# Tim Pigott-Smith

Timothy Peter Pigott-Smith (13 May 1946 – 7 April 2017) was a British film and television actor and author. He was best known for his leading role as Ronald Merrick in the television drama series The Jewel in the Crown, for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 1985. Other noted TV roles included roles in The Chief, Midsomer Murders, The Vice, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, King Charles III and two Doctor Who stories (The Claws of Axos (1971) and The Masque of Mandragora (1976)). Pigott-Smith appeared in many notable films, including Clash of the Titans (1981), Gangs of New York (2002), Johnny English (2003), Alexander (2004), V for Vendetta (2005), Quantum of Solace (2008), Red 2 (2013) and Jupiter Ascending (2015).

## Early life

Pigott-Smith was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the son of Margaret Muriel (née Goodman) and Harry Thomas Pigott-Smith, who was a journalist. He was educated at Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester, King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon and Bristol University. He trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

## Career
### Film and television

After a long career in smaller roles, Pigott-Smith's appearance as Arthur Llewellyn Davies in the BBC's mini-series The Lost Boys led to his gaining his big break with the leading role of Ronald Merrick in the 1984 television serial The Jewel in the Crown. Other appearances include the title role in the crime drama series The Chief (1990–93), a recurring role in ITV drama The Vice as Ken Stott's nemesis Vickers, and Bloody Sunday. He appeared in two adaptations of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South; in the 1975 version he played Frederick Hale, and in 2004 he played Frederick's father Richard. In 1995, he starred in a serial of the series Ghosts.
Pigott-Smith appeared twice in Doctor Who: in the stories The Claws of Axos (1971) and The Masque of Mandragora (1976).
Pigott-Smith was a regular narrator of documentary television series. He narrated The Team: A Season with McLaren, a six-episode BBC series about the 1993 season with McLaren Racing. He also narrated the Battlefield series, which examines pivotal battles of the Second World War from an operations point of view. Later, he narrated a series on the British Royal Family, entitled Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work. The series followed Queen Elizabeth II for more than a year, including the 2007 state visit to the United States.
From 2011 to 2014, he portrayed Commissioner Mayne in the ITV drama series The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, written by Helen Edmundson.
Pigott-Smith appeared in Lewis in 2015 as a taxidermist in the episode "One For Sorrow". He also appeared on the ITV series, Downton Abbey in the third series' (third season) fifth episode as obstetrician/gynaecologist Sir Philip Tapsell, who was present at the death of Lady Sybil Crawley Branson (Jessica Brown Findlay) from eclampsia after giving birth to her daughter.
His film career included the 2004 film Alexander, The Four Feathers, Clash of the Titans, Gangs of New York, Johnny English, The Remains of the Day and V for Vendetta. He also appeared as Major General Robert Ford in director Paul Greengrass's Bloody Sunday (2002), and as the Foreign Secretary in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008). In February 2010 Pigott-Smith played Alan Keen in the television film On Expenses. He also had a cameo appearance as Sniggs in the BBC production of Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall in 2017. His final film role was that of Sir Henry Ponsonby, Queen Victoria's Private Secretary, in Victoria & Abdul (2017).

### Stage and radio

Pigott-Smith worked in the theatre in Shakespearean and Greek roles, including Posthumus in John Barton's 1974 production of Cymbeline for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In early stage roles he was credited as "Tim Smith". He produced and appeared in Saki: a celebration at the National Theatre, with Dirk Bogarde, Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Zoë Wanamaker, later issued as an audio book.
In 2011 he took the title role in King Lear at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.
Contemporary works included Enron, playing Ken Lay, for the Chichester Festival Theatre, and then London, in 2009 and Tobias in A Delicate Balance at the Almeida Theatre, London in 2011. He returned to the Almeida in 2014 as a post-accession Charles, Prince of Wales in King Charles III, for which he received a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best Actor, and his first Tony Award nomination for its production on Broadway in 2015. He also appeared as Charles in the 2017 film adaptation of the play.
Pigott-Smith was also a radio actor, appearing in many productions on BBC Radio 4.

### Writing

During the making of The Jewel in the Crown, Pigott-Smith wrote a diary on his impressions of India. This was published together with an anthology of poetry and prose under the title Out of India.
Pigott-Smith wrote two children's books in the series The Baker Street Mysteries, featuring the exploits of Sherlock Holmes' Baker Street Irregulars – The Dragon Tattoo (2008) and Shadow of Evil (2009). He played Holmes in a BBC Radio adaptation of The Valley of Fear.

## Death

Pigott-Smith died on 7 April 2017 at age 70 from a heart attack in Northampton, where he had been preparing to appear in a touring production of Death of a Salesman that was set to begin three days later. His wife Pamela Miles was also originally scheduled to appear in the play but had withdrawn after breaking a bone and needing surgery. He is buried on the east side of Highgate Cemetery.

## Filmography and more
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director(s) | Notes |
| 1976 | Aces High | Major Stoppard | Jack Gold | |
| 1977 | Joseph Andrews | Cornet | Tony Richardson | |
| 1980 | Sweet William | Gerald | Claude Whatham | |
| 1980 | Richard's Things | Peter | Anthony Harvey | |
| 1981 | Clash of the Titans | Thallo | Desmond Davis | |
| 1981 | Escape to Victory | Major Rose | John Huston | |
| 1986 | A State of Emergency | Father Joe Ryan | Richard C. Bennett | |
| 1987 | The Race for the Double Helix (aka Life Story) | Francis Crick | Mick Jackson | |
| 1993 | The Remains of the Day | Thomas Benn | James Ivory | |
| 2000 | Innocents | James Wisheart | Peter Kosminsky | |
| 2002 | Safe Conduct | Fleming | Bertrand Tavernier | |
| 2002 | Bloody Sunday | Major General Robert Ford | Paul Greengrass | |
| 2002 | The Four Feathers | General Faversham | Shekhar Kapur | |
| 2002 | Gangs of New York | Calvinist Minister | Martin Scorsese | |
| 2003 | Johnny English | Pegasus, Head of MI7 | Peter Howitt | |
| 2003 | Eroica | Count Dietrichstein | Simon Cellan Jones | |
| 2004 | Alexander | Omen Reader | Oliver Stone | |
| 2006 | V for Vendetta | Peter Creedy | James McTeigue | |
| 2006 | L'Entente Cordiale | S.I. Masterson | Vincent De Brus | |
| 2006 | Flyboys | Mr. Lowry | Tony Bill | |
| 2008 | Quantum of Solace | Foreign Secretary | Marc Forster | |
| 2010 | Alice in Wonderland | Lord Ascot | Tim Burton | |
| 2011 | My Piece of the Pie | Mr. Brown | Cédric Klapisch | |
| 2013 | Red 2 | Director Philips | Dean Parisot | |
| 2015 | Jupiter Ascending | Malidictes | The Wachowskis | |
| 2016 | Whisky Galore! | Woolsey | Gillies MacKinnon | |
| 2017 | 6 Days | William Whitelaw | Toa Fraser | Posthumous release |
| 2017 | King Charles III | Charles III | Rupert Goold | Posthumous release |
| 2017 | Victoria & Abdul | Sir Henry Ponsonby | Stephen Frears | Posthumous release |
| 2017 | The Little Vampire 3D | Frederick | Richard Claus & Karsten Kiilerich | Posthumous release, Voice, (final film role) |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Director(s) | Notes |
| 1971 | Doctor Who (The Claws of Axos) | Captain Harker | Michael Ferguson | Parts 3 and 4 |
| 1976 | Doctor Who (The Masque of Mandragora) | Marco | Rodney Bennett | 4 episodes |
| 1979 | Measure for Measure | Angelo | Desmond Davis | BBC Shakespeare series |
| 1979 | Danger UXB | Harry Winthrop | Simon Langton |
| 1979 | Henry IV Pt 1 | Henry 'Hotspur' Percy | David Giles | BBC Shakespeare series |
| 1980 | 'Tis Pity She's a Whore | Vasques | Roland Joffe | BBC |
| 1981 | Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years | Brendan Bracken | Ferdinand Fairfax | 8 episodes |
| 1982 | I Remember Nelson | Capt. Thomas Hardy | | 4 episodes |
| 1984 | The Jewel in the Crown | Ronald Merrick | | Main cast |
| 1986 | Dead Man's Folly | Sir George Stubbs | Clive Donner | Television movie |
| 1987 | Life Story | Francis Crick | Mick Jackson | 1988 BAFTA TV Award as the Best Single Drama |
| 1990–93 | The Chief | Chief Constable John Stafford | | First two series |
| 1993 | The Team – A Season With McLaren | | Narrator | 1 series, 6 episodes |
| 1994 | Battlefield | | Narrator | 3 series |
| 2002 | Spooks | Hampton Wilder | | Series 1, Episode 5: "The Rose Bed Memoirs" |
| 2003 | The Day Britain Stopped | | Narrator | Dramatic pseudo-documentary television film |
| 2004 | North and South | Richard Hale | | Main cast |
| 2006 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Dr. Lionel Woodward | | Series 10, Episode: "Taken at the Flood" |
| 2007 | HolbyBlue | DCI Harry Hutchinson | | Series 1 |
| 2008 | Midsomer Murders | Matt Parkes | Renny Rye | Episode: "Days of Misrule" |
| 2010 | Foyle's War | Brigadier Timothy Wilson | Stuart Orme | Series 6, Episode 1 |
| 2011 | The Hour | Lord Elms | Coky Giedroyc, Jamie Payne | Series 1, Episodes 1, 2 and 6 |
| 2012 | Downton Abbey | Sir Philip Tapsell | Jeremy Webb | Series 3, Episode 5 |
| 2011–14 | The Suspicions of Mr Whicher | Commissioner Mayne | | Screenplay by Helen Edmundson |
| 2013 | Wodehouse in Exile | P.G. Wodehouse | Tim Fywell | Screenplay by Nigel Williams |
| 2013 | Silent Witness | John Briggs | Laura Mackie, Jessica Pope | Series 16, Episode 1 ("Change Pt. 1") |
| 2013 | Miranda | Valerie Jackford | | Series 3, Episode 3 |
| 2014 | 37 Days | Herbert Henry Asquith | Justin Hardy | 3-part TV miniseries |
| 2015 | Lewis | Jasper Hammond | Nicholas Laughland | Series 9, Episode 1 ("One For Sorrow" parts 1 and 2) |

### Audiobook narration

| Year | Book title | Author | Release date |
| 2000 | Blue at the Mizzen | Patrick O'Brian | 5 July |
| 2000 | The Fortune of War | Patrick O'Brian | 5 July |
| 2000 | Desolation Island | Patrick O'Brian | 5 July |
| 2000 | The Far Side of the World | Patrick O'Brian | 7 November |
| 2000 | The Ionian Mission | Patrick O'Brian | 5 July |
| 2000 | The Letter of Marque | Patrick O'Brian | 4 July |
| 2000 | The Mauritius Command | Patrick O'Brian | 5 July |
| 2001 | The Nutmeg of Consolation | Patrick O'Brian | 7 August |
| 2000 | The Reverse of the Medal | Patrick O'Brian | 5 July |
| 2000 | The Surgeon's Mate | Patrick O'Brian | 5 July |
| 2001 | The Thirteen Gun Salute | Patrick O'Brian | 5 June |
| 2001 | The Truelove | Patrick O'Brian | 9 October |
| 2002 | The Wine-Dark Sea | Patrick O'Brian | 22 January |
| 2000 | Treason's Harbour | Patrick O'Brian | 10 October |
| 2000 | Seven Years in Tibet | Heinrich Harrer | 5 July |
| 1995 (?) | The Warlord Trilogy | Bernard Cornwell | |
| 2000 | Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage | Alfred Lansing | 23 May |

## Awards and honours

Pigott-Smith won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in 1985, for his role in The Jewel in the Crown. In 2014–15, he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award for his lead role in the play King Charles III. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to drama.

### Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 1985 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Actor | The Jewel in the Crown | Won |
| 2002 | Fantasporto Award | Directors' Week Award for Best Actor | Bloody Sunday | Won |
| 2010 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Enron | Nominated |
| 2015 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actor | King Charles III | Nominated |
| 2018 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Actor | King Charles III | Nominated |