Iconic veteran British actor David Warner has died aged 80, with The BBC reporting that a “cancer-related illness” was the cause of death. Warner’s varied career spanned movies, TV, radio and stage where he first broke through working first for the Royal Court Theatre followed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. From there he became a staple reliable actor on screen playing both villains and romantic leads after breaking through with a BAFTA-nominated performance for “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment”. Though good at playing bad, he was known to be very warm and compassionate off screen. Genre fans will be quite familiar with his long list of credits. He was the photographer in “The Omen,” Evil in Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits,” the MCP & Sark in “TRON,” Jack the Ripper in “Time After Time,” Dr. Wrenn in “In the Mouth of Madness,” enforcer Spicer Lovejoy in James Cameron’s “Titanic,” and Admiral Tolwyn in the “Wing Commander” movie. Other film credits “Tom Jones,” “The Thirty Nine Steps,” “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” “The Man with Two Brains,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze,” “Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny,” “Scream 2,” Tim Burton’s “Planet of the Apes,” “Black Death” and “Before I Sleep”. Warner was a recurring “Star Trek” player – having key roles as diplomat St. John Talbot in “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” then the more important role of Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”. He returned for the “Chain of Command” two-parter on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” which was essentially a two-person chamber piece between a Cardassian torturer (Warner) and the imprisoned Picard (Patrick Stewart) – resulting in one of the franchise’s most acclaimed episodes. His TV work was extensive as well where he’ll always be remembered as the voice of Ra’s al Ghul in “Batman: The Animated Series”. He won an Emmy for his work in “Masada,” and nominated for his work in “Holocaust”. He was the senile father of Kenneth Branagh’s “Wallander,” the cruel Captain James Sawyer in “Hornblower,” the sinister Thomas Eckhardt in “Twin Peaks,” the voice of Jor-El in “Superman: The Animated Series,” the Archmage in “Gargoyles,” Dr. Frankenstein in “Toonsylvania” and many more. In the audio drama field he was familiar to “Doctor Who” fans as the voice of the ‘Unbound’ alternate incarnation of The Doctor in several adventures. He also lent his voice to video games including “Star Wars: Force Commander,” “Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn,” “Descent 3” and the original “Fallout”. Source: The Guardian https://www.darkhorizons.com/r-i-p-david-warner/ I was always a fan of his, he was one of those character actors that always left an impression....
Yes. All the comics with Ra’s al Ghul I read as a kid I read in his voice. The guy in Arkham City was an amateur.
I had to look and see who this guy was because I didn't know, but... dang : For sci-fi and gaming geeks: He was the voice of the main boss/villain, Jon Irenicus, in Baldur's Gate 2. BG2 is considered by many to be one of the best CRPG's ever made. Warner was also one of the main characters in one of the most highly-regarded/classic Star Trek : The Next Generation episodes (2-parter) ever : Chain of Command. This is the one where Picard is tortured by a Cardassian interrogator. Warner was the interrogator. "THERE ARE FOUR ... LIGHTS!"
Very underrated movie. Apparently Shelley Duvall turned down her part, but she had a crush on Sean Connery so when they told her he was in it she immediately accepted the role.
He was perfect for his part in Titanic. That film has a place for me because it's the first movie my wife and I saw together
I really liked his performance in "Time After Time" as Jack the Ripper. But, his character had a real big brain fart at the end of the film. After he got the key to the time machine from H.G. Wells (played by Malcom McDowell), he released the girl (or she wiggled away from him) to H.G. and Jack got in the time machine to leave to go to another time to continue his serial killing spree. But, he conveniently (or inconveniently) forgot about the crystal mechanism H.G. mentioned earlier in the film to him and others where, without it inserted into the time machine (on the exterior), it would send the occupant through time without the time machine basically committing the person to infinity (or oblivion or whatever). So, H.G. pulled the plug when Jack tried to leave and he vanished. That's a pretty big thing to forget for such a smart villain. I wish they would have come up with a better ending as it was way too convenient for him to forget that and he knew H.G. would pull the plug versus let him get away. But, otherwise, great film for when it was made. He was a great actor. RIP
We had a video disc player when I was a kid. We didn't have a lot of movies for it, but I watched Tron and Time Bandits so many times. End of line.
I was just telling my wife and oldest son about watching those two movies on the neighbor’s video disc player.
A very good and versatile actor. It’s too bad he never got a role that made him really famous but did a lot of supporting and villainous roles. That STNG episode “There are FOUR LIGHTS!” Was an incredible acting performance by both Patrick Stewart and David Warner. While David Warner did a lot of Trek roles it’s too bad he wasn’t brought back to play and develop that character more.
