Alex Norton
Alexander Hugh Norton (born 27 January 1950) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as DCI Matt Burke in the STV detective drama series "Taggart", Eric Baird in BBC Two sitcom "Two Doors Down", DCS Wallace in "Extremely Dangerous", Gerard Findlay in "Waterloo Road" and Eddie in the "Renford Rejects". He has also had roles in internationally successful films including "Braveheart", "Local Hero" and "Les Misérables". Early life. Norton was born in Househillwood, Glasgow and spent part of his childhood in Moffat Street in the Gorbals before moving to Pollokshaws. He was educated at Shawlands  Academy, Glasgow. He discovered acting at the age of fourteen via an out-of-school drama group. This led to his part in the TV series "Dr. Finlay's Casebook" and with it the decision that acting was the career for him. Because of his background and his father's lack of approval of his chosen career, Norton decided to avoid the traditional route into acting and instead worked from part-to-part. Career. In 1973, he became one of the founder members of the company, touring Scotland with "The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black Black Oil". He has  appeared in numerous films including Bill Forsyth's "Gregory's Girl" (1981), "Local Hero" (1983) and "Comfort and Joy" (1984), "A Sense of Freedom" (1981), "Comrades" (1986), "Hidden City" (1987), "Scandal" (1989), "Countdown to War" (1989), "Robin Hood" (1991), "" (1991), "Blame It on the Bellboy" (1992), "" (1994), "Little Voice" (1998), "Orphans" (1998) and "Beautiful Creatures" (2000), as well as Hollywood blockbusters such as "White Hunter, Black Heart" (1990) with Clint Eastwood, "Patriot Games" (1992) with Harrison Ford, "Braveheart" (1995) starring Mel Gibson and "" (2006) with Johnny Depp. Norton also voiced Thurston McCondry in the animated shorts "Haunted Hogmanay" and "Glendogie  Bogey". In addition to his role as DCI Matt Burke in "Taggart", he had previously appeared in the same series as murder suspect George Bryce in the episode "Knife Edge" in 1986. He was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in 2003 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel. In 2005, Norton was presented with the opportunity to play a part in Peter Jackson's "King Kong"; however, he could not accept the offer because it happened to interfere with the TV project he was working on at the time. From August to September 2012, he played the role  of Gerard Findlay in "Waterloo Road", a hot-headed, villainous headteacher from rival school Havelock High School. In March 2014, he played Cameron Watts in the "Dead Water" episodes of the BBC One crime drama series "Shetland". In 2014, Norton appeared in the documentary "I Belong To Glasgow", a BBC Scotland production in which he guest starred alongside Karen Dunbar. Since 2013, Norton has played Eric in the sitcom "Two Doors Down". Personal life. In the 1970s he met his wife, Sally Kinghorn. They met on the set of a BBC Schools series. The couple have three sons, Jamie, Rory  and Jock. In 2014, at the time of the Scottish independence referendum, Norton endorsed a "No" vote in opposition to independence. He has, however, confirmed his support for Scottish independence since the referendum. Awards and other work. Norton has also won two awards for writing. "Extras", an episode of "First Sight" for Channel 4 and "Waiting for Elvis" for STV. He also has an interest in directing. He directed the first production of Tony Roper's "The Steamie", as well as directing Glasgow's King's Theatre's pantomimes for a five-year period. He appeared in "The Black Adder  in the episode Born to be King" as Dougal McAngus, 4th Duke of Argyll. He has also done voice over work on "Medieval Total War II" as the voice of some of the Scottish characters in the game, along with voicing in "Hearts of Stone", an expansion pack for the video game "" and King Rab in "Dragon Quest XI" . He provided additional vocals on "The Song of Mor'du" in "Brave", which also featured his wife Sally Kinghorn. He also appeared on "The Weakest Link" TV Drama Characters Edition. He was the first one voted off. Norton also fronts the STV  crime show "Unsolved". Norton also plays Grandad in the CBeebies programme "Woolly and Tig".