David Warner: 1941-2022

Actor David Warner has passed away at the age of 80. 

 

Born David Hattersley Warner in Manchester, England, in 1941, Warner attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1961, before making his professional stage debut at the Royal Court Theatre a year later, playing Snout in a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He would join the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963. 

 

In 1963, he made his screen debut as the villain Blifi in TOM JONES, and would launch a film and TV career that would span the next six-plus decades. He would appear opposite Gregory Peck in the horror classic THE OMEN (1976), and the 1979 thriller NIGHTWING. He would often play villains, including Jack the Ripper in TIME AFTER TIME (1979), THE THIRTY NINE STEPS (1978), TIME BANDITS (1981), and TRON (1982). 

 

He later appeared in STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER (1989), STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY (1991), TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II: THE SECRET OF THE OOZE (1991), and would have a memorable role as the henchman Mr. Lovejoy in TITANIC (1997). 

 

Other notable film roles include THE ISLAND (1980), THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN (1981), THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS (1983), IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994), SCREAM 2 (1997), WING COMMANDER (1999), Tim Burton’s PLANET OF THE APES (2001), and would play Admiral Boom in MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018). 

 

In television, he would play opposite George C. Scott as Bob Cratchit in A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1984), provide voicework in BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, and would receive an Emmy for his work in MASADA (1981).   He would return to the STAR TREK franchise in a two-parter of THE NEXT GENERATION episodes CHAIN OF COMMAND; one of the most acclaimed episodes of the series. 

 

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This Blogger’s first memories of David Warner have roots in two films: TIME AFTER TIME from 1979, and the TV movie A CHRISTMAS CAROL from 1984. In the former, he gave a chilling performance as Jack the Ripper; a villain that came across as so dangerous not because he was deranged, but because he was calm and cool. Some years later, he switched from deadly to warm and loving as Cratchit in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and it was hard to believe that was the same man who had played the Ripper. Those two early performances showed the great diversity Warner had; with his elegant delivery and distinctive voice…he could play anything anywhere. He was fearless; having no hangups in dancing to a Vanilla Ice song in a NINJA TURTLES movie, and gave a Klingon Chancellor a gravitas and weight. This Blogger can’t easily recall a time before David Warner; he was “that guy” and one of the best.