Michael Byrne

Biography

Byrne was born in London, England. He has sometimes been cast in Nazimilitary roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Major Schroeder in Force 10 from Navarone, Reinhard Beck in The Scarlet and the Black, General Olbricht in The Plot to Kill Hitler and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris. Also seen as the aged but fanatical SS General Neurath in "Outpost 2 - Black Sun", former concentration camp commandant and involved in the Nazis's sinister reality-shifting experiments. Byrne appeared as a Jewish concentration camp survivor who is instrumental in the capture of a Nazi war criminal (played by Ian McKellen) in the film Apt Pupil. He is also familiar to audiences as Smythe, a soldier who attempts to rape William Wallace's wife and first inspires Wallace to seek independence from England in the film Braveheart. His other film credits include The Eagle Has Landed, A Bridge Too Far, The Medusa Touch, The Saint, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Good Father, The Sum of All Fears, Gangs of New York and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. On television, he has appeared in Z-Cars, Secret Army, Tales of the Unexpected, The Professionals, The Devil's Crown,Smiley's People, Yes, Prime Minister, Lord Mountbatten - the Last Viceroy, Between The Lines, Sharpe, The Mists of Avalon, Waking the Dead, The Body Farm, Honest, Hamish Macbeth, and Casualty. From April 2008 to January 2010, Michael starred in Coronation Street, as Ted Page, Gail Platt's long lost father and the ex-lover of Audrey Roberts. It is not known whether he will return to the show. Byrne appeared in State of Play at the Edinburgh Festival written by Zia Trench. He played Romeo to Siân Phillips' Juliet at the Bristol Old Vic. Father of actress Allie Byrne.

Known For

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Gangs of New York

The Island on Bird Street

Hornblower: The Even Chance

Henry VI Part 1

Mauá - O Imperador e o Rei

Braveheart

The Omen

A Bridge Too Far

If It's a Man – Hang Up!

Sunday

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Acting

1989

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

as

Vogel

2009

Blood: The Last Vampire

as

Elder

1997

The Saint

as

Vereshagin

2002

Gangs of New York

as

Horace Greeley

2000

Battlefield Earth

as

Parson Staffer

1981

The Search for Alexander the Great

as

Demosthenes

1963

The Scarlet Blade

as

Lt. Hawke

2001

The Musketeer

as

Treville, Head of the Musketeers

2004

Beyond the Sea

as

Dr. Andretti

1976

The Eagle Has Landed

as

Karl

1974

Vampyres

as

Playboy

1978

The Medusa Touch

as

Duff

1988

Buster

as

Poyser

1995

The Infiltrator

as

Dieter Creutz

1992

Running Late

as

Clitheroe

1997

The Island on Bird Street

as

Bolek

1985

In the Secret State

as

Guy Preger

1985

The Good Father

as

Leonard Scruby

1978

Force 10 from Navarone

as

Schroeder

1998

Hornblower: The Even Chance

as

Captain Keene

1994

Sharpe's Company

as

Major Nairn

2012

Outpost: Black Sun

as

Neurath

1976

Rogue Male

as

Interrogator

1982

Man and Superman

as

Henry Straker

1974

Butley

as

Reg Nuttall

2013

Diana

as

Christiaan Barnard

1969

The Image

as

The Artist

2015

Harry Price: Ghost Hunter

as

Sir Charles Harwood

1983

Henry VI Part 3

as

Marquess of Montague / Father that killed his son

1983

The Tragedy of Richard III

as

Duke of Buckingham

1983

Henry VI Part 2

as

John Hume / Lieutenant

1983

Henry VI Part 1

as

Duke of Alencon

2015

Mortdecai

as

The Duke

1974

Ms or Jill and Jack

as

1991

Murderous Decisions

as

Octave

1963

The Silent Playground

as

Roger

2022

The Gold Machine

as

Andrew Norton

1990

The Plot to Kill Hitler

as

Friedrich Olbricht

1967

Much Ado About Nothing

as

Claudio

1974

Headmaster

as

1997

Tomorrow Never Dies

as

HMS Bedford Admiral Kelly

1998

30 Years to Life

as

Oliver Mather

1999

Mauá - O Imperador e o Rei

as

Mr. Carruthers

1995

Braveheart

as

Smythe

1994

A Few Short Journeys of the Heart

as

Blank/German/Old Geezer

1995

The Absence of War

as

Bryden Thomas

1998

Imogen's Face

as

Patrick

1976

The Omen

as

Monk (uncredited)

1994

Hildegard

as

Volmar

1997

Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse

as

Venables

1997

Sharpe: The Legend

as

Nairn

1975

Break In

as

Clarke

2002

The Sum of All Fears

as

Anatoli Grushkov

1977

A Bridge Too Far

as

Lt. Col. Giles A.M. Vandeleur

1975

If It's a Man – Hang Up!

as

Richard Lovell

2007

The Mark of Cain

as

Lieut General Strathairn

1983

The Scarlet and the Black

as

Reinhard Beck

2012

Quartet

as

Frank White

1972

Henry VIII and His Six Wives

as

Edward Seymour

2003

The Crooked Man

as

Archie Saunders

2004

The Return of the Dancing Master

as

Emil Wetterstedt

1984

Champions

as

Richard Hussey

2002

Sunday

as

Lord Widgery

2018

Intrigo: Death of an Author

as

Keller

1987

The Happy Valley

as

John Carberry

2014

The First Line

as

Richard

2018

The Last Witness

as

Coroner

1986

Theban Plays: Oedipus the King

as

Chorus

1997

The Fix

as

Sam Campbell

2000

Proof of Life

as

Lord Luthan

1975

Wednesday Love

as

Bruce

2018

Alien Overlords

as

Michael

1979

Coming Out

as

Gunnar Wedelman

1994

Nostradamus

as

Inquisitor

1975

Conduct Unbecoming

as

2nd Lt. Toby Strang

1998

Apt Pupil

as

Ben Kramer

1983

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

as

Antonio

1998

Gunshy

as

Lange

2010

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

as

Gellert Grindelwald

1994

Sharpe's Enemy

as

Major Nairn

1994

Sharpe's Honour

as

Major Nairn

1980

The Silence of the Sea

as

Werner Von Ebrennac

2019

Intrigo: Samaria

as

Commissioner Keller

Thriller

as

Richard Lovell

Hornblower

as

Captain Keene

Sharpe

as

Major Nairn

Ultimate Force

as

Double the Fist

as

The Bill

as

Tales of the Unexpected

as

Patrick Marney

A Touch of Frost

as

Alex Ormrod

Silent Witness

as

Between the Lines

as

The Practice

as

Officer (uncredited)

Crown Court

as

Waking the Dead

as

Joe Brackley

The Enigma Files

as

David Stanley

The Mists of Avalon

as

Merlin

Empire

as

Cicero

Yes, Prime Minister

as

Play for Today

as

A Sort of Innocence

as

Smiley's People

as

Peter Guillam

Within These Walls

as

No Bananas

as

Edward Grant

Oliver's Travels

as

Moody

The Vice

as

The BBC Television Shakespeare

as

Duke of Buckingham

Heat of the Sun

as

Oliver's Travels

as

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries

as

DCC Charles Griswold

Saracen

as

Col. Patrick Ansell

Secret Army

as

Paul Vercors

Crossing Lines

as

Edward Baxendale

Ellis Island

as

Dr. Carl Travers

Bodies

as

Old Mullins

The Living and the Dead

as

Ebenezer Alsop

Shades of Greene

as

Trevor's Father

Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy

as

George Abell

Coronation Street

as

Ted Page

Play for Today

as

Russell

Midsomer Murders

as

Keith Grundy

Play for Today

as

Bruce

Lady Killers

as

Edward Marshall-Hall

Lady Killers

as

Edward Marshall-Hall KC

Agatha Raisin

as

Bishop Parsons

Hamish Macbeth

as

Duncan Scott

The Professionals

as

Werner Dreisinger

Strike

as

Roy Phipps

The BBC Television Shakespeare

as

Antonio

The BBC Television Shakespeare

as

Duke of Alençon

The BBC Television Shakespeare

as

John Hume/Ship's Lieutenant

The BBC Television Shakespeare

as

Marquess of Montague/Father who killed his son

Production

Crew

2005

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

as

Directing