Hilton McRae

Hilton McRae is a Scottish actor born in Dundee on 28 December 1949, whose career spans theatre, television, and film across the United Kingdom and the United States. He is married to actress Lindsay Duncan, and the couple have a son, Cal McRae, born in September 1991.

McRae's theatrical training and early career were shaped by his time with the radical theatre group 7:84 and his studies at the University of Edinburgh, where Ian Charleson was a close friend and classmate. Following his graduation, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977, and his work has since concentrated largely on avant-garde and political theatre. He contributed a chapter to the 1990 memorial volume For Ian Charleson: A Tribute, published in honor of his late friend.

On Broadway, McRae appeared in 1987 in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. His stage work in London has included roles in several musicals, among them Mamma Mia! and Miss Saigon, in which he played The Engineer. He also took on the role of Mr. Stopnick in the UK premiere of Caroline, or Change at the National Theatre, a production that received the Best Musical Award from the Evening Standard. In 2008, he played the Scarecrow in a production of The Wizard of Oz at the Southbank.

McRae starred in The Kreutzer Sonata, a solo stage adaptation of Tolstoy's novella, which opened at the Gate Theatre in London in 2009. The production was revived in 2012 and subsequently transferred to New York City, where his performance was reviewed by the New York Times. He also appeared in Rabbit, a play by Nina Raine that opened at the Old Red Lion Theatre in 2006 before transferring to the Trafalgar Studios in Whitehall.

His film work includes an uncredited appearance as rebel star-pilot Arvel Crynyd, known as Green Leader, in Return of the Jedi, as well as substantial roles in The French Lieutenant's Woman and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan.