David Warner Biography

DAVID WARNER

Date of Birth: July 29, 1941

This native of Manchester, England entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts after an unhappy childhood and a series of odd jobs. While attending the school, he supported himself by working as a book salesman.

Using his training wisely, Warner later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where he spent his first few years playing Hamlet.

Warner made his film debut as Albert Finney's younger brother in Tom Jones (1963), but really made an impact three years later as the eccentric, Marx-spouting, gorilla-infatuated title character in Morgan! (1966). Films like Time Bandits, The Man With Two Brains, and Tron became cult classics, but Warner remained for the most part in the shadows.

By the mid-'70s, Warner had gone through difficult times that forced him to quit stage work and get a divorce from his first wife.

Although times were tough, his first commercially successful film, The Omenwas released. For the next five years, he focused all his time on work.

By 1980 he received his first award - an Emmy - for his performance as Heydrich in Masada. Playing a villainous character, for the next 20 years he would find it difficult to find roles outside the 'dark side.'

Warner has also had a long and lucrative history using his voice on various television and feature cartoons, video games and talking books.

Voicing characters in popular shows like Dinosaurs, Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, Spider-Man, Freakazoid, Men in Black: The Series and Batman Beyond, Warner was heard on Saturday mornings for years.

Video games like Star Trek: Klingon Academy, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Anm and Star Wars: Force Commander were projects he focused on in the late '90s. In 1986 he started to narrate audio-books. With at least 10 recordings to his credit, titles include Great Cat Mysteries, Ivanhoe, The Haunting of Hill House, two poetry books by Edgar Allan Poe and The Complete Spoken Word Bible.

His long career in the film industry has left him with an impressive resumé that continues to grow.

He has made over 100 films as well as various TV guest appearances on shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5, and The Larry Sanders Show.

With his wife Sheilah and daughter Melissa, Warner travels back and forth between Britain and Hollywood.