Michael Elphick
Biography
Michael Elphick was an English actor who worked in film and television and grew up in Chichester, Sussex, training at drama school after Laurence Olivier encouraged him to try acting. Early roles cast him as menacing heavies, and he made his screen debut in Fraulein Doktor before playing the Captain in Tony Richardson's Hamlet. He appeared in The First Great Train Robbery (1978), Quadrophenia (1979), The Elephant Man (1980) and, as Pasha, Gorky Park (1983), a performance that brought a BAFTA nomination. Later films included Withnail & I (1987), and he led Lars von Trier's The Element of Crime (1984), which was nominated for the Palme d'Or. His stage work took in Hamlet at the Roundhouse and Claudius at the Royal Court. On television he was best known as Ken Boon in Boon, which ran for seven series, and he joined EastEnders as Harry Slater in 2001. He died in 2002.
55years old at death
- Born Chichester
- Died Willesden
- Star sign: VirgoThe sign runs August 23 to September 22
- Also credited as Michael John Elphick
Movie Career
- Films
- 13
- Career span
- 20 years1970 to 1990
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First role
Elphick reportedly came to acting by accident. At 15, while the Chichester Festival Theatre was under construction, he worked there as an apprentice electrician and became interested in acting by watching stars including Laurence Olivier.
Early training
Olivier told Elphick to attend drama school and supplied two speeches for auditions. Elphick received several offers but picked the Central School of Speech and Drama, in Swiss Cottage, since Olivier had studied there.
Big break
Elphick landed his biggest television success in 1986 with Boon, playing Ken Boon, a retired fireman turned private investigator; the show ran for seven series and drew audiences of 11 million at its peak.
Michael Elphick movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Seven actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Donald Sutherland's page
Richard Griffiths's page
Burt Kwouk's page
John Standing's page
Phoebe Nicholls's page
Daniel Peacock's page
Also two films together1 more actor
- Leslie AshCurse of the Pink Panther (1983) and Quadrophenia (1979)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.