Nigel Terry

Nigel Terry
Terry in 2014
Born	Peter Nigel Terry (1945-08-15)15 August 1945 Bristol, England
Died	30 April 2015(2015-04-30) (aged 69) Newquay, Cornwall, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1967–2014

Peter Nigel Terry (15 August 1945 – 30 April 2015) was an English stage, film, and television actor, typically in historical and period roles. He played Prince John in Anthony Harvey's film The Lion in Winter (1968) and King Arthur in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981).

Terry was born on 15 August 1945¹ in Bristol, the son of Frank Albert Terry OBE, DFC,² a pilot in the Royal Air Force, and his wife, Doreen.¹ The family soon moved to Truro, Cornwall, where his father worked as a probation officer.² Terry attended Truro School in Truro, where he developed an interest in acting and became skilled at drawing and painting.

His parents encouraged him to go on the stage, and after working briefly in forestry and as a petrol pump attendant, he joined the National Youth Theatre.³⁴ He enrolled at London's Central School of Speech and Drama in 1963, working both on stage and behind the scenes. He joined the Oxford Meadow Players in 1966, working initially as assistant stage manager.

Terry worked mostly in theatre.⁵ After training with repertory companies like the Oxford Meadow Players and Bristol Old Vic, Terry appeared in many productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Round House Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre. Among his roles was Daniel de Bosola in the 1989 Royal Shakespeare Company production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.⁶ In the same year he played Pericles in David Thacker's production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

Terry appeared in about 20 films, most notably as John in The Lion in Winter (1968) with Katharine Hepburn, Peter O'Toole and Anthony Hopkins;⁷ King Arthur in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981);⁸ and the title character in Derek Jarman's Caravaggio (1986).⁷ He worked with Jarman on four more films: The Last of England (1988), War Requiem (1989), Edward II (1991) and Blue (1993).

His last film role was in Troy in 2004, playing the Trojan high priest.

An early television appearance was as the agoraphobic Harry Mandrake in the Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) episode "Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave" (1970).

His main US and British television appearances include Covington Cross, a series set in medieval times. He also appeared in Casualty as Denny, as General Cobb in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Daughter" and as Gabriel Piton in Highlander: The Series. He also played Sam Jacobs in a two-part Waking the Dead episode entitled "Anger Management". He appeared in a third-series Pie in the Sky episode, "Irish Stew", as Byron de Goris. He also appeared in an episode of Foyle's War.

In 1993, after 30 years of living in London, Terry moved back to Cornwall.⁹ He was a very private person.⁵¹⁰¹¹ Terry died of emphysema in Newquay, Cornwall, on 30 April 2015, at the age of 69.⁵ In the absence of any surviving close family, his memorial service was organised by close friends Maggie Steed and David Horovitch in Truro on 19 May 2015, attended by fellow actors and friends.