Brian Cox

Brian Cox as Hannibal 'Lecktor' from Michael Mann's Manhunter.

Brian Denis Cox, CBE (born June 1, 1946 in Dundee, Scotland) is a Scottish actor, notable for being the first actor to play Hannibal Lecter, a role he took in the Michael Mann film Manhunter. He is at least partially of Irish Catholic extraction.

Cox was trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He made his first television appearance as an extra in several episodes of The Prisoner in 1967 before taking a lead role in Year of the Sex Olympics the next year. In 1978, he played King Henry II of England in the acclaimed BBC2 drama serial, The Devil's Crown, following which he starred in many other television dramas. His first film appearance was as Leon Trotsky in Nicholas and Alexandra in 1971.

In 1995, he appeared in both Rob Roy and Braveheart. His notable recent films include L.I.E., The Ring, X2, Troy and The Bourne Supremacy.

He usually plays villains, such as a rogue colonel in X2, the tyrannical Agamemnon in Troy, Pariah Dark in the Danny Phantom television movie Reign Storm, a devious CIA official in the Bourne films, and even lent his voice for the role of a snuff film director in the video game Manhunt. He has on occasion played more sympathetic characters, such as Edward Norton's sympathic father in 25th Hour, a fatherly police superior in Super Troopers and Rachel McAdams' father in Red Eye.

Cox won an Emmy Award in 2001 for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in the television mini-series Nuremburg, which starred Alec Baldwin, who played former Supreme Court Justice and Nuremburg prosecutor Robert H. Jackson. Cox currently stars in a supporting role as Jack Langrishe in the HBO series Deadwood.

Trivia

Performed the voice of Scolar Visari in the PlayStation 2 game Killzone
His son, Alan Cox, is also an actor, best known for his role in Young Sherlock Holmes.
He is a diabetic and has worked to promote a diabetes research facility in his home town of Dundee.
He played a villain in both the movie Manhunter, and in the unrelated video game Manhunt, released 17 years later.
During the production of Manhunter, while he was playing Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins was playing King Lear on stage at the National Theater. Years later, during the production of The Silence of the Lambs, when Hopkins took over as Hannibal Lecter, Cox was playing King Lear at the National Theater.
He based his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter on Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel.
He provided the voice of the demented anatagonist, The Director, in the controversial video game Manhunt, from the creators of the Grand Theft Auto series which shares a similar name with Manhunter and parallels with various other movies.
Cox was to play the lion Aslan in [[The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]], but was replaced by Liam Neeson.
On television, he played Daphne Moon's (played by Jane Leeves) father in Frasier. He also played the King of Camelot in Red Dwarf.
His personal modesty is such that he never views or watches his own work.

Selected filmography

External links

[The Times Interview 06/2006]

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