# Robert Lindsay (actor)

Robert Lindsay Stevenson (born 13 December 1949), known professionally as Robert Lindsay, is an English actor. He has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in musical theatre, and is the recipient of a British Academy Television Award, a Tony Award, and two Laurence Olivier Awards.
Lindsay's most notable roles on television were playing Wolfie in Citizen Smith (1977–1980) and Ben Harper in My Family (2000–11). His other screen credits include That'll Be The Day (1973), Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976), Get Some In! (1975–1977), Twelfth Night (1980), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1981), King Lear (1983), Much Ado About Nothing (1984), Bert Rigby, You're a Fool (1989), Strike It Rich (1990), G.B.H. (1991), Fierce Creatures (1997), Divorcing Jack (1998) Hornblower (1998–2003), Oliver Twist (1999), Wimbledon (2004), Jericho (2005), Friends and Crocodiles (2006), Gideon's Daughter (2006), Absolutely Fabulous (2006), Extras (2006), The Trial of Tony Blair (2007), Grace of Monaco (2010), Spy (2011), Galavant (2016), Genius (2017), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), and McDonald & Dodds (2020).

## Early life

Lindsay was born 13 December 1949, in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, to Joyce (née Dunmore) and Norman Stevenson, a joiner. He was one of three children and his father was a World War II veteran, having been on a minesweeper.
Lindsay attended Gladstone Boys' School, in Ilkeston, then enrolled in the drama department of Clarendon College in Nottingham. His friends at Nottingham Playhouse encouraged him to apply to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and in 1968, and he was accepted there with the aid of a government grant. He graduated in 1970 with an Acting (RADA Diploma).

## Career

Lindsay's early career included roles in British films such as That'll Be The Day (1973), Three for All (1975), and Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976). He came to prominence as the cockney Teddy Boy Jakey Smith in the ITV comedy series Get Some In! (1975–1977), that was based on National Service life in the RAF. In 1977, he landed the starring role as delusional revolutionary Wolfie Smith in the BBC sitcom Citizen Smith (1977–1980). He had now become a television star watched by 24 million people.
Lindsay won roles in the BBC Television Shakespeare series, including Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1981), Fabian in Twelfth Night (1980), and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (1984). He played Edmund in the Granada Television production of King Lear (1983).
He played the role of Bill Snibson alongside Emma Thompson in the 1984 London revival of Me and My Girl, for which he won an Olivier Award, which subsequently transferred to Broadway, earning him a Tony Award.
He played the starring role in the film Bert Rigby, You're a Fool (1989), and appeared in the James Scott-directed Strike It Rich (1990), alongside Molly Ringwald and John Gielgud. He continued to have success on television, and played the leading role in Alan Bleasdale's dark comedy serial G.B.H. (1991), winning the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance as Michael Murray.
Lindsay was also in Bleasdale's Jake's Progress (1995), the tale of a couple played by Lindsay and Julie Walters who were struggling to cope with a 'difficult' child (Barclay Wright). Both Bleasdale serials were screened by Channel 4, as was the surreal Channel 4 sitcom Nightingales (1990–93), which also featured David Threlfall and James Ellis. In 1996, Lindsay played the title role of Becket, the play by Jean Anouilh, opposite Derek Jacobi as King Henry II for which was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor. In 1997, Lindsay played the role of Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh's London revival of Oliver! at the London Palladium, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Lindsay appeared alongside John Cleese, Michael Palin and Jamie Lee Curtis in the comedy film Fierce Creatures (1997). In 1998 he appeared in Divorcing Jack (1998). The same year, he was cast in the recurring role of Captain Pellew in the ITV mini-series Hornblower, based on the novels by C.S. Forester which ran until 2003.
He later appeared as Fagin in the 1999 ITV Oliver Twist miniseries. His longest-running role has been Ben Harper in the popular BBC sitcom My Family (2000–11), playing the role for over a decade.
In October 2005, he starred in ITV drama series Jericho about a Scotland Yard detective investigating murder and kidnapping in London's Soho in the 1950s. In January and February 2006, he was the only actor (as Sneath) to appear in two loosely linked Stephen Poliakoff dramas, Friends and Crocodiles, and Gideon's Daughter, shown on BBC One.
Lindsay portrayed Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Channel 4 satires A Very Social Secretary and The Trial of Tony Blair. In 2003, he appeared in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous, playing the character of Pete, an old musician boyfriend of Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders), and narrated the BBC documentary series Seven Wonders of the Industrial World (2003).
He appeared in the 8th Ricky Gervais Video Podcast, in which Gervais announced that Lindsay would be in the second series of Extras, appearing in the last episode of the 2006 series as an arrogant, mean-spirited version of himself. Lindsay also appeared in the romantic comedy Wimbledon, as the tennis club manager who hires Peter Colt. In 2007 at the Old Vic Theatre, Lindsay played Archie Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer, a role first performed by Olivier in 1957. In 2009, he played the protagonist, Maddox, from the Radio 4 comedy Electric Ink by Alistair Beaton.
In 2010, Lindsay starred in the title role of Derby Live's production of Onassis before its transfer to London's West End. He played the same role in Grace of Monaco. In November 2011, he starred as Henry in a revival of The Lion in Winter by James Goldman at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London, a production which also featured Joanna Lumley as Eleanor, and was directed by Trevor Nunn. In 2011, he starred as The Examiner in the British sitcom Spy,
In 2012, Lindsay appeared in the Sky detective series Falcón, episode "The Silent and the Damned", as Pablo Ortega. In 2014, Lindsay starred as Lawrence in the UK première production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Savoy Theatre London, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell.
In 2016, Lindsay recurred on the second season of the ABC fairy tale-themed musical comedy series Galavant as Chester Wormwood, an evil wizard/wedding planner.
In 2017, Lindsay played Hermann Einstein in the National Geographic TV series Genius. He also played Jack Cardiff in Prism at the Hampstead Theatre.
In 2019, Lindsay played supporting role of King John in Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. The film starred Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and was released on 18 October 2019. In 2020, he appeared in the series McDonald & Dodds.
Lindsay starred as Moonface Martin in a revival of Anything Goes, directed by Kathleen Marshall, at the Barbican Theatre from July to November 2021. He received his fourth Olivier Award nomination, which was his third for Best Actor in a Musical, in 2022.

## Personal life

In 1974, Lindsay married Cheryl Hall, who later appeared opposite him in Citizen Smith. They divorced in 1980, when he started a long-term relationship with actress Diana Weston, with whom he has a daughter, Sydney Laura Stevenson, and who co-starred with him in three episodes of My Family. He married English actress, dancer, and television presenter Rosemarie Ford on 31 December 2006.
On 13 September 2006, Lindsay researched his family tree in the third series of Who Do You Think You Are? He travelled to his hometown and to Turkey, where his grandfather, Raymond Dunmore, had taken part in the Gallipoli campaign during World War I.
Lindsay is a lifelong supporter of Derby County F.C., which he revealed in a short section on the CBBC programme Newsround entitled "My Team".
Lindsay is known for his left-wing political beliefs, usually describing himself as a staunch socialist, and has marched in support of miners. He is a passionate supporter of the Labour Party, but an outspoken critic of then Prime Minister Tony Blair's controversial decisions to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, saying that he was "furious" and feeling disillusioned with mainstream politics: "You see those images of Iraq and Afghanistan and Lebanon, don't you? And I suspect somewhere, when he goes home at night and the kids are in bed, he must go, 'Jesus, what have I done?'"
In 2011, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which was treated surgically.
Lindsay has suffered from depressive episodes and symptoms of seasonal affective disorder in winter months for most of his life. He has spoken publicly about his positive experiences with light therapy and counselling, saying that "they really do work".

## Credits

Key :
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1973 | That'll Be the Day | Terry |
| 1975 | Three for All | Tom |
| 1976 | Adventures of a Taxi Driver | Tom |
| 1989 | Bert Rigby, You're a Fool | Bert Rigby |
| 1990 | Strike It Rich | Bertram |
| 1993 | Genghis Cohn | Otto Schatz |
| 1996 | Goodbye My Love | Derek Humphry |
| 1997 | Fierce Creatures | Sydney Small Mammals |
| 1997 | Remember Me? | Jamie |
| 1998 | Divorcing Jack | Michael Brinn |
| 2004 | Wimbledon | Ian Frazier |
| 2014 | Grace of Monaco | Aristotle Onassis |
| 2019 | Maleficent: Mistress of Evil | King John |
| 2022 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Oberon |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1973 | Love Story | Colin | Episode: "Finders Keepers" |
| 1973 | The Roses of Eyam | Francis Thornley | TV Film |
| 1973 | ITV Sunday Night Theatre | Sam | Episode: "A Question of Everything" |
| 1974 | Centre Play | Toby | Episode: "Hurt Hawks" |
| 1975 | Centre Play | Ken | Episode: "Letter from a Soldier" |
| 1975 | Thriller | Policeman | Episode: "The Crazy Kill" |
| 1975 | Doctor on the Go | Harrison | Episode: "What's Op Doc?" |
| 1975 | Whodunnit? | Dave | Episode: "Pop Goes the Weasel" |
| 1975–1977 | Get Some In! | Jakey Smith | Series regular |
| 1977 | The Good Life | Reform School Youth | Episode: "Our Speaker Today" |
| 1977–1980 | Citizen Smith | Wolfie Smith | Series regular |
| 1980 | BBC Television Shakespeare | Fabian | Episode: Twelfth Night |
| 1981 | All's Well That Ends Well | Captain Dumain | TV Film |
| 1981 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Lysander | TV Film |
| 1981–1982 | Seconds Out | Pete Dodds | Series regular |
| 1982 | Cymbeline | Iachimo | TV Film |
| 1983 | King Lear | Edmund | TV Film |
| 1983–1984 | Give us a Break | Micky Noades | Series regular |
| 1984 | Much Ado About Nothing | Benedick | TV Film |
| 1984 | Jackanory | Storyteller | Episode: The Kitchen Warriors |
| 1989 | Confessional | Thomas Kelly | Mini-series |
| 1990–1993 | Nightingales | Carter | Series regular |
| 1991 | G.B.H. | Michael Murray | Mini-series |
| 1994 | The Wimbledon Poisoner | Henry Farr | Mini-series |
| 1995 | Strange Landscape | The Divine Comedy | Episode: "The Circles of Light" |
| 1995 | Jake's Progress | Jamie Diadoni | Mini-series |
| 1996 | The Office | Norman Platt | TV Film |
| 1996 | Tales from the Crypt | Glynn Fennell | Episode: "Ear Today... Gone Tomorrow" |
| 1996 | Brazen Hussies | Billy Bowmans | TV Film |
| 1996–2000 | Brambly Hedge | Narrator | 8 episodes |
| 1998 | In Your Dreams | Narrator | 1 episode |
| 1998–2000 | The Canterbury Tales (animated series) | Harry Bailey | 2 episodes |
| 1998–2003 | Hornblower | Captain Sir Edward Pellew | Series regular |
| 1999 | Oliver Twist | Fagin | 3 episodes |
| 2000 | Jack the Ripper: An On-Going Mystery | Narrator | |
| 2000–2011 | My Family | Ben Harper | Series regular |
| 2001 | Hawkins | Luke Hawkins | TV Film |
| 2001 | Don't Eat the Neighbours | Rabbit | |
| 2001 | Eddy and the Bear | Bear | |
| 2002 | Out of Eden | Narrator | |
| 2003 | Seven Wonders of the Industrial World | Narrator | Docuseries |
| 2003 | Absolutely Fabulous | Pete | Episode: "Schmoozin'" |
| 2005 | Friends and Crocodiles | William Sneath | TV Film |
| 2005 | Space Race | Narrator | Docuseries |
| 2005 | A Very Social Secretary | Tony Blair | TV Film |
| 2005 | Gideon's Daughter | Sneath | TV Film |
| 2005 | Jericho | D.I. Michael Jericho | Series regular |
| 2005 | Unsolved History | Narrator | Episode: Unstoppable Wave |
| 2006 | Extras | Robert Lindsay | Episode: "Johnathan Ross" |
| 2007 | The Trial of Tony Blair | Tony Blair | TV Film |
| 2010 | The One... | Animal Agent | |
| 2011 | George and Bernard Shaw | George | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2011–2012 | Spy | The Examiner | Series regular |
| 2012 | Falcón | Pablo Ortega | Episode: "The Silent and the Damned" |
| 2013–2015 | Atlantis | Daedalus | 5 episodes |
| 2015 | Bull | Rupert Bull | Mini-series |
| 2016 | Galavant | Chester Wormwood | 8 episodes |
| 2017 | Genius | Hermann Einstein | 2 episodes |
| 2017 | Bounty Hunters | Nigel Walker | 4 episodes |
| 2017 | The Secret Life of Owls | Narrator | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | Plebs | Crassus | Episode: "The Accident" |
| 2020 | McDonald & Dodds | Max Crockett | Episode: "The Fall of The House of Crockett" |
| 2022 | Dodger | William Lamb | Episode: "Christmas" |
| 2024 | Sherwood | Franklin Warner | Series regular; 6 episodes |
| TBA | † Generation Z | Morgan | Post-production |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
| 1977 | Leaping Ginger | Ginger | Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester |
| 1979 | The Three Musketeers | D'Artagnan | Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester |
| 1979 | The Changeling | Antonio | Riverside Studios, London |
| 1980 | The Cherry Orchard | Peter Trofimov | Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester |
| 1980 | The Lower Depths | Vassilly Pepic | Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester |
| 1980 | Trelawny of the 'Wells' | Tom Wrench | The Old Vic, London |
| 1982 | The Beaux' Stratagem | Archer | Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester |
| 1982 | Philoctetes | Neoptolemus | Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester |
| 1983 | Hamlet | Hamlet | Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester |
| 1985 | Me and My Girl | Bill Snibson | Adelphi Theatre, London |
| 1986 | Me and My Girl | Bill Snibson | Marquis Theatre, Broadway |
| 1991 | Becket | Henry II | Theatre Royal Haymarket, London |
| 1992 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | Theatre Royal Haymarket, London |
| 1996 | Oliver! | Fagin | London Palladium, London |
| 1999 | Richard III | Richard III | Savoy Theatre, London |
| 2003 | Power | Nicolas Fouquet | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2007 | The Entertainer | Archie Rice | The Old Vic, London |
| 2008 | Aristo | Aristotle Onassis | Minerva Theatre, Chichester |
| 2010 | Onassis | Aristotle Onassis | Novello Theatre, London |
| 2011 | The Lion in Winter | Henry II | Theatre Royal Haymarket, London |
| 2014 | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Lawrence Jameson | Savoy Theatre, London |
| 2016 | A Christmas Carol: In Concert with the London Musical Theatre Orchestra | Ebenezer Scrooge | Lyceum Theatre, London |
| 2017 | Prism | Jack Cardiff | Hampstead Theatre, London and UK Tour (2019) |
| 2018 | In Praise of Love | Sebastian Cruttwell | Theatre Royal, Bath |
| 2021 | Anything Goes | Moonface Martin | Barbican Theatre, London |
| 2022 | The Fever Syndrome | Richard Myers | Hampstead Theatre, London |
| 2023 | Bleak Expectations | Sir Philip “Pip” Bin | Criterion Theatre, London |

## Awards and nominations

BAFTA TV Awards
| Year | Category | Work | Result |
| 1992 | Best Actor | G.B.H. | Won |
| 1996 | Best Actor | Jake's Progress | Nominated |
| 2002 | Best Comedy Performance | My Family | Nominated |
Olivier Awards
| Year | Category | Work | Result |
| 1985 | Best Actor in a Musical | Me and My Girl | Won |
| 1992 | Best Actor | Becket | Nominated |
| 1993 | Best Comedy Performance | Cyrano de Bergerac | Nominated |
| 1997 | Best Actor in a Musical | Oliver! | Won |
| 2022 | Best Actor in a Musical | Anything Goes | Nominated |
Tony Awards
| Year | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
| 1987 | Best Actor in a Musical | Me and My Girl | Won | |
Other awards
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 1982 | Manchester Evening News Theatre Award | Best Actor | Philoctetes | Won |
| 1985 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Me and My Girl | Won |
| 1985 | Theatre World Award | Theatre World Award | Me and My Girl | Honouree |
| 1992 | Broadcasting Press Guild Award | Best Actor | G.B.H. | Won |
| 1992 | Royal Television Society Award | Best Male Actor | G.B.H. | Won |
| 2003 | National Television Award | Most Popular Comedy Performance | My Family | Nominated |
| 2006 | Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Jericho | Nominated |
| 2007 | Satellite Award | Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television | The Trial of Tony Blair | Nominated |