Ken Bones

Ken Bones, born on 11 June 1947, is an English actor and member of the Royal Shakespeare Company who made his Broadway appearance in 1984. He trained at RADA from 1971 to 1973, earning the Honours Diploma along with the Ronson Prize, the Kendal Award, the Poel Prize, and the John Barton Prize during his studies there.

His professional stage career began in January 1974 when he played Roy in The Odd Couple at Crewe. That same season he took on additional roles including Wick in Little Malcolm, Vincent Crummles in Nicholas Nickleby, and Dr Hennessey in Count Dracula. Between 1974 and 1975, Bones joined the Prospect Theatre Company for a national tour that included performances at the Edinburgh Festival and London's Roundhouse, where he played Gower in Henry IV and Henry V alongside Timothy Dalton, and the Narrator in the rock musical Pilgrim with Paul Jones and Peter Straker.

In 1976, Bones joined the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, where his roles included Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret, Mr Shanks in Habeas Corpus, Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard, Milo Tindal in Sleuth, and Curly Delafield in Knuckle. The following year he toured with the Mermaid Theatre educational company The Molecule Club, teaching science to children. In 1978, he played Lucifer in the first modern revival of The Lincoln Mystery Cycle at Lincoln Cathedral, and also joined the Southern Exchange Theatre Company, performing at venues including the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, the Hexagon in Reading, and the Lighthouse in Poole. His roles with that company included Ramble in Lock Up Your Daughters, Leonard in Time and Time Again, Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, and several others. In 1979, his stage work included the Earl of Warwick in Saint Joan, Eilert Loevborg in Hedda Gabler with Gayle Hunnicutt, and John in Absent Friends. In 1980, he appeared in a national tour of Woyzeck with Foco Novo Theatre Company, playing the Drum Major.

For the Royal Shakespeare Company, Bones has appeared in 21 productions, among them Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, Othello, The Duchess of Malfi, Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Tamburlaine, King Lear, and both of his Broadway credits: Cyrano de Bergerac and Much Ado About Nothing. His National Theatre stage work includes the Duke in The Revenger's Tragedy and Dr Klein in Her Naked Skin. In London's West End, he has appeared in You Never Can Tell, Communicating Doors, Becket, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, and Antony and Cleopatra. Additional stage credits include Design for Living, Relative Values, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Doctor Faustus with Ben Kingsley, Sir Thomas More, and Reverend Brown in Inherit the Wind with Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic.

Bones made his first television appearance in 1977 in the BBC Jubilee Play A Day in the Life by Ray Connolly. Subsequent television roles included Kemble in Fox (1980), Sergeant Parkes in Spearhead (1981), and Paul Roussillon in Bergerac (1988). Also in 1988, he played Victorian medium Robert James Lees in ITV's Jack the Ripper starring Michael Caine. He appeared in Series 3 of The Bill in 1987, a role he continued as DCI Ted Ackroyd through 2009, and played a Superintendent in London's Burning (1988). In 2001, he played Banquo in the RSC's televised production of Macbeth starring Antony Sher, a stage production that had run in Britain, Japan, and the United States. Later television credits include Keith Burns in Spooks (2002), Robbie in Casualty (2003), Mr Mansell in Heartbeat (2004), Assistant Commissioner Bob Mullen in New Tricks (2004), Doctors (2007), Holby City (2008 and 2010), Erasmus in Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant (2009), the six-part series The Hour (2011), Lord Halifax in Season 2 of Upstairs Downstairs (2012), and Cardinal Leto in Versailles (2018). He also played the character Sethius in the CBBC series Young Dracula, and appeared in Father Brown in 2017 as Eugene Bone.

His feature film debut was Bellman and True (1987), directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Bernard Hill, in which he played the character Gort. In 1995, he played Toussant in Cutthroat Island, and in 1999 he played Admiral Bill Wilson in Wing Commander. His 2004 film role was Hippasus in Troy, starring Brad Pitt. Further film appearances include Perfect Hideout (2008) with Billy Zane, The World's End (2013), and the 2014 epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, in which he played an Egyptian scribe. Bones appeared as The General in the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor (2013) and reprised the role in the Series 9 finale Hell Bent (2015) before the character was recast. In 2013, he also joined the cast of the television series Atlantis, and in 2016 appeared in Medici: Masters of Florence.