Michael Kitchen is an English actor and television producer, best known for his
role as Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle in the ITV drama series Foyle's
War since 2002. He also played the role of Bill Tanner in two James Bond films.
Early life Kitchen was born in Leicester,
Leicestershire. As a young boy he was head chorister in the Church of the
Martyrs choir, where he was a regular soloist. He attended the City of
Leicester Boys' Grammar School, where he appeared on stage in a production of
Cymbeline. He worked with the National Youth Theatre and the Belgrade Theatre
in Coventry before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1969, while
still at RADA, he won the "Emile Littler Award" for 'outstanding talent and
aptitude for the professional theatre'. Career
= Television and film= Kitchen was discovered at the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art by talent agent Peter Froggatt of Plant & Froggatt Ltd.
In the early 1970s, Kitchen appeared in small roles in films such as Unman,
Wittering and Zigo and the Hammer film Dracula A.D. 1972 before becoming a
fixture of British television. His early TV appearances include roles in Play for
Today, Thriller and Beasts. He then played the role of Martin in the
original 1976 production of Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle, Peter in
Stephen Poliakoff's Caught on a Train, Edmund in the BBC Television Shakespeare
production of King Lear, the Antipholi in the same series' production of The
Comedy of Errors, Private Bamforth in the 1979 BBC television play of The Long
and the Short and the Tall, Larner in the film Breaking Glass, Rochus Misch in
The Bunker, Berkeley Cole in the film Out of Africa, the King of the United
Kingdom in To Play the King, an English land agent during the Irish Famine in
The Hanging Gale, and a recurring role as Bill Tanner in the Pierce Brosnan
Bond films GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough. His later films include The
Russia House, Fools of Fortune, Enchanted April, The Trial, Fatherland,
Doomsday Gun, The Hanging Gale, Kidnapped, Mrs Dalloway, The Railway
Children, Proof of Life as Ian Havery, Lorna Doone as Judge Jeffreys, and My
Week with Marilyn. From 2002 to 2015, Kitchen starred in
the ITV mystery-drama Foyle's War as the lead character, DCS Christopher Foyle.
He was also a producer for the show. Other noted appearances include The
Buccaneers as Sir Helmsley Thwaite, Dandelion Dead, A Royal Scandal, The
Last Contract a Swedish film about the assassination of Prime Minister Olof
Palme, Paul Abbott's Alibi in 2003, Andrew Davies' dramatisation of Falling
in 2005, ITV's three-part drama series Mobile and Channel 4's phone hacking
comedy Hacks. He has guest-starred in roles in other popular British
television shows such as The Professionals, Minder, Chancer,
Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Between the Lines, Pie in the Sky and
Dalziel and Pascoe. Kitchen played Richard Crane in Reckless
and John Farrow in the mockumentary The Life of Rock with Brian Pern.
= Theatre= Kitchen is also a noted actor in British
theatre. His roles have ranged from Ptolemy in Caesar and Cleopatra at the
Belgrade Theatre in 1966 to Will in Howard Brenton's Magnificence at the
Royal Court in 1973 to William Hogarth in Nick Dear's The Art of Success in
1986–87. He played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet
for the RSC at Stratford and was a member of the National Theatre Company
and the Young Vic, where he played Iago in Othello. In 1974 he appeared at
Laurence Olivier's National Theatre in the play Spring Awakening opposite Peter
Firth, Jenny Agutter, Beryl Reid and Cyril Cusack. Later he appeared opposite
Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud in Harold Pinter's No Man's
Land, directed by Peter Hall. In 1981 he played Melchior, the manservant of
Zangler, in Tom Stoppard's play On the Razzle. In 1984 he played the cabin
steward Dvornicheck in Tom Stoppard's play Rough Crossing.
Personal life Kitchen is married to Rowena Miller,
whom he met while she was a dresser at the RSC in the late 1980s. They have two
sons. Kitchen values his privacy and rarely gives interviews.
References External links
Michael Kitchen at the Internet Movie Database
Michael Kitchen BFI Michael Kitchen in Foyle's War
Michael Kitchen Messageboard