Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art and meeting his longtime girlfriend, English actress Kate Fahy, in 1974, he began his career
as a stage actor in the 1970s. His work in theatre, including an award-winning performance
in the title role of the Royal Court Theatre's Hamlet, led to several supporting roles in
film and television. He made his breakthrough screen performance in Terry Gilliam's 1985
cult film Brazil. Critically lauded for his versatility, Pryce
has participated in big-budget films such as Evita, Tomorrow Never Dies, Pirates of
the Caribbean and The New World, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, GI Joe: Retaliation as well
as independent films such as Glengarry Glen Ross and Carrington. His career in theatre
has also been prolific, and he has won two Tony Awards—the first in 1977 for his Broadway
debut in Comedians, the second for his 1991 role as "The Engineer" in the musical Miss
Saigon.
Early life Pryce was born in Carmel, Flintshire, the
son of Margaret Ellen and Isaac Price, a former coal miner who, along with his wife, ran a
small general grocery shop. He changed the spelling of his last name from Price to Pryce
to join Equity, the British actors' trade union, because Equity can only have one actor
with any particular name on its books. Pryce has two older sisters. He was educated at
Holywell Grammar School, and, at the age of 16, he went to art college and then started
training to be a teacher at Edge Hill College in Ormskirk. While studying, he took part
in a college theatre production. An impressed tutor suggested he became an actor and on
Pryce's behalf sent off to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for an application form, and
Pryce was awarded a scholarship to RADA. While at RADA Pryce worked as a door-to-door salesman
of velvet paintings. Pryce was part of 'new wave' of actors to emerge from the Academy.
Others included Bruce Payne, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Kenneth Branagh
and Fiona Shaw. Despite finding RADA "straight-laced", and
being told by his tutor that he could never aspire to do more than playing villains in
Z-Cars, when he graduated he joined the Everyman Theatre Liverpool Company, eventually becoming
the theatre's Artistic Director. To gain his Equity card to work in Liverpool,
he made his first screen appearance in a minor role on a 1972 episode of the British science
fiction programme Doomwatch, called "Fire & Brimstone". He then starred in two television
films, both directed by Stephen Frears, Daft as a Brush and Playthings. After the Everyman,
Pryce joined the director Sir Richard Eyre at the Nottingham Playhouse and starred in
the Trevor Griffiths play Comedians in a role specially written for his talents, Gethin
Price. The production then transferred to London's Old Vic Theatre and in 1976 he reprised
the role on Broadway, this time directed by Mike Nichols, for which he won the 1977 Tony
Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, his first Tony Award. It was around this time
that he appeared in his first movie role, playing the character Joseph Manasse in the
film drama Voyage of the Damned, starring Faye Dunaway. He did not, however, abandon
the stage, appearing from 1978 to 1979 in the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions
of The Taming of the Shrew as Petruchio, and Antony and Cleopatra as Octavius Caesar.
Career 1980s
In 1980, his performance in the title role of Hamlet at the Royal Court Theatre won him
an Olivier Award, and was acclaimed by some critics as the definitive Hamlet of his generation.
That year he also appeared in the film Breaking Glass, a film that is remarkable in that it
featured in the cast many actors who would eventually become stars of film and television,
such as Jim Broadbent, Richard Griffiths and Phil Daniels. Also during this year, Pryce
had a small but pivotal role as Zarniwoop in the 12th episode of the Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy radio series, one that he reprised for the Quintessential Phase which was broadcast
in 2005. In his original role as Zarniwoop, Pryce's character questions the "ruler of
the Universe", a solipsist who has been chosen to rule arguably because of either his inherent
manipulability, or immunity therefrom, on his philosophical opinions.
In 1983, Pryce played the role of the sinister Mr. Dark in Something Wicked This Way Comes,
based on the Ray Bradbury novel of the same title. After appearing mostly in TV films,
such as the Ian McEwan-scripted The Ploughman's Lunch, and Martin Luther, Heretic, he achieved
a breakthrough with his role as the subdued protagonist Sam Lowry in Terry Gilliam's 1985
film, Brazil, which has since become a cult film. After Brazil, Pryce appeared in the
historical thriller The Doctor and the Devils and then in the Gene Wilder-directed film
Haunted Honeymoon. During this period of his life, Pryce continued to perform on stage,
and was particularly noteworthy as the successful but self-doubting writer Trigorin in a London
production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull in late 1985. From 1986 to 1987 Pryce played
the lead part in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth, which also starred
Sinéad Cusack as Lady Macbeth. Also in 1986 he starred in the film Jumping Jack Flash.
In 1988 Pryce worked once again with Gilliam in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, playing
"The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson". The film was a notorious financial fiasco, with
production costing more than $40 million, when the original budget was $23.5 million,
but has gained cult favourite status over time. The following year Pryce appeared in
three of the earliest episodes of the improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, alongside Paul
Merton and John Sessions, and in another play by Chekhov, Uncle Vanya at the Vaudeville
Theatre. 1990s
After a series of dramatic roles on stage, most notably Vanya and Macbeth, Pryce decided
he wanted to do musicals after seeing his friend Patti LuPone in the original London
production of Les Misérables. He would successfully return to the stage originating the role of
The Engineer, a Eurasian pimp, in the award winning West End musical Miss Saigon. His
performance was praised in England where he won the Olivier and Variety Club awards, but
when the production transferred to Broadway the Actors' Equity Association would not allow
Pryce to portray The Engineer because, according to their executive secretary, "[t]he casting
of a Caucasian actor made up to appear Asian is an affront to the Asian community". Cameron
Mackintosh, the show's producer, decided to cancel the $10 million New York production
because, he said, he would not let the freedom of artistic expression be attacked. Realizing
that its decision would result in the loss of many jobs, and after Pryce received much
support from the acting community the AEA decided to make a deal with Mackintosh, allowing
Pryce to appear in the production. He would then, in 1991, win a Tony Award for his performance.
Also in 1991 Pryce starred in the ITV mini-series Selling Hitler as Gerd Heidemann. Pryce returned
to the London stage the following year to star for one night only at the Royal Festival
Hall for an AIDS charity alongside Elaine Paige and Lilliane Montivecchi in the 1992
revival of the Federico Fellini-inspired musical Nine.
In 1993 Pryce featured, alongside Kathy Burke and Minnie Driver, in the BBC mini-series
Mr. Wroe's Virgins, directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle. Later that same year Pryce was
nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and for a Golden Globe Award for his work as Henry
Kravis in the HBO produced made-for-TV movie Barbarians at the Gate. Also during 1993,
Pryce was set to star alongside River Phoenix and Judy Davis in the film Dark Blood, but
production had to be shut down when, 11 days shy of completing production, Phoenix died
of a drug overdose. Director George Sluizer, who owns the rights to what has been filmed,
has made available some of the raw material, which features Pryce and Phoenix on a field
in Utah, on his personal website. Between 1993 and 1997, Pryce, on a multi million dollar
contract became the spokesman for Infiniti in a series of American television commercials,
notably for the Infiniti J30 and Infiniti Q45. These advertisements were notable for
their sophistication with Pryce even appearing alongside jazz singer Nancy Wilson in a Prague
nightclub. These commercials were hilariously parodied on Saturday Night Live in 1993, with
Mike Myers doing an impersonation of Pryce, spokesmodelling for sleek luxury toilets instead
of automobiles. In 1994, Pryce portrayed Fagin in a revival of the musical Oliver!, and would
star the following year alongside Emma Thompson in the film Carrington, which centres on a
platonic relationship between gay writer Lytton Strachey and painter Dora Carrington. Pryce's
portrayal of Strachey gained him the Best Actor Award at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.
The following year Pryce starred with Madonna and Antonio Banderas in his first musical
film, Evita. In this Oscar-winning adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical, Pryce
portrayed the Argentinian president Juan Perón. The movie's soundtrack was an international
success. It contains over 30 songs sung mainly by Madonna, Banderas and Pryce, of which two
are solos for Pryce: "She Is A Diamond" and "On The Balcony Of The Casa Rosada". After
Evita, Pryce went on to portray Elliot Carver in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never
Dies. During the rest of the decade Pryce would play to his new acquired fame as a villain,
portraying an assassin in Ronin, a corrupt Cardinal in the controversial Stigmata and,
for Comic Relief, the Master in the Doctor Who special, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal
Death. About this time Pryce sang at The Hollywood Bowl alongside opera singer Lesley Garrett
in highlights from My Fair Lady and in 1998, he performed in Cameron Mackintosh's gala
concert Hey, Mr Producer!, also as Professor Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady and reprising
his role as the Engineer from Miss Saigon. 2000s
During the early 2000s Pryce starred and participated in a variety of movies, such as The Affair
of the Necklace, What a Girl Wants, Unconditional Love and Terry Gilliam's unfinished The Man
Who Killed Don Quixote. While the success of some of these films was variable, the 2001
London stage production of My Fair Lady and his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins was
being acclaimed by the media. This production turned out to be very stressful for Pryce
because Martine McCutcheon, who portrayed Eliza Doolittle, was sick during much of the
show's run. McCutcheon was replaced by her understudy Alexandra Jay, who would also fall
sick hours before a performance, forcing her understudy, Kerry Ellis, to take the lead.
Pryce was understandably upset and on her first night introduced Ellis to the audience
before the show by saying "This will be your first Eliza, my second today and my third
this week. Any member of the audience interested in playing Eliza can find applications at
the door. Wednesday and Saturday matinee available." Pryce ended up dealing with four Elizas during
the course of 14 months. Nevertheless, the show was nominated for four Laurence Olivier
Awards on 2001: Best Actress in a Musical for Martine McCutcheon, Outstanding Musical
Production, Best Theatre Choreographer and Best Actor in a Musical for Pryce. Pryce lost
to Philip Quast, although ironically McCutcheon won in her category having played fewer performances
than any of her understudies. Pryce did express interest in doing My Fair Lady in New York,
but when asked if he would do it with McCutcheon he said that "there's as much chance of me
getting a date with Julia Roberts as doing My Fair Lady in New York with Martine McCutcheon".
In April 2003 Pryce returned to the non-musical stage with A Reckoning, written by American
dramatist Wesley Moore. The play co-starred Flora Montgomery and after premiering at the
Soho Theatre in London was described by The Daily Telegraph as "one of the most powerful
and provocative new American plays to have opened since David Mamet's Oleanna." That
year Pryce also landed a role in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,
where he portrayed a fictional Governor of Jamaica, Weatherby Swann, a movie he described
as "one of those why-not movies". After Pirates Pryce has appeared in several large-scale
productions, such as De-Lovely, a chronicle of the life of songwriter Cole Porter, for
which Kevin Kline and Pryce covered a Porter song called "Blow, Gabriel, Blow". The Brothers
Grimm, Pryce's third film with Terry Gilliam, starred Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, and The
New World, in which he had a cameo role as King James I. In 2005, Pryce was nominated
for another Olivier Award in the best actor category for his role in the 2004 London production
of The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, where he played Martin, a goat-lover who has to face the recriminations
of his cheated-on wife, played by his real life wife Kate Fahy. Pryce's performance was
highly praised, but he lost the Olivier to Richard Griffiths.
The following year, Pryce voiced over the French animated film, Renaissance, which he
stated he wanted to do because he had never "done anything quite like it before". That
same year he reprised the role of Governor Weatherby Swann for the Pirates of the Caribbean
sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's
End. Both were filmed at the same time but released a year apart. Also, during 2006,
Pryce returned to the Broadway stage replacing John Lithgow, from January to July, as Lawrence
Jameson in the musical version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. During early 2007 Pryce played
Sherlock Holmes in a TV miniseries, the BBC production Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street
Irregulars. From September 2007 through June 2008, he returned to the theatre scene appearing
as Shelly Levene in a new West End production of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross at London's
Apollo Theatre. He later appeared in the BBC Three comedy series Clone as Dr. Victor Blenkinsop
also starring Stuart McLoughlin and Mark Gatiss. In 2009 he appeared at the Donmar Warehouse
theatre in the title role of Dimetos written by Athol Fugard, and later that year made
a sentimental journey back to Liverpool to appear as Davies in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker
directed by veteran director Christopher Morahan. This transferred to London's Trafalgar Studios
in early 2010. On television in 2009 he appeared as Mr Buxton in the critically acclaimed Return
to Cranford and was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor in a Mini Series.
In July 2014 it was announced that he would be joining the cast of Game of Thrones, playing
the role of High Sparrow. Personal life
While working at the Everyman Theatre in 1972, Pryce met actress Kate Fahy. They based their
home in London, where they currently live. They have three children: Patrick, Gabriel
and Phoebe. In 2006, Pryce was awarded an Honorary Doctorate
by the University of Liverpool. He is a fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
and a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. He is a patron of the
children's charity Friendship Works and of the surgical charity Saving Faces. Pryce was
appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Birthday Honours.
Filmography Film
Stage The Churchill Play as Mike McCulloch
Comedians as Gethin Price Measure for Measure RSC
Hamlet as Hamlet – Olivier Award for Best Actor
Accidental Death of an Anarchist as The Fool Uncle Vanya as Astrov
Miss Saigon as The Engineer – Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, Tony Award for
Best Actor in a Musical Nine as Guido Contini
Oliver! as Fagin – Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical
My Fair Lady as Professor Higgins – Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical
A Reckoning as Spencer Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as Lawrence Jameson
Glengarry Glen Ross as Shelly Levene Dimetos as Dimetos
The Caretaker as Davies King Lear as Lear
Other contributions When Love Speaks – Shakespeare's "Sonnet
65" HR, a six-part comedy drama series on BBC
Radio 4 about a middle-aged Human Resources officer, played by Nicholas le Prevost, and
his colleague, played by Pryce. The series was written by Nigel Williams and directed
by Peter Kavanagh, and first broadcast in 2009.
Portrayed The Master in the 1999 Comic Relief parody Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death.
Cranford – Mr. Buxton Read from The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald
for the film Patience, directed by Grant Gee. Starred in the BBC Television series Clone.
HBO Drama Series Game of Thrones Season 5 as the High Sparrow.
References
External links Jonathan Pryce at the Internet Broadway Database
Jonathan Pryce at the Internet Movie Database Jonathan Pryce at AllMovie
Jonathan Pryce – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, March 2006
Actors On Performing Working in the Theatre seminar video at American Theatre Wing, April
2006 Performance Working in the Theatre seminar
video at American Theatre Wing, September 1991