Simon Callow
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow CBE (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.
Callow rose to prominence originating the title role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the 1979 Peter Shaffer play Amadeus, for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. Callow joined the Miloš Forman 1984 film adaptation, this time portraying Emanuel Schikaneder. In 1992, Callow won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Musical for Carmen Jones. As an actor, he won acclaim for his comedic roles in A Room with a View (1985) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) earning a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination for each. Other notable roles include in Maurice (1987), Howards End (1992), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and The Phantom of the Opera (2004).
His television roles include Tom Chance in the Channel 4 series Chance in a Million (1984) and The Duke of Sandringham in the series Outlander from 2014 to 2016. He portrayed Napoleon in The Man of Destiny (1981), and Charles Dickens in numerous television projects. He has also appeared on numerous shows such as Midsomer Murders, Rome, Angels in America, Doctor Who, Galavant, Hawkeye, and The Witcher.
Callow was born on 15 June 1949 in Streatham, South London, the son of Yvonne Mary (née Guise), a secretary and Neil Francis Callow, a businessman. His father was of French descent and his mother was of Danish and German ancestry. His father left when Simon was 18 months old, and he was brought up by his mother and grandmothers. He and his mother travelled to Northern Rhodesia (now called Zambia) when he was nine to try and reconcile with his father. This did not happen and Callow was sent for three years to boarding school in South Africa. He and his mother returned to Britain when he was twelve. He was raised as a Catholic. Callow was a student at the London Oratory School in West Brompton, and then went on to study briefly at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he was active in the gay liberation movement.[5] He gave up his degree course after a year to take a three-year acting course at the Drama Centre London.
He made his first film appearance in 1984 as Schikaneder in Amadeus. The following year, he appeared as the Reverend Mr Beebe in A Room with a View. His first television role was in the Carry On Laughing episode "Orgy and Bess" in 1975, but it was cut from the final print. He starred in several series of the Channel 4 situation comedy Chance in a Million, as Tom Chance, an eccentric individual to whom coincidences happened regularly. Roles like this and his part in Four Weddings and a Funeral brought him to a wider audience. Callow portrayed Pliny the Elder in CBBC's 2007 children's drama series, Roman Mysteries in the episode "The Secrets of Vesuvius". He played Armand Duquesne in Marvel's Hawkeye on Disney+.
Known for
The Witcher
Codringher
Midsomer Murders
Dr. Wellow
Doctor Who
Charles Dickens
NOVA
Galileo
Death in Paradise
Larry South
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Dr. Lutz
Outlander
Duke of Sandringham
Omnibus
Self
Agatha Christie's Marple
Colonel Melchett
Inside No. 9
Dick
Hawkeye
Armand Duquesne III
Inspector Morse
Theodore Kemp
The Sweeney
Detective Sergeant
Notting Hill
Simon Callow (uncredited)
Plebs
Performance
John Mortimer
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2
Cavendish
The Sarah Jane Adventures
Tree Blathereen (voice)
Hampstead
Judge
Amadeus
Emanuel Schikaneder
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Vincent Cadby
Étoile
Crispin Shamblee
Arn: The Knight Templar
Father Henry
Galavant
Edwin the Magnificent
Mindhorn
Himself
Shoebox Zoo
Wolfgang the Wolf (voice) / Hunter the Horse (voice)
Howards End
Music and Meaning Lecturer (uncredited)
The Phantom of the Opera
Andre
Street Fighter
A. N. Official
Arn: The Knight Templar
Fader Henry
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Gareth
Bob the Butler
Mr. Butler
Manifesto
Police Chief Hunt
The Cleaner
Mr. Abahassine
Ice
Prime Minister
Blue Iguana
Uncle Martin
The Company
MI6 liaison officer Elihu
Angels in America
Prior 2
Angels in America
Prior Walter Ancestor #2
Chemical Wedding
Haddo
Victory
Zangiacomo
George and the Dragon
King Edgar
A Room with a View
The Reverend Mr. Beebe
Ice
Prime Minister
The Woman In White
Count Fosco
Love's Kitchen
Guy Witherspoon
Maurice
Mr. Ducie
The Best Man
Big-Time Publisher
Surprised by Oxford
Dr. Sterling
Playhouse Presents
Dudley
Viceroy's House
Cyril Radcliffe
Old Flames
Nathanial Quass
Bright Young Things
King of Anatolia
James and the Giant Peach
Grasshopper (voice)
Being Shakespeare
The Pay Day
Gates
Alexander Pope: Rediscovering a Genius
Alexander Pope
Revisiting Brideshead
Narrator
No Man's Land
Colonel Soft
Camp Christmas
The Curse of King Tut's Tomb
George Russell
Deadly Appearances
Rick Spencer
Merchant Ivory
Self
Eternal Return
Malcolm
Postcards from the Edge
Simon Asquith
The Holiday List
Samuel
The Dead Room
Aubrey Judd
Soft Top Hard Shoulder
Eddie Cherdowski
Surveillance 24/7
St John
Creditors
Carry On Laughing
Crew Member
Rag Tale
Cormac Rourke
The Mystery of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Phantom of the Opera: Behind the Mask
Self
Shakespeare's Sonnets
The Amazing Mr. Blunden
Mr. Blunden
Shakespeare in Love
Tilney
The Good Father
Mark Varda
The Unforgettable Harry Secombe
Self
Golden Years
Royston
Thunderpants
Sir John Osgood
There's Something About Romcoms
Self
Doctor Jekyll
Journalist
Christmas Carol: The Movie
Charles Dickens / Ebenezer Scrooge (voice)
Jefferson in Paris
Richard Cosway
A Tribute To Ismail Merchant
Self (archive footage)
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Self - Actor and Welles' Biographer
Judi Dench: Our National Treasure
Narrator
The Fringe, Fame and Me
Self
The Rebel
Henry Palmer
The Scarlet Tunic
Captain Fairfax
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
Dr. Alex Sauer
Nutcracker Delights: English National Ballet
Narrator
Acting
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Leech
Thank You, Doctor Rey
Bob
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
Hugo Trenchfoot (voice)
Acts of Godfrey
Godfrey
Dead Head
Hugo Silver
The Christmas Tree
Jacob Weinberg
50 Years Legal
Self
The Crucifer of Blood
Inspector Lestrade
Born Silly
Narrator (voice)
The Man of Destiny
Napoleon
Moses
Meneptah II (voice)
The Marvellous Maggie Smith: A Celebration
Self
Around The World In 80 Days
Phileas Fogg (voice)
Victoria & Abdul
Mr. Puccini
Ripley Under Ground
Dean Bentliffe
Femme Fatale
Vicar Ronnie
Orson Welles Over Europe
Himself - Presenter
Testament: The Bible in Animation
Meneptah (voice)
Bedrooms and Hallways
Keith
Dodger Special: Coronation
Archbishop of Canterbury
David Copperfield
Wilkins Micawber
Roman Mysteries
Pliny
Dame Maggie Smith - A Celebration
Self
Chance in a Million
Tom Chance
Murder Ballads: How to Make It in Rock 'n' Roll
Richard O'Keefe
Late Bloomers
Richard
Cariani and the Courtesans
Raimondi
Galileo’s Battle for the Heavens
Galileo
The Madness of Boy George
Narrator (voice)
El pasajero clandestino
Major Owens
Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye
Theatreland
Himself
The Boy That Never Was
Cozimo
Men of Mystery
Himself
Tate Britain's Great Art Walks
Self
Maggie Smith at the BBC: a portrait
Self
Them From That Thing
Various
The Trials of Oz
John Mortimer
Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale
Charles Dickens
American: An Odyssey to 1947
Self
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
Self
Don't Eat the Neighbours
Little Napoleons
Edward Feathers
An Audience with Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
The Curse of King Tut's Tomb
George Russell
Art of Freedom
Self
A Christmas Carol
Alec Guinness: A Class Act
self
The British Guide to Showing Off
Self
Derren Brown: Trick or Treat
Himself
Grindsploitation 3: Video Nasty
Honour, Profit & Pleasure
George Frideric Handel
Save Our Bacon
The Swinesbury's Boss (voice)
Rik Mayall: Lord of Misrule
Narrator (voice)
A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley
Himself
Instant Enlightenment Including VAT
Maximillian
Jamie's Dream School
Himself
The Addictions of Sin: WH Auden in His Own Words
Readings (voice)
The First Silent Night: The Christmas Carol That United the World
Miss in Her Teens
The Author
Animated Epics: Don Quixote
Don Quixote
Lily Allen: From Riches to Rags
Narrator
Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors
Self - Narrator (voice)
England, My England
Charles II
The Reluctant Dragon
Dragon (voice)
Revolutionary Witness
Franciscus Palloy
Royal Variety Performance 1984
Classical Destinations: The Great Composers
narrator
The Civilization of Maxwell Bright
Mr. Wroth
The Sarah Millican Television Programme - Best of Series 1-2
Self
Reviving Harry Lime
Himself
How Gay Sex Changed the World
Self
Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story
Dickie Attenborough
Loose Women
Self
Question Time
Himself - Panellist
Q&A
Self - Panellist
Parkinson
Self
Saturday Review
Self