Michael Sheard
Encyclopedia
Michael Sheard was a Scottish
actor
who featured in a large number of film
s and television programmes.
, Scotland
; the son of a church minister, and was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in London
. During his national service
, Sheard was a Royal Air Force
aircraftman
.
(1980).
In addition to his Star Wars role, Sheard had a lengthy affiliation with science fiction, and has appeared in six different stories in the BBC
science fiction
television series Doctor Who
, appearing with the First
, Third
, Fourth
, Fifth
and Seventh Doctor
s. He provided a DVD commentary for the 1975 Doctor Who adventure Pyramids of Mars
, in which he appeared, and he also worked with Eighth Doctor
Paul McGann
, in "The Stones of Venice
", a Doctor Who audio drama
produced by Big Finish Productions
. He was a regular guest at both Doctor Who and Star Wars conventions over the years in the UK and the US.
Further to this, he had guest roles in Colditz
(1972), On The Buses
(1973), Space: 1999
(1975), The Tomorrow People
(1978), and Blake's 7
(1980).
Sheard portrayed Adolf Hitler
five times throughout his career, including in The Tomorrow People
(1978) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(1989), and Rogue Male (1976). He has also portrayed Heinrich Himmler
three times. In 1983, he played "Herr Grunwald", the German manager of a building site in the first series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
.
In 1980, he had a major supporting role in Stephen Poliakoff
's acclaimed BBC television play Caught on a Train
.
In February 2005 he played a small cameo role as the narrator in Star Wars
fan film Order of the Sith: Vengeance and its sequel Downfall - Order of the Sith - alongside Jeremy Bulloch
and David Prowse
. These fan films were made in England in support of Save the Children
.
. He had been suffering from cancer. A few weeks previously on 9 August he appeared via telephone on the Iain Lee
show on LBC
and talked about his career in film and television.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who featured in a large number of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s and television programmes.
Early life
Sheard was born in AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
; the son of a church minister, and was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. During his national service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
, Sheard was a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
aircraftman
Aircraftman
Aircraftman , or Aircraftwoman , is the lowest rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of several other Commonwealth countries....
.
Career
Sheard is most known for playing villains. His most prominent television role was as strict deputy headmaster Maurice Bronson in the British children's series Grange Hill which he played from 1985-89. His most prominent film role was that of Admiral Ozzel in The Empire Strikes BackStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...
(1980).
In addition to his Star Wars role, Sheard had a lengthy affiliation with science fiction, and has appeared in six different stories in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, appearing with the First
First Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...
, Third
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
, Fourth
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
, Fifth
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
and Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
s. He provided a DVD commentary for the 1975 Doctor Who adventure Pyramids of Mars
Pyramids of Mars
Pyramids of Mars is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1975.-Synopsis:...
, in which he appeared, and he also worked with Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
Paul McGann
Paul McGann
Paul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
, in "The Stones of Venice
The Stones of Venice (Doctor Who audio)
The Stones of Venice is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
", a Doctor Who audio drama
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
produced by Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
. He was a regular guest at both Doctor Who and Star Wars conventions over the years in the UK and the US.
Further to this, he had guest roles in Colditz
Colditz (TV series)
Colditz is a British television series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974.The series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle when designated Oflag IV-C during World War II, and their many attempts to...
(1972), On The Buses
On The Buses
On the Buses was a British situation comedy created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney which was broadcast in the UK from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the Corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential...
(1973), Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
(1975), The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People is a British children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran between 1973 and 1979. The series was re-imagined in 1992, Roger Price acting as executive producer...
(1978), and Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
(1980).
Sheard portrayed Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
five times throughout his career, including in The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People is a British children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran between 1973 and 1979. The series was re-imagined in 1992, Roger Price acting as executive producer...
(1978) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third film in the Indiana Jones franchise. Harrison Ford reprises the title role and Sean Connery plays Indiana's father, Henry...
(1989), and Rogue Male (1976). He has also portrayed Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
three times. In 1983, he played "Herr Grunwald", the German manager of a building site in the first series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven English migrant construction workers. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in Düsseldorf....
.
In 1980, he had a major supporting role in Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff, CBE, FRSL is an acclaimed British playwright, director and scriptwriter, widely judged amongst Britain's foremost television dramatists.-Early life and career:...
's acclaimed BBC television play Caught on a Train
Caught on a Train
Caught On A Train is a British television play written by Stephen Poliakoff and directed by Peter Duffell, based on an overnight train journey across Europe, and following the route of a journey Poliakoff had himself made from London to Vienna...
.
In February 2005 he played a small cameo role as the narrator in Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
fan film Order of the Sith: Vengeance and its sequel Downfall - Order of the Sith - alongside Jeremy Bulloch
Jeremy Bulloch
Jeremy Bulloch is an English actor. He is best known for the role inside the costume of the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy, though he did not voice the character...
and David Prowse
David Prowse
David Prowse, MBE is an English former bodybuilder, weightlifter and actor, most widely known for playing the role of Darth Vader in physical form. In Britain, he is also remembered as having played the Green Cross Code man...
. These fan films were made in England in support of Save the Children
Save the Children
Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...
.
Personal life
Sheard died on 31 August 2005 (aged 67) at his home on the Isle of WightIsle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
. He had been suffering from cancer. A few weeks previously on 9 August he appeared via telephone on the Iain Lee
Iain Lee
Iain Lee is a British comedian, and a television and radio presenter. His career began when he performed stand-up comedy gigs across venues in London. He subsequently became co-presenter of the comedy current affairs show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 and RI:SE...
show on LBC
LBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...
and talked about his career in film and television.
Filmography
- Crossroads (1964) (TV)
- The Likely LadsThe Likely LadsThe Likely Lads was a black-and-white British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966...
(1964) (TV) - Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
(1966, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1988) (TV) - The McKenzie BreakThe McKenzie BreakThe McKenzie Break is a 1970 British war drama film directed by Lamont Johnson, starring Brian Keith as Jack Connor, an intelligence officer investigating recent disturbances at a German prisoner of war camp in Scotland...
(1970) - Holiday on the BusesHoliday on the BusesHoliday on the Buses is a 1973 British comedy film directed by Bryan Izzard and starring Reg Varney and Doris Hare. The film is the third spin-off film from the ITV sitcom On the Buses and succeeded the films On the Buses and Mutiny on the Buses...
(1973) - Fall of EaglesFall of EaglesFall of Eagles is a 13-part British television drama aired by the BBC in 1974. The series was created by John Elliot and produced by Stuart Burge....
(1974) (TV) - Five Red HerringsFive Red HerringsFive Red Herrings is a 1931 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers. It was retitled Suspicious Characters for its first publication in the United States, but reverted to its original title in subsequent printings....
(1975) (TV) - Rogue MaleRogue Male (1976 film)Rogue Male is a 1976 British television film starring Peter O'Toole, based on Geoffrey Household's novel Rogue Male. Made by the BBC, it was adapted by Frederic Raphael and directed by Clive Donner, and also stars Alastair Sim, John Standing and Harold Pinter...
(1976)(TV) - The Hiding PlaceThe Hiding Place (film)The Hiding Place is a 1975 film based on the autobiographical book of the same name by Corrie ten Boom recounting her and her family's experiences before and during their imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust in World War II.-Plot:...
(1975) - LillieLillieLillie is a British television serial made by London Weekend Television for ITV and broadcast in 1978.This period serial starred Francesca Annis in the title role of Lillie Langtry...
(1978) (TV) - Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
- Les MisérablesLes Misérables (1978 film)Les Misérables is a TV film based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo. The film was written by John Gay and directed by Glenn Jordan.-Differences from the novel:...
(1978) (TV) - The Riddle of the SandsThe Riddle of the Sands (film)The Riddle of the Sands is a 1979 British spy thriller based on the novel of the same name by Erskine Childers. Set in 1901, and starring Michael York and Simon MacCorkindale, it concerns the efforts of two British yachtsmen to avert a German plot to invade England.It was filmed on the North Sea...
(1979) - Escape to AthenaEscape to AthenaEscape to Athena is a British adventure war film released in 1979, directed by George Pan Cosmatos and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. The international cast included many well-known actors of the 1970s, including Roger Moore, Telly Savalas and Elliott Gould.The film is set during the...
(1979) - MinderMinder (TV series)Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV...
(1979) - Caught on a TrainCaught on a TrainCaught On A Train is a British television play written by Stephen Poliakoff and directed by Peter Duffell, based on an overnight train journey across Europe, and following the route of a journey Poliakoff had himself made from London to Vienna...
(1980) - Blake's 7Blake's 7Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
(1980) (TV) - Take the High RoadTake the High RoadTake the High Road was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, and set in the fictional village of Glendarroch , and claims to have about 2 million fans, including the Queen Mother...
(1980) (TV) - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes BackStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes BackStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...
(1980) - The BunkerThe Bunker (1981 film)The Bunker is a 1981 CBS television film, Time/Life production based on the book The Bunker. The movie makes significant deviations from James O'Donnell's book--published in 1978. The deviations are mainly due to an effort to clarify the events, and allowing the actors license to interpret some of...
(1981) (TV) - Auf Wiedersehen, PetAuf Wiedersehen, PetAuf Wiedersehen, Pet is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven English migrant construction workers. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site in Düsseldorf....
(1983–84) (TV) - The Invisible ManThe Invisible Man (TV serial)The Invisible Man is a six-part television serial based on the science fiction/fantasy novella by H. G. Wells, screened by the BBC in the UK throughout September and October 1984. It was produced as part of the BBC 1 Classic Serial strand, which incorporated numerous television adaptations of...
(1984) (TV) - Grange Hill (1985–1989) (TV)
- Indiana Jones and the Last CrusadeIndiana Jones and the Last CrusadeIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third film in the Indiana Jones franchise. Harrison Ford reprises the title role and Sean Connery plays Indiana's father, Henry...
(1989) (uncredited) - Coronation StreetCoronation StreetCoronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
(1989) (TV) - 'Allo 'Allo!'Allo 'Allo!'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes. It is a parody of another BBC programme, the wartime drama Secret Army, and was created by David Croft, who also wrote the theme music, and Jeremy Lloyd. Lloyd and Croft wrote the first 6...
(1991) (TV) - Shadows In The Woods (2006)