David Bradley Biography

David John Bradley (born 17 April 1942) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Argus Filch in the Harry Potter film series, Walder Frey in the HBO series Game of Thrones and Abraham Setrakian in The Strain, though he is also an established stage actor with a career that includes a Laurence Olivier Award for his role in a production of King Lear.

Other acting credits include the BBC series Our Friends in the North, the ITV series Broadchurch (for which he won the best supporting actor award at the 2014 British Academy Television Awards), and the films Hot Fuzz, The World's End and Captain America: The First Avenger. In 2013, Bradley portrayed William Hartnell, the actor who played the First Doctor, in the Doctor Who drama An Adventure in Space and Time.

Early life

Bradley was born in York, where he attended the Catholic St George's Secondary Modern School, at which he was a member of the choir. He first performed on stage in musical productions as a member of a youth club and with the Rowntree Youth Theatre. Upon leaving school he completed a five-year apprenticeship with the optical instruments maker Cooke, Troughton & Simms and he remained with the firm until 1966 when he moved to London to train as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

Bradley joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and performed at Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company in the early 1970s. He first appeared on television in 1971, as a police officer in the successful comedy Nearest and Dearest. He was awarded a Laurence Olivier Award in 1991 for his supporting role as the Fool in King Lear at the Royal National Theatre. He appeared in the Royal National Theatre's 1997 production of The Homecoming, as well as productions of The Caretaker at Sheffield Theatres and the Tricycle Theatre from 2006 to 2007.

Bradley played fictional Labour Member of Parliament Eddie Wells in the 1996 award-winning BBC Two serial Our Friends in the North. In 1996, he appeared as gangster Alf Black in Band of Gold. In 1998, he appeared in the BBC adaptation of Vanity Fair as the miserly Sir Pitt Crawley, and Our Mutual Friend as the villainous Rogue Riderhood. Other television appearances include the 2001 series The Way We Live Now, directed by David Yates, who would work with Bradley five years later on the Harry Potter films.

From 2002-04 Bradley starred as Jake in the BBC comedy series Wild West. Bradley acted in the 2004 musical drama serial Blackpool on BBC One. He appeared in the 2005 BBC drama Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle, playing the role of a morose coach driver who takes an unruly party of pupils on a trip to Salisbury Cathedral, and the 2006 BBC drama Sweeney Todd. He had a small role in a 2006 episode of the series Taggart. In 2003, he played Tom in the Midsomer Murders episode "The Green Man". He appeared as the electrolarynx-using gangster Stemroach in the BBC comedy series Ideal and as Electric in the BBC's Thieves Like Us, as well as the BBC One series True Dare Kiss in 2007-08.

Bradley appeared in the 2002 film Nicholas Nickleby, and had a small role in the 2007 comedy film Hot Fuzz as a farmer who illegally hoards weapons. He played Cohen the Barbarian in a Sky One adaptation of The Colour of Magic in 2008. That same year he appeared as Spooner in a production of No Man's Land at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, which later transferred to London's West End.

In 2009, Bradley appeared as an animal rights activist in the popular BBC drama Ashes to Ashes, and appeared in BBC's The Street later that year. Bradley portrayed Will Somers, Henry VIII's court fool, in an episode of the Showtime series The Tudors in 2009. In 2010, he appeared in the film Another Year, which earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor from the London Film Critics Circle Awards. In 2011, 2013 and 2016, Bradley appeared as Lord Walder Frey in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Bradley played Solomon, a ruthless buccaneer, in the 2012 Doctor Who episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship". He previously provided voice work for The Sarah Jane Adventures serial Death of the Doctor. It was announced in January 2013 that Bradley had been cast as actor William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time, a BBC docudrama about the creation of Doctor Who in 1963. The special aired in November 2013, adding to the buildup to the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who later that month.

From 2014, Bradley plays Professor Abraham Setrakian, a Holocaust survivor turned vampire hunter in Guillermo del Toro's TV series The Strain. He will voice the Lord High Admiral Suvarov in the PC RPG The Mandate.

In 2015, Bradley was announced a public supporter of Chapel Lane Theatre Company based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK.

Personal life

Bradley serves as the President of Second Thoughts Drama Group, which performs in and around Stratford-upon-Avon. On 17 July 2012, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Warwick.

He is an avid fan of football clubs Aston Villa and York City. On 22 November 2014, he took part in a video paying tribute to Aston Villa on the club's 140th birthday.

TV and filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	A Family at War	Colin Woodcock	Television
1987	Prick Up Your Ears	Undertaker
1992	Between the Lines	Sgt. Harry Ross	Television - episode "Lies and Damned Lies"
	Screenplay	Mr Preach	Television - episode "Bad Girl"
1994	Martin Chuzzlewit	David Crimple	Television mini-series
	Performance	Barnadine	Television - episode "Measure for Measure"
	Screen Two	Headmaster	Television - episode "Criminal"
1995	Casualty	Stanmore	Television - episode "Hit & Run"
	The Vet	Dick Sims	Television - episode "Relative Vaules"
1996	In Your Dreams	Tutor	Television
	Wycliffe	Joe Mawnan	Television - episode "Total Loss"
	Band of Gold	Alf Black	Television - episode "Hustling"
	Our Friends in the North	Eddie Wells	Television
	A Touch of Frost	Les James	Television - episode "Unknown Soldiers"
1997	Reckless	Arnold Springer	Television mini-series
	The Moth	Dave Waters	Television film adaptation of Catherine Cookson novel
1998	Our Mutual Friend	Rogue Riderhood	Television mini-series
	Tom's Midnight Garden	Abel
	Left Luggage	Concierge
	Vanity Fair	Sir Pitt Crawley	Television mini-series
2000	The King Is Alive	Henry
2001	The Way We Live Now	Mr. Broune	Television mini-series
	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Argus Filch
	Gabriel and Me	Granddad
	Blow Dry	Noah Thwaite
2002	This Is Not a Love Song	Mr Bellamy
	Nicholas Nickleby	Nigel Bray
	Wild West	Jake	Television Series
	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Argus Filch
2003	Midsomer Murders	The Green Man	Television Series Season VII ep.1 The Green Man
2004	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Argus Filch
	Exorcist: The Beginning	Father Gionetti
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Argus Filch
2006	Lycanthropy	Club owner
	Ideal	Stemroach	Television series
2007	Hot Fuzz	Arthur Webley
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Argus Filch
2008	I Know You Know	Mr. Fisher
	The Daisy Chain	Sean Cryan
	The Colour of Magic	Cohen the Barbarian
2009	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Argus Filch
	Harry Brown	Leonard Attwell
	The Tudors	Will Somers	Television series
2010	Another Year	Ronnie
	The Holding	Cooper
	The Sarah Jane Adventures	Shansheeth	Voice
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2	Argus Filch
2011-2016	Game of Thrones	Walder Frey	Television series Guest role; 5 episodes Nominated for Best TV Villain at the 2013 IGN Awards
2011	Waking the Dead	George Barlow	Television series
	Captain America: The First Avenger	Tower Keeper
2012	World Without End	Brother Joseph	TV miniseries
	Bad Education	Ennis	Television series
2012-2013	Prisoners' Wives	Francesca's Father	Television series
2012	Benidorm	Stan Garvey	Television series
	Doctor Who	Solomon	Television series Episode 7.2 - "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"
2012-2014	Mount Pleasant	Charlie	Television series
2013	Broadchurch	Jack Marshall	Television series Won Best Supporting Actor award at the 2014 British Academy Television Awards
	An Adventure in Space and Time	William Hartnell	Television docudrama Nominated in Best Single Drama category at the 2014 British Academy Television Awards
	The World's End	Basil
2014-present	The Strain	Professor Abraham Setrakian	Television series
2014	Silk	Judge Reynolds	Television series
2016	Christ the Lord	Old Rabbi	Post-production
	Beowulf	Gorrik	Television series