James Fox

Born: May 19 1939
Where: London, UK

Born into an acting family - his brothers are the actor Edward Fox and agent Robert Fox - he first attracted attention in The Servant.

Other notable roles include Performance, A Passage to India, Patriot Games and The Remains of the Day.

Born to an actress and theatrical agent, Fox trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

He made his film debut in 1950 as a child star in The Miniver Story, using his own name, William Fox.

He followed this with an appearance in Ealing's The Magnet but soon gave up screenwork to finish school.

After completing compulsory military service Fox changed his first name to James and returned to acting as a runner in Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.

Fox soon made his mark alongside Dirk Bogarde in Joseph Losey's Pinter-scripted psychological class drama The Servant.

Switching styles he headlined an international cast in the slapstick comedy extravaganza Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

Subsequent roles included the PoW drama King Rat and Thoroughly Modern Millie before he crowned the decade in Nicolas Roeg's cult classic Performance with Mick Jagger.

He then took time out doing Christian vocational work only to return in 1984 in David Lean's A Passage to India and Julien Temple's Absolute Beginners.

Specialising in aristocratic roles, he played upper class parts in The Russia House, the rescued Lord Holmes in Patriot Games, lord of the manor in The Remains of the Day and as Hugh Grant's auction house boss in the comedy Mickey Blue Eyes.

In 2000, he appeared opposite Ray Winstone in the gangster caper Sexy Beast and went onto star in Ismael Merchant's The Mystic Masseur.

Recent work includes the TV movie The Falklands Play and the mini series Cambridge Spies.