Wiki of Westeros

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Wiki of Westeros
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Wiki of Westeros

"I don't think he's a bad guy at all. No. He's a man of principle. They may not be your principles or my principles, but he's quite principled... I'm attracted to characters that make you ask questions, or make an audience ask questions - why is he doing that, what is he really about? There's an ambiguity about him, you're never quite sure about which way he's going to go."
―Charles Dance on playing Tywin Lannister.[1]

Walter Charles Dance (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor, screenwriter and director. He was set for a career in graphic design before switching to acting in the 1970s, when he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. His television breakthrough came in the 1984 series The Jewel in the Crown.

In the United States, Dance became best known for playing villains, most notably in the films The Golden Child and Last Action Hero (where he acted against Eddie Murphy and Arnold Schwarznegger respectively). He also played a henchmen of the main villain in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, where he met and acted alongside fellow Thrones actor Julian Glover, and in which his character was killed by a speargun arrow in the chest. He also acted in 2011 in the medieval drama Ironclad as Archbishop Langton. Dance also had a rare "good guy" Hollywood role as Dr. Clemens in Alien 3. One of Charles Dance's more prominent film roles was as Soames, the MI5 agent who commanded the Cairo Gang during the Irish War of Independence, in the 1996 film Michael Collins (which also featured Ian McElhinney).

Dance's most recent television appearances were as the Witchfinder in an episode of Merlin, as Havelock Vetinari in the Sky adaptation of Going Postal and as Dr. Maltravers in the ITV drama Trinity.

Dance made his video game voice acting debut in 2015 as Emhyr var Emreis, the emperor of Nilfgaard in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

He appeared in the 2014 movie Dracula Untold, which also featured Art Parkinson and Paul Kaye.

He appeared in the 2016 movie Me Before You with his Game of Thrones co-star Emilia Clarke.

Game of Thrones[]

In Game of Thrones, Dance plays Lord Tywin Lannister. He was confirmed in the role on 29 July 2010. He initially appeared as a guest star in the first season and joined the starring cast for the second season. Dance first caught Benioff and Weiss's eyes for the role when they saw his work in Bleak House.[2]

Tywin is actually 58 years old when he dies, but in the corresponding section of Season 4, Tywin is said to be 67 years old in the TV series. This was probably done to match Dance's age. Also, while the name of Tywin's wife was Joanna Lannister, Dance also had a wife named Joanna.

Dance never read any of the books, through his exit from the show at the end of Season 4. He was also made aware of his character's death from a fan encounter - not that he is entirely innocent of being spoiled about it. As he explained, a fan greeted him once and complimented that Tywin has a great death scene in the novels - he didn't say what it was, but Dance was so intrigued that he went ahead and asked him what was the specific manner of his death. Before that point he wasn't even aware that Tywin would die before the TV series ended.[3]

Credits[]

Guest starring[]

Game of Thrones: Season 1
Winter Is Coming The Kingsroad Lord Snow Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things The Wolf and the Lion
A Golden Crown You Win or You Die The Pointy End Baelor Fire and Blood

Starring[]

Game of Thrones: Season 2
The North Remembers The Night Lands What Is Dead May Never Die Garden of Bones The Ghost of Harrenhal
The Old Gods and the New A Man Without Honor The Prince of Winterfell Blackwater Valar Morghulis
Game of Thrones: Season 3
Valar Dohaeris Dark Wings, Dark Words Walk of Punishment And Now His Watch Is Ended Kissed by Fire
The Climb The Bear and the Maiden Fair Second Sons The Rains of Castamere Mhysa
Game of Thrones: Season 4
Two Swords The Lion and the Rose Breaker of Chains Oathkeeper First of His Name
The Laws of Gods and Men Mockingbird The Mountain and the Viper The Watchers on the Wall The Children
Game of Thrones: Season 5
The Wars To Come The House of Black and White High Sparrow Sons of the Harpy Kill the Boy
Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken The Gift Hardhome The Dance of Dragons Mother's Mercy

See also[]

References[]

  1. The SFX Book of Game of Thrones
  2. [1]
  3. [2]


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