Alan Dale

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**Alan Hugh Dale** (born 6 May 1947) is a New Zealand-born actor. As a child, Dale enjoyed theatre and rugby. After retiring from the sport, he took on a number of professions, before deciding to become a professional actor at age 27. With work limited in New Zealand, Dale moved to Australia, where he played Dr. John Forrest in *The Young Doctors* from 1979 to 1982. He later appeared as Jim Robinson in *Neighbours*, a part he played from 1985 until 1993. He left the series when he fell out with the producers over the pay he and the rest of the cast received. In 2018 it was revealed that Dale would reprise his role as Jim for one episode on December 25, 25 years after his last appearance.

After leaving *Neighbours*, Dale found he had become typecast as Jim Robinson in Australia and struggled to find work. His career was revitalised after he relocated to the United States in 2000. Since then, he has had roles in many American series including prominent parts in *The O.C.* (as Caleb Nichol) and *Ugly Betty* (as Bradford Meade), as well as recurring and guest roles in *Lost*, *24*, *NCIS*, *ER*, *The West Wing*, *The X-Files*, *Entourage* and *Once Upon a Time*. Dale has also appeared in minor roles in films such as *Star Trek Nemesis*, *Hollywood Homicide*, *Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull*, *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* and *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*, as well as the London West End production of *Spamalot*. Dale has been married to former Miss Australia Tracey Pearson since 1990 and has four children. Since 2017, he has starred in the soap opera *Dynasty* as Joseph Anders.

## Early life and work

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Dale was born on 6 May 1947 in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. One of four children, Dale enjoyed his childhood, but his family was relatively poor. Growing up in New Zealand without televisions, Dale loved the theatre and amateur dramatics. His first performance was for a school concert, at the age of 13, doing an impression of comedian Shelley Berman. His parents became founding members of an amateur theatre in Auckland called "The Little Dolphin Theatre". Dale often operated the stage equipment used to produce weather effects,

Dale was a skilled rugby player, but opted to move into drama instead because "the acting fraternity didn't like footballers and the footballers didn't like actors. [...] Acting gave me the same buzz and there was the chance of a longer career." He gave up rugby at the age of 21 because it was not considered a workable career at the time, and he had to support his family. Acting roles were limited in New Zealand so Dale worked in multiple jobs, including as a male model, a car salesman and a realtor. While working as a milkman he heard the disc jockey at his local radio station resign during a broadcast. Dale went over to the station and told the managers he could do a better job. They gave him a trial and then signed him up for the afternoon show. At the age of 27 he decided to become a professional actor.

## Acting career

### Early roles and *Neighbours*

Dale's first professional acting job was playing an Indian in a production of *The Royal Hunt of the Sun* at the Grafton Theatre in Auckland. His first on-screen role came in the New Zealand television drama *Radio Waves*, which although not successful, he described as "nine months of solid work and great fun." In the late 1970s, Dale moved to Australia at the age of 32, due to the limited acting work in New Zealand. He applied to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, but was rejected because he "was a lot older than anybody else on the course." He was soon cast as Dr. John Forrest in the Australian soap opera *The Young Doctors*, where he remained for three-and-a-half years.

In 1985, Dale was cast in the continuing role of Jim Robinson in the Australian soap opera *Neighbours*, earning him acclaim across the world.Template:Citation needed He appeared on the show from the first episode and stayed for eight years before his character was killed off in 1993. He found working on *Neighbours* "exciting" and it enabled him to provide for his sons, but he said: "You were a totally replaceable commodity; [the production company] didn't put any value on any of the people appearing in the show." He expanded: "I didn't like it there, they were not nice people. When we decided that we hated each other, the company and me, one of the things the company did was to market everything they could out of us and pay us nothing." Dale and the company (Grundy Television) parted on "bad terms".

After *Neighbours*, Dale struggled to find work in Australia because he was typecast as Jim Robinson. His only regular sources of income were voice-overs, and publishing magazines about his former show which he "made quite a lot of money out of". He lost most of his profits investing in a failed children's magazine. In 1999, he was cast in the American TV film *First Daughter*, which was filmed in Australia. After discovering he could perform a convincing American accent, Dale attended the film's premiere, finally moving with his family to the United States permanently in January 2000. Dale, his second wife Tracey, and their then two-year-old son Nick moved into an "awful little flat" in Los Angeles and found an agent. Dale recalled telling his wife in Melbourne that "there's no way this is going to work. But if it does, it proves you can do anything."

### Wider success

 File:Alan Dale (aka Jim).jpg
At the age of 52, he began to revive his career and started taking acting classes, something he had not thought about after being cast in *Neighbours*. He described his age, unknown status and willingness to work for a relatively low fee as being his main assets for getting work in America. His drama teacher, who he has remained with ever since, told him "that you might want to play great roles, but truth is you will get cast as a specific type. Just work out your type. The others in the class said I was a bit Anthony Hopkins and a bit Sean Connery and that went into my head. I thought if I go for roles those guys would go for I'm more likely to get them." The first role he was offered was a part in a series called *Sign of Life*, a show about a rock band, which eventually fell through. Dale only received a couple of auditions during his first year in America, but his break came when he was cast as the South African Al Patterson in four episodes of *ER*. Since then, Dale has been "busier than ever".

He has appeared in many television series including guest appearances on *The West Wing*, *Torchwood*, *The Lone Gunmen*, *Californication*, and *The Practice*. Many of these have been recurring roles, such as the part of Tom Morrow in *JAG* and its spin-off *NCIS*, as well as appearing in three episodes, including the series finale, of *The X-Files*, playing the "Toothpick Man". He played the recurring role of Vice President of the United States Jim Prescott for seven episodes of the second season of *24*, a part which was originally supposed to be a single scene. Dale had recurring roles in the serial *Midnight Man* and the Australian series *Sea Patrol* in 2008. He also had recurring parts on *Undercovers*, *Entourage* as John Ellis, the fictional owner of Warner Bros., and the British series *Moving Wallpaper* as a fictional version of himself. He had a recurring role as King George in the series *Once Upon a Time*, and Emmett in *Hot in Cleveland*, before joining the main cast of *Dominion* in 2014, playing General Edward Riesen.

From 2003 to 2010, Dale appeared in his longest running American roles. He starred in the Fox TV series, *The O.C.* playing Caleb Nichol, a wealthy tycoon. The producers saw that the character had further potential, and made his initially recurring role a regular character in the series. After 35 appearances, Caleb was killed off in the second-season episode "The O.Sea" in 2005. Dale was disappointed that Caleb was written out and described it as a mistake by the production staff. In 2006, Dale was cast in the starring role of Bradford Meade, the owner of Meade Publications in the ABC show *Ugly Betty*. Although he impressed the producers in his audition, he initially lost the role to a "bigger star". After said star began "causing trouble" and was fired, Dale was given the part. Bradford was killed off during the show's second season. Dale appeared in the second-season finale of *Lost*, "Live Together, Die Alone", as Charles Widmore, a businessman and leader of the Others. Dale's publicist was initially worried that Widmore (who was an integral part of the show's mystery) would become a starring role, meaning it would be hard for Dale to appear in both *Lost* and *Ugly Betty* at the same time. The part became a recurring role, with Dale appearing numerous times between seasons two (2006) and six (2010). He enjoyed the role but often found it difficult due to his character's unclear motivation.

In March 2008, Dale replaced Peter Davison in the lead role of King Arthur in the London West End production of Monty Python's *Spamalot* at the Palace Theatre. He accepted the role because he was a fan of *Monty Python* and considered that "life's too short" for him to have turned down a West End part. Although he has seen all of the shows and the other films, Dale had never seen *Monty Python and the Holy Grail* (from which *Spamalot* is "lovingly ripped off") and had to buy a copy to prepare for the role. It was not his first experience in musical theatre because he appeared in a 1984 Australian production of *Applause*, but Dale found the comic timing of the part to be the hardest task. "On stage, the battle is to find all of the humorous moments and not skip over them. [...] There's an art to Python humour and I'm aiming to try and get every single joke just right." He was succeeded in the role by Sanjeev Bhaskar on 23 June 2008.

Dale has also made several film appearances. He appeared as the Romulan Praetor Hiren in *Star Trek Nemesis*, a part he got after the actor originally cast fell ill, and had small parts in films such as *Hollywood Homicide*, *After the Sunset*, and the minor part of General Ross in *Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull*. Dale said his script for *Kingdom of the Crystal Skull* was printed on tin foil so it was impossible to replicate, in order to keep the film's plot a secret. He appeared in four films released in 2011: *A Little Bit of Heaven*, *Priest*, *Don't Be Afraid of the Dark*, and *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*, having joined late in the film's production.

## Popularity and style

Despite his mainstream success upon his move to America, Dale remained primarily known for his role as Jim Robinson in *Neighbours* in the United Kingdom and Australia for several years. This was spoofed in a promotional ident for the UK's Channel 4 in 2007 which sees Dale taking part in a mock interview about the sudden upturn in his career, before being accosted by an Australian fan, who recognises him as Jim Robinson. Discussing this association after *Ugly Betty*'s 2007 Golden Globe win, Dale noted: "Every article I read I'm always, 'Ex-soap star Jim Robinson'. Maybe now people will just get to know me as actor Alan Dale." In 2007, Amazon.co.uk reported that they had sold more DVDs of films and television shows featuring Dale than any featuring other ex-*Neighbours* cast members.

Dale's characters on most of the American television shows he has appeared on have shared similar character traits, which Dale describes as the "go-to powerful guy" role. Following his appearance as Senator Eaton in *The Killing* in 2011, reviewers commented on his tendency to play powerful, wealthy and mysterious characters in many shows. Maureen Ryan of *TV Squad* wrote that it was "lovely to see Alan Dale playing a typically Alan Dale-ian character. He's always so great at playing That Sketchy Wealthy Guy With a Hidden Agenda, which he has now played on, I believe, 87 different shows. And he always does it well." Coincidentally, Dale's characters in *Neighbours*, *The O.C.* and *Ugly Betty* have all been killed off by a fatal heart attack. Christopher Rosen of *The New York Observer* wrote in 2008 that "with his square jaw and seemingly no nonsense attitude, Mr. Dale is the go-to actor when casting directors need a conservative-looking authoritarian. When he comes onto the screen, audiences immediately take him seriously, since he radiates rich, smug and serious. He demands your respect." Rosen says that Dale is "not even...a particularly good actor" but is "fine enough" and "bring[s] a no frills, no gimmicks style to his roles," and "manages to give a consistent performance in every show he appears on."

Jayne Nelson, writing in magazine *SFX*, named Dale the second most "serial" science-fiction guest star after Mark Sheppard. She wrote: "The thing is, soap-opera origins aside, Dale is always good. Which is why he keeps getting so much work....Dale never lets you down, always (well, usually) summoning up a pitch-perfect accent, too. There's something comforting about his presence on a show, as though the fact he's in it has lent it some weight." In a profile of his work on "cult shows", Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy called Dale an "institution".

## Personal life

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In 1968, Dale married his girlfriend, Claire. The couple had two children, Simon and Matthew, both of whom are involved in the entertainment industry, Simon as a radio announcer at Kiss 100 and Matthew as a writer, film maker and actor. The marriage ended in divorce in 1979. At the time, Dale lived in Auckland but after the divorce he moved to Sydney with his sons. On 8 April 1990, he married Tracey Pearson, the 1986 Miss Australia, whom he met at the 1986 Australian Grand Prix, when she was 21 and he was 39. Dale described it as "the most appropriate relationship I've ever had." Dale also has two children from this marriage, Daniel and Nick.

He and his family now live in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles, California and also owns property in Australia. Dale sold his holiday home in New Zealand in 2011 for $1.25m. Both of Dale's parents died in 2007. Dale describes his life philosophy as being Winston Churchill's quote "Never, never, never give up", and counts Gene Hackman as his "big acting hero".

## Filmography

### Video games

 2013 | *The Bureau: XCOM Declassified* | Dr. Alan Weir

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Roger Foss (10 March 2008). "20 Questions With ... Alan Dale", *What's on Stage*. Retrieved on 24 April 2008. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011.
2. ↑ "Celebrity birthdays", *The Hamilton Spectator* (6 May 2008), p. G02.
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 Dale, Alan (1 June 2008). "In My Own Words", *The Sunday Telegraph Magazine*, p. 013.
4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 Bruce Dessau (8 March 2008). "Alan Dale: the journey from Neighbours to king of Spamalot", *The Times* (UK). Retrieved on 17 May 2008. Archived from the original on 30 May 2010.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `nz`
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Williams, Andrew (5 March 2008). "Neighbours star slams US sausage", *Metro*. Retrieved on 27 June 2008.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Nededog, Jethro (25 August 2011). "'Lost's' Alan Dale Lands on ABC's 'Once Upon A Time'", *The Hollywood Reporter*. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kate Stanhope (29 October 2010). "Exclusive: Undercovers Recruits Alan Dale for Recurring Role", *TV Guide*. Retrieved on 1 November 2010. Archived from the original on 1 November 2010.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Alan Dale joins Moving Wallpaper", BBC News (18 August 2008). Retrieved on 18 August 2008. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009.
10. ↑ Ausiello, Michael (25 August 2011). "Exclusive: ABC's Once Upon a Time Gets Lost, Taps Alan Dale For Royal Role", *TVLine*. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
11. ↑ Keck, William (13 August 2012). "Keck's Exclusives: Lost Alum Heads to Cleveland", *TV Guide*. Retrieved on 14 August 2012.
12. ↑ Harvey, J. (2014-06-19). "'Dominion' premiere recap: Call us 'Legion,' for we're based on that movie", *Entertainment Weekly*. Retrieved on 19 July 2014.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Kroll, Justin (30 August 2011). "'Dragon Tattoo' inks a latecomer", *Variety*. Retrieved on 31 August 2011.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Goldman, Eric (23 August 2006). "IGN Interview: Alan Dale", *IGN*. Retrieved on 20 May 2008.
15. ↑ Tanner Stransky (13 November 2007). "*Ugly Betty*: Dead Meade", *Entertainment Weekly*. Retrieved on 21 June 2008. Archived from the original on 29 May 2008.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Ruby, Jamie (5 May 2010). "Alan Dale on 'Lost'", *MediaBlvd Magazine*. Retrieved on 6 January 2011. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011.
17. ↑ "Ugly Betty Star Alan Dale Headed for London Spamalot", *Broadway.com* (28 January 2008). Retrieved on 27 June 2008.
18. ↑ Shenton, Mark (2 June 2008). "London Spamalot Will Welcome New King in June and Close in January 2009", *Playbill*. Retrieved on 12 June 2008. Archived from the original on 5 June 2008.
19. ↑ Michael Bodey (6 February 2003). "Long trek from Ramsay Street", *The Daily Telegraph*, p. T06.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Sweney, Mark (30 May 2007). "Channel 4 to air 'Jim Robinson' idents", *Media Guardian*. Retrieved on 21 June 2008.
21. ↑ Galer, Kit (18 June 2008). "Ugly hedging your Bettys", *Herald Sun* (Australia).
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Nelson, Jayne (2 June 2011). "SF's Serial Guest Stars", *SFX*. Retrieved on 31 August 2011.
23. ↑ Clune, Richard (4 February 2007). "Dale hits big time at age 60", *The Daily Telegraph*, p. 028.
24. ↑ "Amazon.co.uk: Dale's sales thrash ex-*Neighbours* stars", *M2 Presswire* (24 September 2007).
25. ↑ VanDerWerff, Todd (18 April 2011). "'The Killing' recap: In which everybody has a dark past", *Los Angeles Times*. Retrieved on 18 April 2011.
26. ↑ Rothing, Hilary (18 April 2011). "The Killing 1.04 'A Soundless Echo'", *CraveOnline*. Retrieved on 18 April 2011.
27. ↑ Ryan, Maureen (17 April 2011). "'The Killing' Season 1, Episode 4 Recap", *TV Squad*. Retrieved on 18 April 2011.
28. ↑ Rosen, Christopher (20 October 2008). "Don't Know Alan Dale? Yes You Do!", *The New York Observer*. Retrieved on 26 August 2011.
29. ↑ Rawson-Jones, Ben (8 March 2009). "All hail the mighty Alan Dale!", Digital Spy. Retrieved on 5 September 2011.
30. ↑ "Alan Dale: Biography". *TV Guide*. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080726153425/http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/alan-dale/bio/138509. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
31. ↑ "Alan Dale". *Hollywood.com*. http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Alan\_Dale/1239558. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
32. ↑ "Michael Dale". Internet Movie Database. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1035261/. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 "Alan Dale Biography (1947–)". *Film Reference*. http://www.filmreference.com/film/93/Alan-Dale.html. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
34. ↑ Agostino, Josephine (26 May 2008). "Alan Dale's life is cruisy", *Woman's Day*. Retrieved on 28 June 2008. Archived from the original on 29 May 2008.
35. ↑ "Actor sells $1.25m Waiwera home", *Stuff.co.nz* (27 January 2011). Retrieved on 27 January 2011.
36. ↑ Brown, Todd (2013-05-31). "Meet Robert Redford's S.H.I.E.L.D. Team From CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER", *twitch*. Retrieved on 31 May 2013.
37. ↑ McNary, Dave (2013-07-18). "Sony Acquires Alexia Fast Horror Pic 'Grace'", *Variety*. Retrieved on 19 July 2013.
38. ↑ Levine, Stuart (9 March 2012). "'Lost' actor Alan Dale joins ABC's 'Beast'", *Variety*. Retrieved on 9 March 2012.
39. ↑ Cummins, Steve (22 June 2012). "Ruth Bradley Signs US Deal with ABC Studios", IFTN. Retrieved on 23 June 2012.
40. ↑ "Scoop: BODY OF PROOF on ABC – Tuesday, March 19, 2013", BroadwayWorld (2013-03-04). Retrieved on 16 March 2013.
41. ↑ Faria, Sonya (2013-10-01). "'The Mindy Project' season 2, episode 5 'Sk8er Man' synopsis released", hypable. Retrieved on 1 October 2013.
42. ↑ Riccio, Aaron (2017-02-26). "Homeland Recap Season 6, Episode 6, "The Return"", Slant Magazine.
43. ↑ Saunders, Emma (May 11, 2017). "Everything we know about the *Dynasty* remake". BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39882304. Retrieved May 11, 2017.

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