Michael Gough

For other people named Michael Gough, see Michael Gough (disambiguation).

Michael Gough
Gough as Arthur Holmwood in Dracula
Born
Francis Michael Gough

(1916-11-23)23 November 1916
Kuala Lumpur, Federated Malay States
Died17 March 2011(2011-03-17) (aged 94)
Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Resting placeCremated; ashes scattered in the English Channel
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Education
OccupationActor
Years active1946–1999, 2005, 2010
Spouses
  • Diana Graves (1915-1975)
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1937; div. 1948)​
  • Anne Leon (1925-1990)
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1950; div. 1962)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1965; div. 1979)​
  • Henrietta Lawrence
    ​
    (m. 1981)​
Children4

Francis Michael Gough (/ɡɒf/ GOF; 23 November 1916[1] – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer horror films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthur Holmwood in Dracula, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth from 1989 to 1997 in the four Batman films directed by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher. He appeared in three more Burton films: Sleepy Hollow, voicing Elder Gutknecht in Corpse Bride and the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland.

Gough also appeared in popular British television shows, including Doctor Who (as the titular villain in The Celestial Toymaker (1966) and as Councillor Hedin in Arc of Infinity (1983)), and in an episode of The Avengers as the automation-obsessed wheelchair user Dr. Armstrong in "The Cybernauts" (1965). In 1956 he received a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.[2]

At the National Theatre in London Gough excelled as a comedian, playing a resigned and rueful parent in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce (1977). When the comedy transferred to Broadway in 1978 he won a Tony Award. One of Gough's most well-received West End roles was as Baron von Epp in the 1983 revival of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me.[3]

  1. ^ Gough in the London Times, 23 June 1997: "There was some indecision as to when I was born. My sister said it was 1916. I'd lost my birth certificate". Gough's wife Henrietta confirmed 1916 (and not 1915) as her husband's birth year in 2010 (see Christian Heger: Mondbeglänzte Zaubernächte. Das Kino von Tim Burton. Marburg 2010).
  2. ^ "BAFTA Award: Actor in 1956". BAFTA. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  3. ^ Shorter, Eric (17 March 2011). "Michael Gough obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 17 March 2011.