John Rhys-Davies

John Rhys-Davies
Rhys-Davies at the 2014 Phoenix Comicon
Born	(1944-05-05) 5 May 1944 Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor, voice artist, producer
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Suzanne Wilkinson (m. 1966; d. 2010)
Partner(s)	Lisa Manning (2004–present)
Children	3
Signature

John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944) is a Welsh actor and voice actor known for his portrayal of Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the charismatic excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films. He also played Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables, Pilot Vasco Rodrigues in the mini-series Shōgun, Professor Maximillian Arturo in Sliders, King Richard I in Robin of Sherwood, General Leonid Pushkin in the James Bond film The Living Daylights, and Macro in I, Claudius. Additionally, he provided the voices of Cassim in Disney's Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Macbeth in Gargoyles, Man Ray in SpongeBob SquarePants, Hades in Justice League and Tobias in the computer game Freelancer.

Early life

John Rhys-Davies was born on 5 May 1944 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and was brought up there, in Tanganyika and in Ammanford, Wales.^[1] His mother, Phyllis Jones, was a nurse, and his father, Rhys Davies, was a mechanical engineer^[2] and colonial officer.^[3] In the early 1950s his family lived for several years in Kongwa, Dar es Salaam, Moshi and Mwanza, Tanzania, while his father was serving there as a colonial police officer. He was educated at Truro School and at the University of East Anglia where he was one of the first 105 students admitted, and where he founded the Dramatic Society. After teaching at Watton County Secondary School in Norfolk he won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

He appeared sporadically on UK television in the early 1970s including his role as the gangster Laughing Spam Fritter opposite Adam Faith in Budgie. Later he played Praetorian officer Naevius Sutorius Macro in I, Claudius. He then began to appear more frequently, and not just in the UK, with roles as a Portuguese navigator Rodrigues in the 1980 television miniseries Shogun, based on the novel by James Clavell, and in the Indiana Jones films. In 1989, Rhys-Davies also starred in another James Clavell adaption, Noble House, set in Hong Kong, in which he plays Ian Dunross' corporate enemy, Quillian Gornt. He has since appeared in numerous television shows and miniseries, including Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables as well as a leading role in the television series Sliders as Professor Maximillian Arturo from 1995 to 1997. He also appeared in Reilly, Ace of Spies in 1983, made several appearances on Star Trek: Voyager as a holodeck version of Leonardo da Vinci, starred as an ally of James Bond in The Living Daylights and appeared in the film One Night with the King. Davies has played the character Porthos in two separate projects; a two-part episode of The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne and the Hallmark Channel film La Femme Musketeer. He appears in the full motion video cut scenes of computer games including Ripper (as Vigo Haman) (1996), Dune 2000 (as Noree Moneo) (1998), and the Wing Commander series (as James Taggart, doubling as the voice of Thrakhath nar Kiranka in the third game of the series).

In 2004, he narrated The Privileged Planet, a documentary that makes the case for intelligent design.^[4] In 2013 he appeared in the family history programme Coming Home, in which he discovered information about his grandfather's life in the Carmarthenshire coal mines.^[5]

In 2014, he joined the cast of the television show Metal Hurlant Chronicles to play Holgarth, an immortal alchemist.^[6]

In 2015 he had a role in the single player campaign of the PC game Star Citizen alongside Mark Hamill and Gary Oldman.^[7] The work consists of full body Motion capture, including facial expressions and his voice and was recorded primarily at the Imaginarium studios in the UK.^[8]

Personal life

Rhys-Davies married Suzanne Wilkinson in December 1966. They had two sons. Although they separated in 1985, they remained married until her death in 2010 from Alzheimer's disease. He remained close to her and took care of her until she died.^[16]

In 2004, he began living with Lisa Manning. They have a daughter.

Political views

Rhys-Davies in an autograph session in Sweden

Rhys-Davies is not a member of any political party. As a university student in the 1960s, he had been a radical leftist, but changed his views when he went to heckle a young local member of parliament, Margaret Thatcher. Rhys-Davies says that "she shot down the first two hecklers in such brilliant fashion that I decided I ought for once to shut up and listen".^[17]

In 2004, Rhys-Davies stated the following in a controversial interview with a Welsh news website about the Muslim population, stating:

There is a demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we daren't bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially. And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well. By 2020, 50 percent of the children in Holland under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent.^[18]

His comments were endorsed by the British National Party.^[19][20] Rhys-Davies commented that the BNP was so insignificant in numbers that it "could do no harm" yet stating it was "distressing to find yourself on a BNP leaflet".^[18] He was also endorsed in a National Vanguard editorial.^[21] In an interview with the conservative journal National Review, he clarified that he is opposed to Islamic extremism precisely because he feels that it violates the "Western values" of equality, democracy, tolerance and the abolition of slavery.^[22]

Filmography

Audio books

• Sir Malcolm and the Missing Prince
• The Trials of Saint Patrick
• The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty: In the Reign of Terror
• Affabel: Window of Eternity
• Rescued

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Rhys-Davies.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: John Rhys-Davies

• John Rhys-Davies on IMDb
• Article about controversial statements 18 January 2004
• Andrew Leigh, "No Sean Penn". National Review. 5 March 2004.