Clive Russell

Biography:

Russell was born on 7 December 1945 in Winchester, England, and raised in Leven, Fife, Scotland. He attended Parkhill Primary School followed by Buckhaven High School.

His first appearance before an audience came in 1960 on The Shari Lewis Show, but it wasn’t until 1980 that he landed his first significant acting role — playing the superintendent in Dario Fo’s satirical play Accidental Death of an Anarchist in London. The production, which critiqued police corruption in Italy, received strong reviews, and Russell later reprised the role for a 1983 television adaptation. Over the next several years, he honed his craft through various British television projects and films such as Jute City, The Power of One, The Hawk, and Seconds Out.

Russell gained wider recognition for his portrayal of Caleb Garth in the BBC miniseries Middlemarch, based on George Eliot’s classic novel. His performance in Margaret’s Museum opposite Helena Bonham Carter earned him a Genie Award nomination for Best Actor. He went on to appear in Oscar and Lucinda, where he played Ralph Fiennes’ father, and took on major roles in several acclaimed miniseries including Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, The Railway Children, and The Mists of Avalon.

His television credits span an extensive range of popular series such as Boys from the Blackstuff, Hope and Glory, Neverwhere, Heartburn Hotel, Roughnecks, Monarch of the Glen, Midsomer Murders, Waking the Dead, Silent Witness, Rockface, and Spaced. He also appeared in Still Game, Happiness, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Cracker, and The Railway Children. Between 2005 and 2006, he portrayed Phil Nail in Coronation Street. Russell also had guest roles in Waterloo Road as Lisa and Lenny Brown’s grandfather, in Shameless as Billy Wilson, and in the My Family 2006 Christmas Special as a doctor.

His later television work includes roles as Jock in Jam & Jerusalem, Bayard, King of Mercia in Merlin, and an indebted artist in Hotel Babylon. In 2012, he joined the cast of HBO’s Game of Thrones as Brynden “The Blackfish” Tully. He later appeared in Hollyoaks (2016) as Billy, Jack Osborne’s brother, and in 2017 took on roles in Uncle and Doc Martin as Ken Hollister. In 2020, he appeared as Wroth, leader of the Fey tribe known as the Tusks, in the Netflix fantasy series Cursed.

On the big screen, Russell’s credits include Margaret’s Museum (as Gaelic-speaking Neil Currie), Festival, Ladies in Lavender, King Arthur, Made of Honour, Lecture 21, The 13th Warrior, and The Wolfman. He played Captain Tanner in Sherlock Holmes (2009) and its sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), as well as MacQueen in The Wolfman (2010). In 2012, he appeared in The Wicker Tree alongside Graham McTavish, and in Ripper Street as Inspector Frederick Abberline.

Russell also played Tyr in Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World (2013). In 2010, he debuted his one-man stage performance Touching the Blue.