Anton Lesser | |
Birth Date: | 14 February 1952 |
Birth Place: | Birmingham, England, United Kingdom |
Occupation: | Actor |
Yearsactive: | 1979–present |
Spouse: | Madeleine Lesser |
Children: | 2 |
Anton Lesser (born 14 February 1952[1]) is a British actor. He is known for his roles as Qyburn in the HBO series Game of Thrones, Harold Macmillan in The Crown, Clement Attlee in A United Kingdom, Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour,[2] and Major Partagaz in Star Wars: Andor. An associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has performed numerous Shakespearean roles on stage and television.
Born in Birmingham, the son of David Lesser and his wife Amelia Cohen, Anton Lesser was educated Moseley Grammar School and the University of Liverpool, where he read architecture. He then went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and on graduation in 1977[3] was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal as the most promising actor of his year.[4] He is of Jewish background.[5]
As an associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Lesser played many of Shakespeare's great roles. In the BBC Television Shakespeare productions he was Troilus (Troilus and Cressida), Edgar (King Lear), and Feste (Twelfth Night). On stage, he has portrayed Romeo (a titular character in his play), Prince Hamlet (the titular character of his play), Brutus (Julius Caesar), Petruchio (The Taming of the Shrew), Richard III (the titular character of his play), and others.[6]
Lesser is a frequent radio contributor and played the title role in the BBC Radio adaptations of the first five Marcus Didius Falco mysteries by Lindsey Davis. He has also recorded many audiobooks, including much of the work of Charles Dickens. His recording of Great Expectations won him a Talkie Award. Other books range from John Milton's Paradise Lost, Homer and Rumi[7] to contemporary novels by Robert Harris (Fatherland) and Philip Pullman. For two months in 2013, Lesser was a regular cast member playing Robin Carrow in Ambridge Extra, a BBC Radio 4 Extra spin-off from the BBC Radio 4 drama The Archers.[8]
In 2013, during the third season of the HBO Max series Game of Thrones, Lesser began playing the recurring role of Qyburn, an enigmatic mad scientist who served as part of the retinue of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). Qyburn, and Lesser's portrayal of him, were popular with fans, particularly as the series went on and the character appeared more frequently and had greater influence over the narrative.[9] [10] The Ringer described him as "the last curious man in Westeros" and noted that the character "refuses to seem like a MacGuffin, despite totally being one."[11] The character returned across the remainder of the series run until the finale in 2019; Qyburn was one of the characters who perished in the final episode, which led to many fans producing memes about his abrupt death.[12]
In 2015, Lesser was announced as a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company based in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom.[13]
Lesser portrayed Thomas More in the BBC mini-series Wolf Hall, and received a nomination for the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.[14]
In 2022, Lesser played Major Partagaz, a supporting antagonist in the Star Wars spinoff Andor. His performance of Partagaz, a ranking member of the Empire's intelligence agency, the Imperial Security Bureau, was noted by critics. Digital Spy noted that Lesser delivered dialogue on Imperial bureaucracy with "powerful coolness."[15]
With his wife Madeleine Adams, Lesser has two children, Harry and Lily. Lily Lesser is an actress and has acted alongside her father in Endeavour and Wolf Hall.[16]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | The Missionary | Young Man | |
1985 | The Assam Garden | Mr. Sutton | |
1997 | Wounded Corporal | ||
2000 | Esther Kahn | Sean | |
2001 | Charlotte Gray | Monsieur Renech | |
2003 | Imagining Argentina | General Guzmán | |
Y Mabinogi | Teyrnon | Voice role | |
2005 | River Queen | Major Baine | |
2006 | Miss Potter | Harold Warne | |
2009 | Deep Sleep | Short film | |
2011 | Lord John Carteret | ||
The Lady | Professor Finnis | ||
Flutter | Bruno | ||
2012 | The Scapegoat | Father McReady | |
2014 | Closer to the Moon | Comrade Holban | |
2016 | A United Kingdom | Prime Minister Attlee | |
Allied | Emmanuel Lombard | ||
The Exception | General Falkenberg | ||
2017 | On Chesil Beach | Reverend Woollett | |
Disobedience | Rav Krushka | ||
The Other Door | Interviewer 1 | Short film | |
Catherine the Great: Lovers and Sons | Peter III | ||
2018 | Seasonal Contract | The Narrator | Voice role, short film |
2020 | The Courier | Bertrand | |
Tick Tick Tick | Narrator | Short film | |
Kindred | Dr. Richards | ||
Gatecrash | Sid | ||
2021 | A Cold Supper Behind Harrods | Leo | |
Galahad Jones | Mitch Mullins | Short film | |
Benediction | Stephen Tennant (Older) |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | The Mill on the Floss | Philip Waken | Miniseries, 6 episodes | |
Oresteia | Orestes | Miniseries, 3 episodes | ||
1981 | Trofimov | Television film | ||
Troilus & Cressida | Troilus | Television film | ||
1982 | Crown Court | John Peat | 3 episodes | |
King Lear | Edgar | Television film | ||
1983 | Good and Bad at Games | Cox | Television film | |
1984 | Sakharov | Valery Chalidze | Television film | |
Freud | Wilhelm Fliess | Miniseries, 5 episodes | ||
1985 | Anna of the Five Towns | Willie Price | Miniseries, 3 episodes | |
1987 | Great Performances | Robber | Episode: "Monsignor Quixote" | |
London Embassy | Robert Bronhouse | Miniseries, 1 episode: "Tomb with a View" | ||
1988 | Twelfth Night, or What You Will | Feste | Television film | |
Screen Two | Stanley Spencer | Episode: "Stanley" | ||
Vincenzo | Episode: "Airbase" | |||
A Vote for Hitler | A.L. Rowse | Television film | ||
1989 | Karl | Television film | ||
1990 | ScreenPlay | Robert Cecil | Episode: "Traitors" | |
1991 | Gustav Levi | Miniseries, 8 episodes | ||
1992 | Downtown Lagos | Mungo Dawson | Miniseries, 3 episodes | |
1994 | Guinevere | Envoy | Television film | |
Leontes | Voice role, 1 episode: "The Winter's Tale" | |||
1995 | Mark Hollister | Miniseries, 3 episodes | ||
Bugs | Patrick Marcel | Episode: "Pulse" | ||
Moses | Eliav | Miniseries, 2 episodes | ||
1996 | Sharman | Galilee | Episode: "Pretend We're Dead" | |
Joseph | Voice role, 1 episode: "Joseph" | |||
Ezra Jennings | Television film | |||
1997 | Bodyguards | Dusan Mesic | Episode: "A Choice of Evils" | |
Into the Blue | Dr. John Ockleton | Television film | ||
1998 | Invasion: Earth | Lt. Charles Terrell | Miniseries, 4 episodes | |
Vanity Fair | Mr. Pitt Crawley | Miniseries, 5 episodes | ||
The Echo | Billy Blake | Miniseries, 2 episodes | ||
1999 | Pure Wickedness | Dr. Andrew Ward | 1 episode | |
Trial by Fire | Brian Redwood | Television film | ||
2000 | King Herod | Voice role, television film | ||
Safe as Houses | Mr. Dunn | Television film | ||
Antoine Picard | Episode: "Friends & Enemies" | |||
Lorna Doone | Counsellor Doone | Television film | ||
2001 | Perfect Strangers | Stephen | Miniseries, 3 episodes | |
Milburn | Miniseries, 1 episode: "The White Knight Stratagem" | |||
Uprising | Nathan Lensky | Television film | ||
Vidas Merlinis - Research Scientist | Miniseries, 2 episodes | |||
Swallow | Paul Valley | 3 episodes | ||
2002 | Animated Tales of the World | The Flower of Fern | Voice role, 1 episode: "Flower of Fern, a Tale from Poland" | |
Dickens | Charles Dickens | Miniseries, 3 episodes | ||
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Bertilak - Green Knight | Voice role, television film | ||
Waking the Dead | Professor Ray Levin | Episode: "Special Relationship" | ||
Stanley Hall | Miniseries, 2 episodes | |||
Foyle's War | Austin Carmichael | Episode: "Eagle Day" | ||
2003 | Eroica | Sukowaty | Television film | |
Midsomer Murders | Eddie Darwin | Episode: "Birds of Prey" | ||
Henry Batten | Television film | |||
2004 | Silent Witness | Marcus Gwilym | Episode: "Death by Water" | |
Dirty Filthy Love | Charles | Television film | ||
Spooks | Nicholas Ashworth | Episode: "A Prayer for My Daughter" | ||
2005 | Ahead of the Class | Graham Ranger | Television film | |
George | Television film | |||
Class of '76 | Martin Gibson | Miniseries, 2 episodes | ||
Nova | Voltaire | Episode: "E=mc²: Einstein's Big Idea" | ||
2006 | Dalziel and Pascoe | Paul Goodman | Episode: "Guardian Angel" | |
Vital Signs | Dr. Lindsay | 4 episodes | ||
New Tricks | Pete Mackintyre | Episode: "Bank Robbery" | ||
The Outsiders | Maurice Heston | Television film | ||
Dennis Prior | Episode: "Endangered Species" | |||
2008 | Midsomer Murders | Reverend Wallace Stone | Episode: "Talking to the Dead" | |
Archbishop of Canterbury | 2 episodes | |||
Agatha Christie's Poirot | Inspector Kelsey | Episode: "Cat Among the Pigeons" | ||
Einstein and Eddington | Fritz Haber | Television film | ||
Little Dorrit | Mr. Merdle | 9 episodes | ||
2009 | Casualty 1909 | Dr. Henry Head | 4 episodes | |
2010 | Holby City | Sol Caplin | Episode: "Faith No More" | |
Five Daughters | Dr. Nat Cary | Miniseries, 2 episodes | ||
Garrow's Law | John Farmer | 4 episodes | ||
Primeval: Webisodes | Gideon | Miniseries, 3 episodes | ||
2011 | Primeval | Gideon | Recurring role, 6 episodes | |
Clarence Fendley | Main role, 5 episodes | |||
Rudolf Olden | Television film | |||
2012 | Secret State | Sir Michael Rix | Miniseries, 2 episodes | |
2012–2016 | Duke of Exeter | 4 episodes | ||
2013 | Spies of Warsaw | Doctor Lapp | Miniseries, 4 episodes | |
Mad Dogs | Alex | 1 episode | ||
Ripper Street | Dr. Karl Crabbe | 2 episodes | ||
Richard Mayfield, QC | Miniseries, 3 episodes | |||
Atlantis | Kyros | Episode: "Pandora's Box" | ||
2013–2019 | Game of Thrones | Qyburn | Recurring role, 22 episodes | |
2013–2023 | Endeavour | Chief Superintendent / ACC Reginald Bright | Main role, 35 episodes | |
2014 | Father Brown | Father Ignatius | Episode: "The Mysteries of the Rosary" | |
Émile De Mauvoisin | Episode: "The Homecoming" | |||
C | Miniseries, 1 episode | |||
2015 | Wolf Hall | Thomas More | Miniseries, 4 episodes | |
Life in Squares | Dr. Hyslop | Miniseries, 2 episodes | ||
Le Donne | Salvatore | Miniseries, 5 episodes | ||
2015–2016 | Dickensian | Fagin | Main role, 15 episodes | |
2016 | Hooten & the Lady | Hercules | Miniseries, 1 episode: "Moscow" | |
2017 | Will | Walsingham | Episode: "The Play's the Thing" | |
Harold Macmillan | Main role (season 2), 8 episodes | |||
2019–2020 | Michael Eddowes | Miniseries, 6 episodes | ||
2021 | Rabbi Loew | 1 episode | ||
2022 | Killing Eve | Robert | Episode: "Making Dead Things Look Nice" | |
Andor | Major Partagaz | 7 episodes | ||
1899 | Henry Singleton | 8 episodes | ||
2023 | Better | Vernon Marley | 4 episodes |
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | BAFTA TV Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Wolf Hall | [18] | |
2018 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Game of Thrones | [19] [20] | |
The Crown |