David Bradley

Biography:

Bradley was born in York and studied at St George’s Secondary Modern School, now All Saints Catholic School, where he sang in the choir. His earliest stage experiences came through youth club productions and the Rowntree Youth Theatre. After leaving school, he undertook a five-year apprenticeship with optical instrument makers Cooke, Troughton & Simms, remaining with the company until 1966, when he relocated to London to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

In the early 1970s, Bradley became part of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre Company. His television debut came in 1971 as a police officer in the comedy Nearest and Dearest. In 1991, he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Fool in King Lear at the Royal National Theatre. He later appeared in The Homecoming (1997), The Caretaker (2006–2007), and played the title role in Nicholas Hytner’s staging of Henry IV Parts One and Two in 2005.

Bradley’s television career has been extensive. He portrayed MP Eddie Wells in Our Friends in the North (1996), gangster Alf Black in Band of Gold (1996), Sir Pitt Crawley in Vanity Fair (1998), and Rogue Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend (1998). He also appeared in The Way We Live Now (2001), Wild West (2002–2004), Blackpool (2004), Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle (2005), Sweeney Todd (2006), and had roles in Taggart, Midsomer Murders, Ideal, Thieves Like Us, and True Dare Kiss.

On film, Bradley acted in Nicholas Nickleby (2002), had a cameo in Hot Fuzz (2007), and played Cohen the Barbarian in Sky One’s The Colour of Magic (2008). He appeared on stage in No Man’s Land at Dublin’s Gate Theatre and later in London’s West End.

His later credits include roles in Ashes to Ashes (2009), The Street (2009), Showtime’s The Tudors (2009), and Mike Leigh’s film Another Year (2010), which earned him a London Film Critics Circle Award nomination. From 2011 to 2017, he gained global recognition as Lord Walder Frey in HBO’s Game of Thrones. He also played Solomon in the Doctor Who episode “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” (2012) and starred as William Hartnell in the docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time (2013). That same year, he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Broadchurch and appeared in The World’s End.

From 2014, Bradley starred as Professor Abraham Setrakian in Guillermo del Toro’s series The Strain. He also voiced Merlin in the animated Tales of Arcadia trilogy, winning an Annie Award in 2021. He returned to Doctor Who as the First Doctor in 2017’s “Twice Upon a Time” and reprised the role in audio dramas, immersive theatre, and again in 2022’s “The Power of the Doctor.”

Most recently, he played Ray Johnson in Ricky Gervais’s After Life (2019–2022) and was cast in the film adaptation of Alan Bennett’s Allelujah. In 2022, it was announced he would voice Fowler in Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

Bradley married Rosanna in 1978, and together they have three children: George, an architect featured on ITV’s Love Your Home and Garden; Francesca, who works in casting; and a third child. Bradley has credited his children with introducing him to the Harry Potter films, where he went on to play Argus Filch.

He serves as president of the Second Thoughts Drama Group in Stratford-upon-Avon and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Warwick and York St John University. A devoted supporter of Aston Villa and York City football clubs, he also contributed to a tribute video for Aston Villa’s 140th anniversary in 2014.