Nigel Terry

Born: August 15 1945
Where: Bristol, England, UK

The veteran TV and film actor is probably best known for playing King Arthur in John Boorman's Excalibur and his working relationship with the late Derek Jarman.

A specialist in period roles, the Royal Shakespeare Company actor made his film debut as the twitchy Prince John in the 1968 Katharine Hepburn/Peter O'Toole vehicle The Lion in Winter.

However, he did not appear onscreen again for thirteen years until Excalibur, alongside Helen Mirren as Morgana, Nichol Williamson as Merlin and Gabriel Byrne as Uther Pendragon.

After appearing in the New Zealand-made biopic Sylvia and the thriller Deja Vu, Terry teamed up with avant-garde director Jarman for the 1986 drama Caravaggio.

Starring as the 16th-century painter, Terry was the centerpiece of this richly-shot and eccentric piece of work.

After a smaller role in Song of Experience, Terry re-teamed with Jarman to narrate The Last of England, a bleak look at Margaret Thatcher's post-industrial society.

Next came Jarman's War Requiem, which dealt with poet Wilfred Owen's experiences in World War I.

That war again figured in TV movie The Orchid House, in which Terry was the wounded veteran father of a family living in Dominica.

He next played Mortimer, the bete noir of Edward II in Jarman's experimental, sexually explicit tale of the 13th-century King.

Terry's next film, Christopher Columbus was a box office and critical disappointment, despite a marketable cast including Marlon Brando and Tom Selleck.

Jarman recast him again in Blue, the personal journal of his struggle with AIDS, narrated by Terry and others.

The actor looked to TV for his next roles, appearing in Devil's Advocate, Rules of Engagement and Far From the Madding Crowd.

In 2001, he appeared in the fantasy based around Napoleon The Emperor's New Clothes and the cyberspace thriller FeardotCom.

Recent work includes Peter Greenaway's Tulse Luper Suitcases: The Moab Story with Deborah Harry.