Ken Bones

Ken Bones (born 11 June 1947) is an English actor. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Career

Theatre Bones trained at RADA between 1971 and 1973, where he won the Honours Diploma, the Ronson Prize, the Kendal Award, the Poel Prize and John Barton Prize. His first professional stage appearance was as Roy in The Odd Couple at Crewe in January 1974. His other appearances in that season included Wick in Little Malcolm, Vincent Crummles in Nicholas Nickleby and Dr Hennessey in Count Dracula.

During 1974 and 1975, Bones was a member of the Prospect Theatre Company, taking part in the company's national tour in such venues as the Edinburgh Festival and London's Roundhouse, playing Gower in Henry IV and Henry V with Timothy Dalton, and the Narrator in the rock musical Pilgrim with Paul Jones and Peter Straker.

Bones joined the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury in 1976, and with whom he played Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret, Mr Shanks in Habeas Corpus, Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard, Milo Tindal in Sleuth and Curly Delafield in Knuckle. In 1977, he toured with the Mermaid Theatre educational company "The Molecule Club" teaching science to children. In 1978, Bones played Lucifer in the first modern revival of The Lincoln Mystery Cycle in Lincoln Cathedral.

During 1978, he joined Southern Exchange Theatre Company, which was established by Charles Savage to provide regional theatre for civic theatres without resident repertory companies playing at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, the Hexagon in Reading and the Lighthouse in Poole. With this company he played Ramble in Lock Up Your Daughters, Leonard in Time and Time Again, Saul Hodgkin in The Ghost Train, Alec Kooning in Dear Janet Rosenberg.., The Man in Chekov's The Lady with the Little Dog and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.

In 1979, Bones played the Earl of Warwick in Saint Joan, Eilert Loevborg in Hedda Gabler with Gayle Hunnicutt, and John in Absent Friends. In 1980, he appeared in a national tour of Woyzeck with Foco Novo Theatre Company playing the Drum Major.

His other stage appearances include the Duke in The Revenger's Tragedy and Dr Klein in Her Naked Skin for the National Theatre, and, for the Royal Shakespeare Company he has appeared in 21 plays, including Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, Othello, The Duchess of Malfi, Macbeth, The Winter's Tale, Cyrano de Bergerac, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Tamburlaine, Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear. His first feature film was Bellman and True (1987) directed by Richard Loncraine and starring Bernard Hill. The New York Times film critic said "Mr Bones makes a memorable screen debut as the bullying Gort". In 1995, Bones played Toussant in the film Cutthroat Island, and in 1998 made appearances in Dangerfield and Cold Feet. He played Admiral Bill Wilson in the 1999 film Wing Commander, and in 2001 he played Banquo in a made-for-television film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Macbeth which starred Antony Sher as Macbeth. The film was the televised version of a stage show which had an enormously successful run in Britain, Japan and the United States. and reprised the role in the Series 9 finale Hell Bent (2015) before passing it to T'Nia Miller. Bones played Publican No. 13 in The World's End (2013), and the same year it was announced that he had joined the cast of Atlantis. His most recent film appearance was as an Egyptian scribe in the 2014 epic Exodus: Gods and Kings. In 2016, he appeared in the TV series Medici: Masters of Florence.

In 2017, Bones appeared in the BBC TV series Father Brown episode 5.3 "The Eve of St John" as a warlock, Eugene Bone. He played Cardinal Leto, the Papal envoy in Versailles (2018).

Filmography Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1977 Jubilee Paul Crawford Episode: "An Hour in the Life..." 1980 Fox Kemble Episode: "Fox: Big 'F' – Family" 1981 Spearhead Sergeant Parkes Episode: "Loyalties" 1986 Screen Two Detective Inspector Mercer Episode: "Frankie and Johnnie" 1987 The Bill Phil Teesdale Episode: "What Are Little Boys Made Of?"1988 Bergerac Paul Roussillon Episode: "Crossed Swords" London's Burning Superintendent 1 episode Jack the Ripper Robert James Lees Mini-series1993 Seekers Tony Laytham 1 episode Screen One John Kavanagh Episode: "Wall of Silence" The Bill Detective Superintendent Corby Episode: "Hard Evidence"1994 A Skirt Through History Arthur Munby Episode: "An Experiment" Moving Story Commissionaire Episode: "A Piece of Cake" Paris Helmut Episode: "L'infamie" 1996 The Bill Leon Chase Episode: "The Right Thing"1997 Crime Traveller Kirby Episode: "Death Minister" Bramwell Mr. Herne 1 episode An Unsuitable Job for a Woman Ted Fulton Episode: "Sacrifice"1998 Cold Feet Detective 1 episode Dangerfield D.C.I. Miller Episode: "Double Helix" 1999The Bill Paul Hilman Episode: "Borderline" 2001 Roy Stenning Episode: "Liquid City"2002 In Deep DCI Geary Episode: "Untouched" Spooks Keith Burns Episode: "Thou Shalt Not Kill"2003 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries Rodney Aronson Episode: "In the Presence of the Enemy" Casualty Robbie Episode: "Fool for Love" Murphy's Law Tyler Episode: "Reunion"Heartbeat Mr. Mansell Episode: "Out of the Blue"2004 Trevor Godwin Episode: "In the Bleak Midwinter" Hustle DCI Mullens Episode: "The Con Is On" New Tricks Assistant Commissioner Bob Mullan Episode: "Talking to the Dead"2005 Timewatch Otto Strasser Episode: "Inside the Mind of Adolf Hitler" The Virgin Queen Bishop Latimer Mini-series 2007 Doctors Tyrrel Recurring role 2008 Holby City Lawrence Parker Episode: "Love Will Tear Us Apart"2009 The Bill DCI Ted Ackroyd Episode: "Feet of Clay" Law & Order: UK Ediz Kilic Episode: "Paradise" Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant Erasmus Mini-series2010 Identity Halit Kemal Mini-series Midsomer Murders Giles Braithwaite Episode: "The Noble Art" Any Human Heart Mr. Mountstuart Mini-series The Nativity Bethlehem Rabbi Mini-series Holby City William Chase Recurring role2011 The Hour Wallace Sherwin Recurring role Young Dracula Sethius Episode: "All for One" 2012 Upstairs Downstairs Lord Halifax Recurring role2013 The Bible Ira Episode: "Exodus" Foyle's War Max Hoffman Episode: "The Eternity Ring" Da Vinci's Demons The Jew 3 episodes Starlings Mr. Cooke 1 episode Casualty Alan Pitney Episode: "Rock and a Hard Place" The Great Train Robbery Commander George Hatherill Episode: "A Copper's Tale"2013–2015 Atlantis Melas Series regular Doctor Who The General 2 episodes 2014 Scott & Bailey John Rivington 1 episode2015 A.D. The Bible Continues Annas Series regular Tyrant Qadi Episode: "The Other Brother"2016 Medici Ugo Bencini Series regular Jonathan Creek Nathan Clore Episode: "Deamons' Roost" 2017 Father Brown Eugene Bone Episode: "The Eve of St John"2018 Versailles Cardinal Leto Recurring role A Discovery of Witches Sigismund Recurring role 2019 Queens of Mystery Quentin Foster Episode: "Smoke and Mirrors" 2020 Des Judge Croom-Johnson Mini-series 2026 Run Away Casper Vartage Mini-series