Geoffrey Kirkness Explained

Geoffrey Kirkness
Occupation:Actor
Alma Mater:Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Years Active:1973–present

Geoffrey Kirkness is a British stage, television and film actor. He has appeared in BBC television and radio play roles.[1]

Stage career

A student at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge,[2] Kirkness trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London.[3] In 1974 he played in a touring production of The Wisest Fool by Sir Thomas Overbury.[4]

Kirkness has appeared in the London West End, where he played the leading role Dick Dewy, in Under the Greenwood Tree 1978-79, directed by Patrick Garland at the Vaudeville Theatre.[5] He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company subsequently,[6] for The Irish Play by Ron Hutchinson, appearing as Dwyer.[7]

Films

Kirkness was the TV presenter in Ali G Indahouse, with Sacha Baron Cohen, 2002. He played Colin opposite Toyah Willcox in the film The Power of Three, 2011.

In Amundsen (2019), Kirkness played (name in role Charles Bennet) Charles Peto Bennett (1856–1940), timber merchant and collector, whose Norwegian wife Kristine had an adulterous affair with Roald Amundsen.[8] [9] [10] He had a part in Listen in 2020.[11]

Television and radio

Kirkness played Vice Admiral Phillips in the drama series Dunkirk, for the BBC, 2004 and General Alanbrooke in Into the Storm 2009, with Brendan Gleeson, for HBO television. In 2012 he appeared in the second series of The Hour, as Lord Reeves. In The Crimson Field he played Captain Osberton.[12]

In BBC Radio 4 play aired on 25 March 2023, The Song of the Cossacks based on the repatriation of Cossacks after World War II, and adapted by Stephen Wyatt from a stage play by Jean Binnie, Kirkness played General Skiro.[13]

Notes and References

  1. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1165629/ IMDB page
  2. Book: University of Cambridge . Cambridge University Reporter . 1967 . 798 . en.
  3. Web site: High Profile Alumni . The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama . en.
  4. Web site: Geoffrey Kirkness, Theatricalia . theatricalia.com.
  5. Ian Herbert, Christine Baxter, Robert E. Finley (editors) Who's Who in the Theatre: a biographical record of the contemporary stage (1981) Volume 2, p. 70.
  6. Royal Shakespeare Company: A Complete Record of the Year's Work (1981), p. 102.
  7. Web site: Production of The Irish Play, Theatricalia . theatricalia.com.
  8. Web site: Amundsen (2020) Cast . www.cinema.com.
  9. News: Death of a North Borneo timber pioneer, Daily Express Online - Sabah's Leading News Portal . 2 March 1940 . www.dailyexpress.com.my.
  10. Book: Huntford . Roland . Scott And Amundsen: The Last Place on Earth . 13 September 2012 . Little, Brown Book Group . 978-1-4055-2031-7 . 549 . en.
  11. Web site: Review: Listen . Cineuropa - the best of european cinema . en . 12 September 2020.
  12. Web site: The Crimson Field Series 1 - Episode 4 Radio Times. 29 April 2014. 29 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140429061936/http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/cvs6d7/the-crimson-field--series-1---episode-4. dead.
  13. Web site: BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, The Song of the Cossacks . BBC.