Michael Byrne

Michael Byrne

Birth : 1943-11-07, London, England, UK

History

Byrne was born in London, England. He has sometimes been cast in Nazimilitary roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Major Schroeder in Force 10 from Navarone, Reinhard Beck in The Scarlet and the Black, General Olbricht in The Plot to Kill Hitler and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris. Also seen as the aged but fanatical SS General Neurath in "Outpost 2 - Black Sun", former concentration camp commandant and involved in the Nazis's sinister reality-shifting experiments. Byrne appeared as a Jewish concentration camp survivor who is instrumental in the capture of a Nazi war criminal (played by Ian McKellen) in the film Apt Pupil. He is also familiar to audiences as Smythe, a soldier who attempts to rape William Wallace's wife and first inspires Wallace to seek independence from England in the film Braveheart. His other film credits include The Eagle Has Landed, A Bridge Too Far, The Medusa Touch, The Saint, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Good Father, The Sum of All Fears, Gangs of New York and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. On television, he has appeared in Z-Cars, Secret Army, Tales of the Unexpected, The Professionals, The Devil's Crown,Smiley's People, Yes, Prime Minister, Lord Mountbatten - the Last Viceroy, Between The Lines, Sharpe, The Mists of Avalon, Waking the Dead, The Body Farm, Honest, Hamish Macbeth, and Casualty. From April 2008 to January 2010, Michael starred in Coronation Street, as Ted Page, Gail Platt's long lost father and the ex-lover of Audrey Roberts. It is not known whether he will return to the show. Byrne appeared in State of Play at the Edinburgh Festival written by Zia Trench. He played Romeo to Siân Phillips' Juliet at the Bristol Old Vic. Father of actress Allie Byrne.

Profile

Michael Byrne

Movies

The Gold Machine
Andrew Norton
Inspired by the writings of Iain Sinclair, a father and daughter trace the footsteps of their colonialist ancestor to the Peruvian jungle. Their journeys flip between continents and centuries to produce an original mediation – part documentary, part fiction – on fate, family and the search for Eldorado.
Alien Overlords
Michael
A man learns about alien agendas from a dying agent and feels compelled to warn the world about the impending danger.
Intrigo: Death of an Author
Keller
A young author comes into possession of a manuscript sent by critically acclaimed writer, Germund Rein, shortly before he commits suicide.
The Last Witness
Coroner
An ambitious young journalist uncovers the horrific slaughter of 22,000 Polish officers during World War II, a secret kept hidden for far too many years.
Harry Price: Ghost Hunter
Sir Charles Harwood
When MP's wife Grace Goodwin is found naked on a London street, Harry Price is summoned to investigate claims that her house is haunted.
Mortdecai
The Duke
An art dealer, Charles Mortdecai, searches for a stolen painting rumored to contain a secret code that gains access to hidden Nazi gold.
The First Line
Richard
Two Athenian attorneys pursue litigation for the return of the Parthenon Marbles. As the bronze statue of Athena Promakhos used to stand guard in front of the Parthenon, both must find the courage to stand in defense of what they love.
Diana
Christian Barnard
During the last two years of her life, Princess Diana campaigns against the use of land mines and has a secret love affair with a Pakistani heart surgeon.
Quartet
Frank White
The directorial debut of Dustin Hoffman, Quartet is a high-drama comedy about temperamental divas and old grudges, passion and pride, romance and Rigoletto. At a home for retired musicians, the annual concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean, an eternal diva and former wife of one of the residents. Expect poignancy and plenty of laughs.
Outpost: Black Sun
Neurath
A pair of investigators team up with a Special Forces Unit to venture deep inside a war raging between the military and a massive army of Nazi Zombie Stormtroopers. Their mission is to fight their way behind enemy lines, locate the technology at the source of this growing threat and prevent the seemingly inevitable rise of the 4th Reich.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Gellert Grindelwald
Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away from their last year at Hogwarts to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, putting an end to Voldemort's bid for immortality. But with Harry's beloved Dumbledore dead and Voldemort's unscrupulous Death Eaters on the loose, the world is more dangerous than ever.
Blood: The Last Vampire
Elder
On the surface, Saya is a stunning 16-year-old, but that youthful exterior hides the tormented soul of a 400-year-old "halfling". Born to a human father and a vampire mother, she has for centuries been a loner obsessed with using her samurai skills to rid the world of vampires, all the while knowing that she herself can survive only on blood like those she hunts.
The Mark of Cain
Lieut General Strathairn
After a bomb kills their company commander in Iraq, British soldiers Treacle and Shane are ordered to round up suspects and use torture on the detainees. Back home, the press gets the story and the pair achieves instant infamy.
Beyond the Sea
Dr. Andretti
Based on the life and career of legendary entertainer, Bobby Darin, the biopic moves back and forth between his childhood and adulthood, to tell the tale of his life.
The Return of the Dancing Master
Emil Wetterstedt
Stefan Lindman is a police officer in Boros, Sweden. When his mentor and retired former partner Herbert Molin is brutally murdered in the remote town of Sveg, Lindman travels north to investigate. The more Lindman digs into the mysterious killing, the less he is sure to have known the man he feels so much indebted to...
The Crooked Man
Archie Saunders
Harry Fielding is an investigative reporter with a brief to covertly document the compromising exploits of public figures. Incriminating evidence captured on his camera is used by his unscrupulous boss, Hamilton, to blackmail the very people they are supposed to be protecting. The tables are turned when Fielding and Hamilton themselves become the subject of scrutiny and are plunged into a world of Subterfuge, Intrigue, blackmail and murder.
Gangs of New York
Horace Greeley
In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points of America to seek vengeance against the psychotic gangland kingpin, Bill the Butcher, who murdered his father years earlier. With an eager pickpocket by his side and a whole new army, Vallon fights his way to seek vengeance on the Butcher and restore peace in the area.
The Sum of All Fears
Anatoli Grushkov
When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.
Sunday
Lord Widgery
Sunday tells the story of an infamous day in Derry, North of Ireland and how the events of that day were subsequently covered up by the British Government of the time. On Sunday 30th January 1972 a peaceful civil rights march against internment (imprisonment without trial), organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) ended with 13 marchers shot dead and 15 wounded. It became known throughout the world as Bloody Sunday. Told primarily from the perspective of the Derry community, juxtaposed with the British Army/state's preparations and reaction to the day, Sunday communicates the forensic and emotional truth of what happened
The Musketeer
Treville, Head of the Musketeers
Young D'Artagnan seeks to join the legendary musketeer brigade and avenge his father's death - but he finds that the musketeers have been disbanded.
Proof of Life
Lord Luthan
Alice hires a professional negotiator to obtain the release of her engineer husband, who has been kidnapped by anti-government guerrillas in South America.
Battlefield Earth
Parson Staffer
In the year 3000, man is no match for the Psychlos, a greedy, manipulative race of aliens on a quest for ultimate profit. Led by the powerful Terl, the Psychlos are stripping Earth clean of its natural resources, using the broken remnants of humanity as slaves. What is left of the human race has descended into a near primitive state. After being captured, it is up to Tyler to save mankind.
Mauá - O Imperador e o Rei
Mr. Carruthers
A movie about a Brazilian entrepreneur who rivalled American's richest man at his time, well-known Rockfeller. Irineu Evangelista de Souza in 1867 had $155.000 contos de reis, meanwhile the Brazilian Governement annual budget was 97.000 contos de reis. The movie shows his life from poverty to riches and back to poverty again, as is common in Brazil, rich people die poor.
Apt Pupil
Ben Kramer
One day in 1984, Todd Bowden, a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander, a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later, Todd decides to knock on his door.
30 Years to Life
Oliver Mather
In a futuristic dystopia, a teenager is medically aged 30 years to punish him for a crime he didn't commit.
Hornblower: The Even Chance
Captain Keene
Portsmouth, 1794. Under thundery skies and in lashing rain, 17-year-old midshipman Horatio Hornblower takes the first tentative steps of his naval career, but a feud with a shipmate causes complications.
Gunshy
Lange
When the New York journalist Jake Bridges catches his girlfriend with another guy, he goes to Atlantic City to drink himself to oblivion. He is saved from a bar brawl by a small-time mobster Frankie, and Jake falls in love with Frankie's girlfriend Melissa. Jake soon also joins Frankie in his money-collecting duties.
Tomorrow Never Dies
Admiral Kelly - HMS Bedford
A deranged media mogul is staging international incidents to pit the world's superpowers against each other. Now James Bond must take on this evil mastermind in an adrenaline-charged battle to end his reign of terror and prevent global pandemonium.
Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse
Venables
Writer Mark Easterbrook has a vested interest in solving the murder of a priest. That's because Mark himself is under suspicion. But to save his reputation and put the real killer behind bars, he'll have to go through a mysterious list of names that's suddenly turned up and may hold the key to the murderer's identity.
The Island on Bird Street
Bolek
Alex is an 11-year old boy who, during WWII, hides in the Jewish ghetto from Nazis after all his relatives have been sent to the concentration camp. The movie portrays the ghetto through his eyes.
The Saint
Vereshagin
Simon Templar (The Saint), is a thief for hire, whose latest job to steal the secret process for cold fusion puts him at odds with a traitor bent on toppling the Russian government, as well as the woman who holds its secret.
The Fix
Sam Campbell
The story of the British betting scandal of 1964, uncovered by journalist Mike Gabbert which saw a number of British professional footballers were jailed and banned from football for life for conspiring to fix the results of matches. Prominent among those jailed and banned were the Sheffield Wednesday F.C. stars Peter Swan, Tony Kay and David Layne.
The Infiltrator
Dieter Creutz
In the early 1990s, an Israeli freelance journalist travels to Germany and uncovers a dangerously pervasive underground Neo-Nazi faction intent on bringing Nazism back to the forefront in Germany.
Braveheart
Smythe
Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.
The Absence of War
Political drama written by David Hare and starring John Thaw and based on Labour's disastrous 1992 election campaign. Labour leader George Jones battles with his party on the campaign trail of a general election.
Nostradamus
Inquisitor
A dramatic retelling of the life of Michel de Nostredame, from his early work as a plague doctor to his time at the court of Catherine de Medici, after he became famed for his prophetic almanacs. Stars Rutger Hauer and Julia Ormond.
A Few Short Journeys Of The Heart
A surreal and nightmarish selection of short stories derived from the cult collection DIRTY FAXES, refracted through the neurosis of a middle-aged writer.
Sharpe's Honour
Major Nairn
1813. Major Sharpe's old enemy, Major Ducos manipulates a beautiful young marquesa into falsely accusing Sharpe of rape. Her husband calls Sharpe out in a duel. But when the husband is found dead the next morning, Sharpe is arrested and brought before a court martial, and it seems not even Patrick Harper and the Chosen Men can save Sharpe from a hanging, or rescue his honour
Sharpe's Enemy
Major Nairn
Portugal 1813. A band of deserters, including Sharpe's old enemy, Obadiah Hakeswill, have captured two women, one the wife of a high-ranking English officer, and are holding them hostage for ransom. Sharpe is given the 60th Rifles and a Rocket troop, as well as his majority to rescue the women. But while Sharpe may be able to deal with his old enemy, he has yet to face a newer threat, the French Major Pierre Ducos.
Sharpe's Company
Nairn
Spain 1812 The Duke of Wellington plans to lay siege to Badajoz. A murderous figure from Sharpe's past uses a beautiful woman revenge himself on Sharpe, now the father of her child. Sharpe has reason to be happy, he holds his daughter for the first time and is given command of the Light Company again, together with his captaincy. But will his happiness be short lived?
Running Late
Clitheroe
Television interviewer George Grant, renowned for his ability to get at the truth, is at the peak of his career. But when he receives a message at his office that his wife needs to see him urgently - a matter of life and death - his life is irreversibly altered. And so the frantic search begins for George Grant 's truth - and his wife.
Mörderische Entscheidung
Octave
The Plot to Kill Hitler
Friedrich Olbricht
A historical recreation of the 1944 attempt by several German High Command Officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and take control of the German government.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Vogel
In 1938, an art collector appeals to eminent archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones to embark on a search for the Holy Grail. Indy learns that a medieval historian has vanished while searching for it, and the missing man is his own father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr.. He sets out to rescue his father by following clues in the old man's notebook, which his father had mailed to him before he went missing. Indy arrives in Venice, where he enlists the help of a beautiful academic, Dr. Elsa Schneider, along with Marcus Brody and Sallah. Together they must stop the Nazis from recovering the power of eternal life and taking over the world!
Buster
Poyser
Buster is a small time crook who pulls a big time job. When he finds that the police will not let the case drop, he goes into hiding and can't contact his wife and child. He arranges to meet them in Mexico where he thinks they can begin again, but finds that he must choose between his family and freedom.
The Happy Valley
John Carberry
In 1940 Kenya as their country prepares for war, the local aristocratic social set lives a decadent, self-indulgent lifestyle, that leads to murder. The same events were also dramatised in the feature film White Mischief, which was released seven months after the first transmission of The Happy Valley.
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
Chorus
Plagues are ravaging Thebes, and the blind fortune-teller Tieresias tells Oedipus, the King, that the gods are unhappy. The murder of the former king has gone unavenged, and Oedipus sets out to find the killer.
The Good Father
Leonard Scruby
Bill is a man who's very bitter about his divorce and losing custody of his son. So, when one of his friends is being sued for divorce by his wife so that she can enter a lesbian relationship, Bill decides to help his friend gain custody of his son...in any way that they can devise, including using a sleazeball lawyer. But while Bill feels that feminism has robbed him of his family, he begins to be appalled at what he and Roger have done.
In the Secret State
Guy Preger
A Government Department with data on us all in its computers is not functioning quite as its ex-Head intended. Frank Strange sets out to clear his own name and finds he is investigating a murder.
Champions
Richard Hussey
The true story of jockey Bob Champion who overcame cancer to win the 1981 Grand National
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Antonio
Two great friends leave Verona for Milan, Valentine with great enthusiasm and Proteus unwillingly, as he will have to leave his recently-betrothered Julia. Valentine soon falls in love with Silvia, daughter of the Duke of Milan, but then Proteus meets the captivating Silvia... and he too becomes besotted.
The Scarlet and the Black
Reinhard Beck
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His diplomatic status in a Catholic country prevents Colonel Kappler from openly arresting him, but O'Flaherty's activities become so large that the Nazi's decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican. O'Flaherty continues his work in a variety of disguises. Based on a true story. Written by John Vogel
The Tragedy of Richard III
Duke of Buckingham
Richard Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of King Edward IV, will stop at nothing to get the crown. He first convinces the ailing King that the Duke of Clarence, his elder brother, is a threat to the lives of Edward's two young sons. Edward has him imprisoned in the Tower of London; killers in Richard's pay then drown Clarence in a barrel of wine. When news of Clarence's death reaches the King, the subsequent grief and remorse bring about his death. Richard is made Lord Protector, with power to rule England while his nephew (now King Edward V) is still a minor. Before the young king's coronation he has his two nephews conveyed to the Tower, ostensibly for their safekeeping. Richard's accomplice, the Duke of Buckingham, then declares the two boys illegitimate and offers Richard the crown, which after a show of reticence he accepts. After Richard's coronation, he and Buckingham have a falling-out over whether or not to assassinate the two children.
Henry VI Part 3
Marquess of Montague / Father that killed his son
The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.
Henry VI Part 2
John Hume / Lieutenant
The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.
Henry VI Part 1
Duke of Alencon
The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts.
Man and Superman
Henry Straker
An adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play.
The Search for Alexander the Great
Demosthenes
Friends, contemporaries and even enemies of Alexander the Great gather in a tent to tell his tale through their eyes.
Coming Out
Gunnar Wedelman
Lewis, a gay writer of romantic novels, writes an article on gay issues under the pseudonym of "Zippy Grimes." The reason for this is that he hasn't come out yet and he doesn't want to alienate his mainly female fan-base. The article is a great success and leads to a huge amount of reactions, mainly from other gay men who are leading a double life. He decides to meet a number of these letter writers and eventually is forced to come out.
Force 10 from Navarone
Schroeder
World War II, 1943. Mallory and Miller, the heroes who destroyed the guns of Navarone, are sent to Yugoslavia in search of a ghost from the past.
The Medusa Touch
Duff
A French detective in London reconstructs the life of a man lying in hospital with severe injuries with the help of journals and a psychiatrist. He realises that the man had powerful telekinetic abilities.
A Bridge Too Far
Lt. Col. Giles A.M. Vandeleur
Operation Market Garden, September 1944. The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.
The Eagle Has Landed
Karl
When the Nazi high command learns in late 1943 that Winston Churchill will be spending time at a country estate in Norfolk, it hatches an audacious scheme to kidnap the prime minister and spirit him to Germany for enforced negotiations with Hitler.
Rogue Male
Interrogator
Early in 1939 Sir Robert Thorndyke takes aim at Adolf Hitler with a high powered rifle, but the shot misses its mark. Captured and tortured by the Gestapo and left for dead, Sir Robert makes his way back to England where he discovers the Gestapo has followed him. Knowing that his government would turn him over to German authorities, Sir Robert goes underground in his battle with his pursuers.
The Omen
Monk (uncredited)
Immediately after their miscarriage, the US diplomat Robert Thorn adopts the newborn Damien without the knowledge of his wife. Yet what he doesn’t know is that their new son is the son of the devil.
Wednesday Love
Bruce
Two women, looking for amusement on their afternoons off, visit a drinking club.
If It's a Man... Hang Up!
Richard Lovell
A young model is terrorized by a peeping tom and obscene phone calls.
Conduct Unbecoming
2nd Lt. Toby Strang
A company of British soldiers in colonial India is shaken when the widow of their most honored hero is assaulted. A young officer must defend a fellow lieutenant from the charges in an unusual court-martial, while investigating the deepening mystery behind the attack.
Headmaster
Frank Windsor plays the titular head of a school with an increasingly tenuous grip on his position. Intriguingly, given that that it was made 40 years ago, Headnaster shows how little has changed in teaching, given its focus on the conflict between old and modern teaching methods, as well as the eternal jockeying for position amongst teaching staff.
Butley
Reg Nuttall
Butley is set in Queen Mary’s College, London and focuses on two English instructors, Ben Butley, a middle-aged former T. S. Eliot expert whose life is now in a shambles, and his protégé, Joey, a homosexual. With both Joey and his wife leaving, Butley faces a life alone, fighting back with wit, obscenity and booze.
Ms or Jill and Jack
Sophisticated executive out with pouty bit of goods from the suburbs.
Vampyres
Playboy
A duo of bisexual female vampires prey on passing motorists, whom they seduce and murder in the English countryside.
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
Edward Seymour
1547, King Henry VIII's life has taken a turn for the worse and he is forced to look back over his life and the many loves which had brought him his three children, only one of which was the desired male heir to secure the Tudor dynasty.
The Image
The Artist
An artist's painting comes to life, and haunts him.
Much Ado About Nothing
Claudio
A film of the National Theatre's presentation of the Shakespeare play.
The Silent Playground
Roger
Police hunt for mental hospital out patient Simon Lacey, who has been unwittingly handing out barbiturates to children as sweets.
The Scarlet Blade
Lt. Hawke
A 1964 British action adventure film from Hammer studios. The Scarlet Blade is set during the english civil war. A cruel Roundhead Colonel is on the trail of royalist sympathisers, but unaware of his daughters royalist sympathies. When she falls into a love triangle with Cavalier Edward Beverly and Roundhead officer Captain Sylvester the stage is set for double crossing and derring do.