Kenneth Cranham

Born in Scotland in 1944, Cranham has been a figure of film and stage nearly all his adult life. Early appearances included the British film Oliver! in 1968, and small roles on British television, including anthology series such as Thirty-Minute Theater, and later iconic shows such as Softly Softly and Z Cars where he had a returning role. He came to national prominence when he starred in the title role in the popular 1980s comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, he appeared in a number of films and television series. It was with the rise of miniseries in the early 1980s that his small screen appearances picked up. He took roles in The Merchant of Venice, in 1980 and Brideshead Revisited in 1981. He is well-known to horror genre fans as the deranged Dr. Philip Channard and his Cenobitic alter-ego from Hellbound: Hellraiser II.

He later showed up in television series such as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and El Cid as well as Midnight Man and On Dangerous Ground, as the recurring character Brig. Charles Ferguson, in the adaptations of novelist Jack Higgins' bestselling military thrillers. His many stage credits include West End productions of Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot, An Inspector Calls, (both transferring to Broadway), The Ruffian on the Stair, The Birthday Party and Gaslight (at the Old Vic).

In recent years, Cranham has been recognized by audiences in compelling performances in two recent British crime dramas: Gangster No. 1 in 2000 and Layer Cake in 2005 before becoming a familiar face as the beleaguered Pompey Magnus in the acclaimed 2005 HBO series, Rome. He has appeared in A Good Year, Hot Fuzz, Valkyrie and Made in Dagenham, in BBC's Upstairs Downstairs and heard on BBC Radio 4′s Afternoon Play series as "DS Max Matthews" in the three-play series The Interrogation by Roy Williams.

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