Shakespeare’s “King Lear” on the Chichester Competition Theatre, and in 2007 returned to the RSC to play Shakespeare’s comedian buffoon Falstaff.
Considered one of his remaining movie roles was as retired naval officer Admiral Increase in “Mary Poppins Returns,” launched in 2018.
Warner’s household stated he could be remembered “as a kind-hearted, beneficiant and compassionate man, companion and father whose legacy of extraordinary work has touched the lives of so many over time.”
“We’re heartbroken,” the household stated.
They stated Warner is survived by his companion Lisa Bowerman, his son Luke, daughter-in-law Sarah, “his good buddy Jane Spencer Prior, his first spouse Harriet Evans and his many gold mud mates.”