Oliver Cotton(I)

A distinguished-looking, latterly white-haired actor of considerable presence, Oliver Cotton has been prolific on both stage and screen and has also been making his mark as a playwright. Born in London to Norman Cotton and his Danish wife Ester, he trained for acting at the now defunct Drama Centre in King's Cross. Cotton made his theatrical debut in 1965 at Stage 73 in New York. He subsequently appeared in many productions for the National Theatre during the second tenure of Laurence Olivier as its artistic director. Often cast in leading roles, he has performed in Hamlet, Julius Cesar (as Brutus), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It. With the ensemble of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, he portrayed the Earl of Suffolk in Henry VI and the Duke of Buckingham in Edward IV and Richard III on several occasions. One of his personal favorite roles with the RSC was that of 15th century rebel leader Jack Cade in Henry VI. Cotton has also made frequent appearances for the Royal Court Theatre and at the West End.

A self-confessed history buff and avid traveler, Cotton has portrayed many a historical or literary persona on the screen. Due to his dignified comportment and gravitas, he tended to be most often cast as aristocrats, senior government officials, politicians, barristers and military men. Cotton remains best known for his portrayal of Cesare Borgia in the 1981 BBC 2 dramatization The Borgias (1981). Other television roles of note have included Fagin's confederate Monks in Oliver Twist (1982), the austere and cruel Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield (1986), the villainous Lord Owen of Clun in Robin Hood (1984), the imperialist statesman Joseph Chamberlain in Rhodes (1996) and Alexandre D'Artagnan in The Musketeers (2014). He has made numerous guest appearances in popular British TV shows across diverse genres. Those have ranged from Space: 1999 (1975) to Z Cars (1962), Killing Eve (2018) and Dalziel and Pascoe (1996), and from Ripper Street (2012) to Penny Dreadful (2014).

On the big screen, he has essayed, among others, Jack the Ripper in Shanghai Knights (2003), Danish king Hrothgar in Beowulf (1999), an Air Force General in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), the scheming Arsenius in Pope Joan (2009) and the fierce French warrior knight and duellist Jean de Carrouges III in The Last Duel (2021).

Cotton has worked as writer and associate producer on the historical sports drama miniseries The English Game (2020) which he also helped to create. For the stage he has authored The Enoch Show (Royal Court), Scrabble (National Theatre), Wet Weather Cover (King's Head Theatre), Man Falling Down (Shakespeare's Globe) and Daytona (London's Park Theatre). He has described the difference between the disciplines of acting and writing by saying "Writing's like breathing in. Acting's like breathing out. One's the effort and the other's the action - ultimately inter-dependent but different in their process - something that only matters if you do both."