Janet Dale
Timothy Dalton
Charles Dance
The Dance of Death
Ron Daniels
The Danton Affair
Nick Darke
Daughter of the Air
Shaun Davey
Alan David
Howard Davies
Rudi Davies
Daniel Day-Lewis
Days in the Trees
Days of the Commune
The Dead Monkey
Nick Dear
Deathwatch/The Maids
Thomas Dekker
Robert Delamere
A Delicate Balance
Frances de la Tour
Robert Demeger
Jeffery Dench
Judi Dench
The Desert Air
Desire Under the Elms
Destiny
The Devil is an Ass
The Devil's Disciple
The Devils
Ann Devlin
Es Devlin
Mark Dignam
Stephen Dillane
The Dillen
Lisa Dillon
Dingo
The Dispute
Divine Gossip
Joe Dixon
Doctor Faustus
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The Dog in the Manger
Monica Dolan
A Doll's House
Don Carlos
Donmar Warehouse
Declan Donnellan
Gregory Doran
Simon Dormandy
Roy Dotrice
John Dougall
Wayne Dowdeswell
Downchild
Penny Downie
Kevin Doyle
A Dream of People
Dreamplay
Amanda Drew
Darrell D'Silva
Kate Duchêne
The Duchess of Malfi
Duck Song
William Dudley
The Dumb Waiter
Lindsay Duncan
Jeremy Dunn
Marguerite Duras
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Susan Dury
Dutch Uncle
The Dybbuk
Charles Dyer
Chris Dyer
Roy Dotrice's adolescence was cut short by the war—he served with Bomber Command as a Lancaster air gunner, until his plane was shot down over Germany. During his three years as a prisoner of war he performed in revues (thereby discovering his vocation) and played baseball with the Americans. After the war he worked in provincial repertory before forming his own troupe, the Guernsey Theatre Company (1955).
He went to Stratford in 1958, the beginning of ten years with the RSC. In his first seasons he played small supporting roles and organised a theatre baseball team (the 1959 team, which played the local US airbases, included Paul Robeson, Sam Wanamaker, Laurence Olivier and Albert Finney). His ability to play old men brought him the role of Firs in Michel Saint-Denis's production of The Cherry Orchard. It was a turning point, leading to Caliban, Julius Caesar, Edward IV in The Wars of the Roses and the title role in Brecht's Puntila. The complete list: Prince's Guard in Romeo and Juliet (Glen Byam Shaw, RST, 1958); Officer in Twelfth Night (Peter Hall, RST, 1958); Courtier/Player in Hamlet (Shaw, RST, 1958); Ephesus Gentleman in Pericles (Tony Richardson, RST, 1958); Second Montano Officer in Othello (Richardson, RST, 1959); Egeus in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hall, RST, 1959); Third Roman Citizen (the others were played by Albert Finney, Ian Holm and Julian Glover) in the Laurence Olivier Coriolanus (Hall, RST, 1959); Burgundy in King Lear (Shaw, RST, 1959); Officer in The Merchant of Venice (Michael Langham, RST, 1960); Sea Captain in Twelfth Night (Hall, RST, 1960, Aldwych, 1960-61); Vincentio in The Taming of the Shrew (John Barton, RST, 1960, Aldwych, 1961); Antenor in Troilus and Cressida (Hall, RST, 1960); First Old Gentleman in The Winter's Tale (Peter Wood, RST, 1960); Officer in The Duchess of Malfi (Donald McWhinnie, RST, 1960, Aldwych, 1960-61); First Fisherman in Ondine (Hall, Aldwych, 1961); Father Ambrose in The Devils (Wood, Aldwych, 1961, Aldwych, 1962); Fourth Baron/The Pope in Becket (Hall, Aldwych, 1961); Firs in The Cherry Orchard (Michel Saint-Denis, RST, 1961, Aldwych, 1961-62); Wounded Soldier/Simon Chachava in The Caucasian Chalk Circle (William Gaskill, Aldwych, 1962); William Marshal in Christopher Fry's Curtmantle (Stuart Burge, Aldwych, 1962); Ajax in Troilus and Cressida (Hall, Aldwych, 1962); Caliban in The Tempest (Clifford Williams, RST, 1963); the title role in Julius Caesar (John Blatchley, RST, 1963); Duke of Bedford/Edward IV in The Wars of the Roses (Hall with Barton, RST, 1963, Aldwych, 1964); for the 1964 Stratford Histories, John of Gaunt/Hotspur in Richard II, Hotspur/Shallow in Henry IV and Edward IV in The Wars of the Roses (Hall/Barton/Williams); the title role in Brecht's Puntila (Saint-Denis, Aldwych, 1965); Judge in Peter Weiss's The Investigation (Peter Brook/David Jones, Aldwych, 1965); John Morley in Paddy Chayefsky's The Latent Heterosexual (Terry Hands, Aldwych, 1968); Brackman in Jules Feiffer's God Bless (Geoffrey Reeves, Aldwych, 1968); and The Hollow Crown (Barton, Tour, 1975).
In 1967 Brief Lives, a one-man show based on the writings of John Aubrey, brought him success in New York (Patrick Garland, Golden Theater). He travelled on-and-off with Brief Lives for the next eight years, giving over two thousand performances. His other theatre appearances of the 1960s and 70s were: Robert O. Hirson's World War Two and a Half (New, 1966); Peer Gynt (Chichester, 1970); One At Night (Royal Court, 1971); The Hero (Edinburgh, 1970); Mother Adam (Arts, 1971); Tom Brown's Schooldays (Cambridge, 1972); Gomes (Queen's, 1973); The Dragon Variation (Duke of York's, 1977); Passion of Dracula (Queen's, 1978); and Oliver (Albery, 1979).
Since the end of the 1970s he has lived and worked primarily in America. A lacklustre but lucrative mainstream television career (Magnum P.I., Murder She Wrote, Beauty and the Beast, etc.) has been enlivened by his regular returns to the stage: the one-man play Mister Lincoln (Washington, New York, 1980, Fortune, 1981); A Life (New York, 1980-81); Falstaff in Henry IV (American Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford, Connecticut, 1981); Murder in Mind (Strand, 1982); the one-man play Winston Churchill (US, 1982); Kingdoms (New York, 1982); The Genius (Los Angeles, 1984); Down an Alley (Dallas, 1984); Great Expectations (Old Vic, 1985); Enemy of the People (New York, 1985); Hay Fever (New York and Washington, 1986); The Homecoming (New York, 1991); The Best of Friends (New York, 1993); The Woman in Black (US, 1995); and Phil Hogan alongside Gabriel Byrne in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten (Daniel Sullivan, New York, 2000, Tony for Best Supporting Actor).
Films: The Heroes of Telemark (1965); Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969); The Buttercup Chain (1970); Nicholas and Alexandra (1971); Tales from the Crypt (1972); Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984); Swimming with Sharks (George Huang, 1994); and The Scarlet Letter (Roland Joffé, 1995).
His daughters Karen and Michele both worked with the RSC. Karen Dotrice in 1962 (The Boy in The Caucasian Chalk Circle); Michele Dotrice in 1964-65 (Anne in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Katherine in Henry V).
Education: Dayton School, Guernsey
RSC: Joined 1958; Associate Artist, 1960-65
Seasons: 1958 (Strat.); 1959 (Strat.); 1960 (Strat.)-60/61 (Lond.); 1961 (Strat.)-61/62 (Lond.); 1963 (Strat.)-64 (Lond.); 1964 (Strat.); 1965 (Lond.); 1968 (Lond.); 1975 (Tour)
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