User blog:Ausir/Roy Dotrice is Hallyne the Pyromancer

It has been announced that Roy Dotrice, a British actor known to George R.R. Martin fans for narrating all A Song of Ice and Fire audiobooks, will portray Hallyne the Pyromancer in the second season of Game of Thrones.

In the series Dotrice was originally hired to play Grand Maester Pycelle. George R.R. Martin confirmed his casting on 23 June 2010. Unfortunately, Dotrice suffered from health problems which necessitated a four-month convalescent period, just before production was due to begin. As a result Dotrice had to withdraw from the series and was replaced by Julian Glover, a former colleague of his from a previous project.

Roy Dotrice was born on 26 May 1923. He fought in World War II as part of the Royal Air Force and spent four years in a German prisoner of war camp. He began acting upon his return to England. He achieved critical success as John Aubrey in the one-man play Brief Lives, beginning in 1965. Dotrice played the role in 1,782 performances over several decades, earning him a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the greatest number of solo performances by an actor in a play. He also achieved critical acclaim for his portrayal of Leopold Mozart, the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in the high-acclaimed and successful 1984 movie Amadeus. He was made a Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 Honours List.

His character, Hallyne, sometimes called Hallyne the Pyromancer', is the head of the Alchemists' Guild in King's Landing, in charge of the city's stocks of wildfire and concerned with other fire-related matters.