Charles Kay

Charles Kay was an English actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art after initially studying medicine. Born in Coventry, he won the Carleton Hobbs Bursary in 1957 and joined the Radio Drama Company, then the English Stage Company, working at the Royal Court Theatre. There he created Jimmy in Arnold Wesker's Roots (1959) and Charles V in John Osborne's Luther (1961). He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963 and stayed until 1966, playing parts such as Octavius Caesar, Clarence, and Launcelot Gobbo. Later he appeared at the National Theatre in an all-male As You Like It (1967) and The National Health (1969). His best known film role was Count Orsini-Rosenberg in the Academy Award winning film Amadeus (1984); he also appeared in Henry V (1989) and The Importance of Being Earnest (2002). Television work included I, Claudius, Fall of Eagles, and Edge of Darkness. He died in 2025.