David Suchet
Encyclopedia
David Suchet, CBE
, (icon ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS
- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now
, alongside Matthew Macfadyen
and Paloma Baeza
, and a 1991 British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) nomination.
He is known for his role as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot
in the long-running British TV dramatic series Poirot
.
Suchet's older brother, John Suchet
, is a British television presenter and newsreader, and his father was gynaecologist Jack Suchet
.
, who emigrated to England from South Africa in 1932, and trained to be a doctor at St Mary's Hospital, London in 1933. Suchet's father was Jewish and his mother was Anglican
(she was of Lithuanian
-Russian Jewish descent on her own father's side, and of English descent on her mother's side). Suchet was raised without religion, but has been a practising Anglican since 1986, having been confirmed in 2006.
Suchet and his two brothers, Peter and John, attended Grenham House boarding school in Birchington-on-Sea
, Kent; then, after attending another private school, Wellington School
in Somerset
, he took an interest in acting and joined the National Youth Theatre
at the age of 18. He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
, where he now serves as a council member.
, Bagnor
, Berkshire
, and retains a great affection for the place, saying that it "fulfils my vision of a perfect theatre". In 1973, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company
.
Suchet performed the role of John in the play Oleanna
at the Royal Court Theatre, London in 1993. It was directed by Harold Pinter
and Lia Williams
co-starred as Carol. He was also featured as Salieri from 1998–2000 in the Broadway production Amadeus
. In 2007 at the Chichester Festival Theatre
, he played a lead role as Cardinal Benelli in The Last Confession
, about the death of Pope John Paul I.
. In 1980, he also played Edward Teller
, later developer of the US H-bomb, in the joint BBC-US TV serial about the US Manhattan Project
called Oppenheimer
. In 1983, he played the insidious half-Chinese policeman with orders to kill British spy Sidney Reilly in Reilly, Ace of Spies
. In 1985, he played Blott in the television series Blott on the Landscape
, and corporate whistle-blower Stanley Adams
in A Song for Europe. Suchet appeared as Inspector Japp in the 1985 film adaptation of Lord Edgware Dies
, screen-name Thirteen at Dinner, with Peter Ustinov
portraying Poirot.
In 1989, he took the title role himself for the long-running television series Agatha Christie's Poirot
. He also portrayed Sigmund Freud
(young and old) in the 6-hour mini-series Freud, co-produced by the BBC in 1984.
In 2001, he starred as the lead role in the David Yates
-directed BBC
television serial The Way We Live Now
and, in April 2002, he played the famous barrister, George Carman
QC
, in the BBC
's biographical drama Get Carman: The Trials of George Carman QC. In 2003, Suchet starred as the ambitious Cardinal Wolsey in the 2-part ITV
drama Henry VIII opposite Ray Winstone
as Henry VIII
and Helena Bonham Carter
as Anne Boleyn
.
In May 2006, he played the role of the fallen press baron Robert Maxwell
in Maxwell, a BBC2
dramatisation of the final 18 months of Maxwell's life. During the same year, he voiced Poirot in the adventure game
Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express
.
In December 2006, he appeared on the ITV
programme Extinct
, presented by Sir Trevor McDonald and Zoe Ball
, which saw Suchet and seven other well-known celebrities visit critically endangered species
of animals and try and plead their case for the viewers so that they would pick up the phone and vote for the animal. The animal with the most votes would receive a large sum of money, which would be used to try to save them. Suchet and his animal, the Giant Panda
, did not win; however, they finished in the top three. The winners were Pauline Collins
and the Bengal Tiger
.
At Christmas 2006, he played the vampire
hunter Abraham Van Helsing
in a BBC
adaptation of Bram Stoker
's novel Dracula
. He appears in the disaster film
Flood
, released in August 2007, as the Deputy Prime Minister
of the United Kingdom at a time when London is devastated by flooding. Suchet appeared on daytime TV chat show Loose Women
on 6 February 2008 to talk about his film The Bank Job
, in which he played Lew Vogel, alongside Jason Statham
and Saffron Burrows
.
In 2008, he took part in the genealogy
documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?, and discovered facts about his family history.
He starred in the 2009 CBC
made-for-TV movie, Diverted
. He also starred as the main antagonist, Reacher Gilt, in the 2010 Sky TV adaptation of Going Postal
, based on Prachett's book of the same name.
Suchet appeared in the film Act of God as Benjamin Cisco. In 1987, Suchet played a bigfoot
hunter in Harry and the Hendersons
. He had roles in two Michael Douglas
films, A Perfect Murder
and The In-Laws
. In 1997, he starred in the independent movie Sunday.
In November 2011, Suchet and ITV
announced that Suchet would complete the canon of Poirot novels, in a thirteenth and final series of Poirot. With the exception of one short story, Suchet will have played the role in adaptations of every novel and short story featuring the character written by Dame Agatha Christie.
Suchet provided the voice of Aslan
in Focus on the Family
's radio version of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.
Suchet performed as the voice of the villainous Dr. Julius No in BBC Radio 4
's radio adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Dr. No.
In 1991, Suchet played the part of Henrik Ibsen
alongside Martin Shaw
playing August Strindberg
, in a one-off documentary on BBC Radio 3
about the meeting of the two playwrights.
In March 2010 he played the title role in a BBC radio version of David Golder
.
and Hatherton
Canals Trust, whose most challenging achievement to date has been securing funding (both via an appeal and from influencing government decisions) concerning the building of the new M6 Toll
motorway where it cuts the lines of the Lichfield Canal
and the Hatherton Canal
, both of which the Trust wishes to see reopened. He has also been officially voted in as chairman of the River Thames
Alliance in November 2005. At the July 2006 Annual General Meeting of the River Thames Alliance, he agreed to continue being chairman for another year.
's award for best male actor for A Song for Europe in 1985. His performance as Agatha Christie's famous detective Hercule Poirot
in the television series Poirot
earned him a 1991 British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) nomination. In preparation for the role he says that he has read every novel and short story and compiled an extensive file on Poirot.
Suchet was given a Variety Club Award in 1994 for best actor for portraying John in David Mamet
's play Oleanna
at the Royal Court Theatre
, London. He later won another Variety Club Award (as well as a 2000 Tony nomination for best performance by a leading actor in a play) for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri
in a revival of Amadeus
.
Suchet was nominated for another Royal Television Society award in 2002 for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in The Way We Live Now
, which also earned him a BAFTA nomination. The same year, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
On 10 October 2008, Suchet was awarded an honorary degree for his contributions to the Arts, from the University of Chichester. This was presented by the Vice Chancellor at The Chichester Festival Theatre.
On 24 November 2008, David Suchet won the 'Best Actor' accolade at the 2008 International Emmy Awards in New York for his role as tycoon Robert Maxwell
in the 2007 BBC drama, Maxwell. He said: "It's been an unbelievable night for the Brits. I'm absolutely thrilled to bits, I can't believe it's really true. This is my first Emmy ever, and I can't tell you what it feels like to win for England because it's international, and to represent my acting community as well."
On 7 January 2009, David Suchet was awarded Freedom of the City
of London, at the Guildhall in London.
On 13 July 2010, David Suchet was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Kent
at Canterbury Cathedral
in Canterbury.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to drama.
. His maternal grandfather, James Jarché
, was a famous Fleet Street
photographer notable for the first pictures of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and also for his pictures of Louis Blériot
(1909) and the Siege of Sidney Street
. Suchet first became interested in photography when his grandfather gave him a Kodak camera as a present. Suchet also plays the clarinet
, and drums.
He affectionately calls his fat suit for Hercule Poirot
his "armadillo padding".
He lived in Pinner
, a suburb in Greater London, for many years.
, Coventry, where they were both working; he says that he fell in love with her as soon as he saw her, and that it took a while to persuade her to go out for a meal with him. They were married on 30 June 1976, and they have one son, Robert, a captain in the Royal Marines, and a daughter, Katherine, a physiotherapist.
Suchet is the brother of John Suchet
, a national news presenter for Five News
and Breakfast Show Presenter on Classic FM (January 2011). His maternal grandfather was James Jarché, a pioneering photographer. The Jarché family was originally named Jarchy, and were Russian Jews. His paternal grandfather, Isidor Shokhet (from shochet, meaning "kosher butcher
" in Hebrew
), lived in Kretinga
, a city in the Pale of Settlement
of the Russian Empire
(now in Lithuania
), and changed his surname to the Germanised Suchedowitz after escaping to Memel
, Prussia
, and then to Suchet after moving to Cape Town
, South Africa.
Suchet's maternal grandmother's great grandfather, George Jezzard, was a master mariner. He was captain of the brig Hannah, which foundered nine miles off the coast of Suffolk
during the terrible storm of 28 May 1860, in which more than 100 vessels and at least 40 lives were lost. Jezzard and six others of his crew were saved by local rescuers just before their ship sank.
8 in a hotel Bible; soon afterwards, he was baptised into the Anglican Church. Suchet stated in an interview with Strand Magazine, "I’m a Christian by faith. I like to think it sees me through a great deal of my life. I very much believe in the principles of Christianity and the principles of most religions, actually—that one has to abandon oneself to a higher good."
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
, (icon ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now
The Way We Live Now (2001 TV serial)
The Way We Live Now is a 2001 four-part television adaptation of the novel by Anthony Trollope. The serial was first broadcast on the BBC and was directed by David Yates, written by Andrew Davies and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark...
, alongside Matthew Macfadyen
Matthew Macfadyen
David Matthew Macfadyen is an English actor, known for his role as MI5 intelligence officer Tom Quinn in the BBC television drama series Spooks and for starring as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.In June, 2010 Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting...
and Paloma Baeza
Paloma Baeza
-Biography:Baeza lived in Mexico during her childhood. Her Mexican father and her English mother were hippie musicians. In 1975, when Baeza was 5 months old, her parents married in London and they went to Mexico City. They divorced nine years afterwards....
, and a 1991 British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) nomination.
He is known for his role as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
in the long-running British TV dramatic series Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
.
Suchet's older brother, John Suchet
John Suchet
John Suchet is a British news reader and television presenter.Suchet has two brothers, one of whom is David Suchet, a British actor. His father was Jack Suchet, who emigrated to England from South Africa in 1932, and trained to be a doctor at St Mary's Hospital, London...
, is a British television presenter and newsreader, and his father was gynaecologist Jack Suchet
Jack Suchet
Jack Suchet was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, who carried out research on the use of penicillin in the treatment of venereal disease with Sir Alexander Fleming in London...
.
Early life
Suchet was born in London, the son of Joan Patricia (née Jarché; 1916–1992), an actress, and Jack SuchetJack Suchet
Jack Suchet was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, who carried out research on the use of penicillin in the treatment of venereal disease with Sir Alexander Fleming in London...
, who emigrated to England from South Africa in 1932, and trained to be a doctor at St Mary's Hospital, London in 1933. Suchet's father was Jewish and his mother was Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
(she was of Lithuanian
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:...
-Russian Jewish descent on her own father's side, and of English descent on her mother's side). Suchet was raised without religion, but has been a practising Anglican since 1986, having been confirmed in 2006.
Suchet and his two brothers, Peter and John, attended Grenham House boarding school in Birchington-on-Sea
Birchington-on-Sea
Birchington-on-Sea is a village in northeast Kent, England, with a population of around 9,800. It is part of the Thanet district and forms the civil parish of Birchington. It lies on the coast facing the North Sea, east of the Thames Estuary, between the seaside resorts of Herne Bay and Margate.As...
, Kent; then, after attending another private school, Wellington School
Wellington School, Somerset
Wellington School is a British co-educational independent school in Wellington, Somerset, England catering for both day pupils and boarders. There are currently 750 pupils on roll including 200 students in the sixth form. The Headmaster is Martin Reader....
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, he took an interest in acting and joined the National Youth Theatre
National Youth Theatre
The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....
at the age of 18. He studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art is a leading British drama school in west London. LAMDA's president is Timothy West and its new principal is Joanna Read, who recently succeeded Peter James...
, where he now serves as a council member.
Career
Suchet began his acting career at the Watermill TheatreWatermill Theatre
The Watermill Theatre is an award -winning, professional repertory theatre with charitable status. It is a converted watermill with gardens beside the River Lambourn, in Bagnor, near Newbury, Berkshire, England...
, Bagnor
Bagnor
Bagnor is a hamlet close to the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire and on the banks of the River Lambourn. It is best known as the home of the nationally famous Watermill Theatre. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Bagenore....
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, and retains a great affection for the place, saying that it "fulfils my vision of a perfect theatre". In 1973, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
.
Suchet performed the role of John in the play Oleanna
Oleanna (play)
Oleanna is a two-character play by David Mamet, about the power struggle between a university professor and one of his female students, who accuses him of sexual exploitation and, by doing so, spoils his chances of being accorded tenure...
at the Royal Court Theatre, London in 1993. It was directed by Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
and Lia Williams
Lia Williams
Lia Williams is an English actress and film director, notable for many stage, film, and television appearances. She is possibly best known for her role in the motion picture, Dirty Weekend...
co-starred as Carol. He was also featured as Salieri from 1998–2000 in the Broadway production Amadeus
Amadeus
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
. In 2007 at the Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
, he played a lead role as Cardinal Benelli in The Last Confession
The Last Confession
The Last Confession is a stage play by Roger Crane based around the election and death of Pope John Paul I. The play follows Giovanni Benelli who recounts, during his last confession, his role in the death of John Paul and how this led him to lose his faith.-Plot:Disturbed by the corruption in...
, about the death of Pope John Paul I.
Television and Film
After making his first TV appearance in 1970, he appeared in the 1980 made-for-TV film version of A Tale of Two CitiesA Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....
. In 1980, he also played Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
, later developer of the US H-bomb, in the joint BBC-US TV serial about the US Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
called Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer (TV miniseries)
Oppenheimer is a television serial about J. Robert Oppenheimer, produced by the BBC. It began broadcast in the United Kingdom on 29 October 1980 and in the United States on 11 May 1982...
. In 1983, he played the insidious half-Chinese policeman with orders to kill British spy Sidney Reilly in Reilly, Ace of Spies
Reilly, Ace of Spies
Reilly, Ace of Spies is a 1983 television miniseries dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian Jew who became one of the greatest spies to ever work for the British. Among his exploits in the early 20th century were the infiltration of the German General Staff in 1917 and a near-overthrow of...
. In 1985, he played Blott in the television series Blott on the Landscape
Blott on the Landscape
Blott on the Landscape is a novel written in 1975 by Tom Sharpe. It was adapted into a 6-part television series for the BBC in 1985.-Plot:The story revolves around the proposed construction of a motorway through Cleene Gorge in rural South Worfordshire...
, and corporate whistle-blower Stanley Adams
Stanley Adams (whistleblower)
Stanley Adams is a former pharmaceutical company executive and corporate whistleblower, whose case was a cause célèbre in the 1970s....
in A Song for Europe. Suchet appeared as Inspector Japp in the 1985 film adaptation of Lord Edgware Dies
Lord Edgware Dies
Lord Edgware Dies is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1933 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Thirteen at Dinner. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence...
, screen-name Thirteen at Dinner, with Peter Ustinov
Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
portraying Poirot.
In 1989, he took the title role himself for the long-running television series Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
. He also portrayed Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
(young and old) in the 6-hour mini-series Freud, co-produced by the BBC in 1984.
In 2001, he starred as the lead role in the David Yates
David Yates
David Yates is an English filmmaker who rose to mainstream prominence directing the final four films in the Harry Potter film series. He helmed the series' fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth installments, all of which became an instant blockbuster success and made him the most commercially...
-directed BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television serial The Way We Live Now
The Way We Live Now (2001 TV serial)
The Way We Live Now is a 2001 four-part television adaptation of the novel by Anthony Trollope. The serial was first broadcast on the BBC and was directed by David Yates, written by Andrew Davies and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark...
and, in April 2002, he played the famous barrister, George Carman
George Carman
George Alfred Carman, QC , was a leading English barrister of the 1980s and 1990s. He first came to the attention of the general public in 1979, when he successfully defended the former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe after he was charged with conspiracy to murder...
QC
QC
In Commonwealth countries, QC refers to Queen's Counsel, a distinguished and experienced legal practitioner.QC may also refer to:* Quebec Canada Post provincial abbreviation...
, in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's biographical drama Get Carman: The Trials of George Carman QC. In 2003, Suchet starred as the ambitious Cardinal Wolsey in the 2-part ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
drama Henry VIII opposite Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and as Will Scarlet in the cult television adventure series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over...
as Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
and Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
as Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
.
In May 2006, he played the role of the fallen press baron Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
in Maxwell, a BBC2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
dramatisation of the final 18 months of Maxwell's life. During the same year, he voiced Poirot in the adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is a 2006 point-and-click adventure game developed by AWE Productions and published by The Adventure Company for Microsoft Windows. The game is the second installment in The Adventure Company's Agatha Christie series...
.
In December 2006, he appeared on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
programme Extinct
Extinct (TV series)
Extinct is a British television series that aired on ITV in 2006. It features eight celebrities highlighting the plight of some of the world's most endangered species and was presented by Zoë Ball and Sir Trevor McDonald....
, presented by Sir Trevor McDonald and Zoe Ball
Zoë Ball
Zoë Louise Ball is an English television and radio personality, most famous for becoming the first female host of the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show and for her earlier work presenting the 1990s children's show, Live & Kicking.-TV career:The daughter of the children's TV presenter Johnny Ball and his...
, which saw Suchet and seven other well-known celebrities visit critically endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
of animals and try and plead their case for the viewers so that they would pick up the phone and vote for the animal. The animal with the most votes would receive a large sum of money, which would be used to try to save them. Suchet and his animal, the Giant Panda
Giant Panda
The giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...
, did not win; however, they finished in the top three. The winners were Pauline Collins
Pauline Collins
Pauline Collins, OBE is an English actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine for which...
and the Bengal Tiger
Bengal Tiger
The Bengal tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN...
.
At Christmas 2006, he played the vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
hunter Abraham Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
adaptation of Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's novel Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
. He appears in the disaster film
Disaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...
Flood
Flood (film)
Flood is a British disaster film from 2007, directed by Tony Mitchell It features Robert Carlyle, Jessalyn Gilsig, David Suchet and Tom Courtenay, and is based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Richard Doyle.-Synopsis:...
, released in August 2007, as the Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some counties, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
of the United Kingdom at a time when London is devastated by flooding. Suchet appeared on daytime TV chat show Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...
on 6 February 2008 to talk about his film The Bank Job
The Bank Job
The Bank Job is a 2008 British crime film written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, directed by Roger Donaldson, and starring Jason Statham, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered...
, in which he played Lew Vogel, alongside Jason Statham
Jason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...
and Saffron Burrows
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
.
In 2008, he took part in the genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?, and discovered facts about his family history.
He starred in the 2009 CBC
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
made-for-TV movie, Diverted
Diverted
This article is about the movie. For other uses, see DiversionDiverted is a 2009 CBC made-for-TV movie. It was directed by Alex Chapple. The movie was written by Tony Marchant.- Synopsis:...
. He also starred as the main antagonist, Reacher Gilt, in the 2010 Sky TV adaptation of Going Postal
Terry Pratchett's Going Postal
Terry Pratchett's Going Postal is a two-part television adaptation of the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, adapted by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle and produced by The Mob, which was first broadcast on Sky1, and in high definition on Sky1 HD, at the end of May 2010.It is the third in a...
, based on Prachett's book of the same name.
Suchet appeared in the film Act of God as Benjamin Cisco. In 1987, Suchet played a bigfoot
Bigfoot
Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...
hunter in Harry and the Hendersons
Harry and the Hendersons
Harry and the Hendersons is a 1987 American comedy film directed and produced by William Dear, and starring John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Lainie Kazan and Don Ameche. It is the story of a family's encounter with the cryptozoological creature Bigfoot...
. He had roles in two Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
films, A Perfect Murder
A Perfect Murder
A Perfect Murder is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen. It is a modern remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder, though the characters' names are all changed, and over half the plot is completely...
and The In-Laws
The In-Laws (2003 film)
The In-Laws is a 2003 American comedy film starring Michael Douglas, Albert Brooks, Candice Bergen and Ryan Reynolds. The film is a remake of the original 1979 cult classic, which starred Alan Arkin and Peter Falk...
. In 1997, he starred in the independent movie Sunday.
In November 2011, Suchet and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
announced that Suchet would complete the canon of Poirot novels, in a thirteenth and final series of Poirot. With the exception of one short story, Suchet will have played the role in adaptations of every novel and short story featuring the character written by Dame Agatha Christie.
Radio
His first broadcast job was to read a "Morning Story" for BBC Pebble Mill Talks producer David Shute. They had met at the Mayor of Stratford's annual cocktail party to welcome members of the Royal Shakespeare Company to their new season.Suchet provided the voice of Aslan
Aslan
Aslan, the "Great Lion," is the central character in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. He is the eponymous lion of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and his role in Narnia is developed throughout the remaining books...
in Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
's radio version of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.
Suchet performed as the voice of the villainous Dr. Julius No in BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's radio adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Dr. No.
In 1991, Suchet played the part of Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
alongside Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw
Martin Shaw is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in shows such as The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently.-Theatrical background:...
playing August Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
, in a one-off documentary on BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
about the meeting of the two playwrights.
In March 2010 he played the title role in a BBC radio version of David Golder
David Golder
David Golder is writer Irène Némirovsky's first novel. It was recently re-issued following the popularity of the newly-discovered masterpiece Suite Française, written by Némirovsky whilst in hiding in France during the Second World War...
.
Canal Trust River Thames Alliance
Suchet is vice-president of the LichfieldLichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
and Hatherton
Hatherton
Hatherton may refer to:* Hatherton, Cheshire* Hatherton, Staffordshire* Hatherton, a traditional Cheshire cheese blended with fresh spring onions, produced by Joseph Heler Cheese...
Canals Trust, whose most challenging achievement to date has been securing funding (both via an appeal and from influencing government decisions) concerning the building of the new M6 Toll
M6 Toll
The M6 Toll , connects M6 Junction 4 at the NEC to M6 Junction 11A at Wolverhampton with of six-lane motorway. The weekday cash cost is £5.30 for a car and £10.60 for a HGV...
motorway where it cuts the lines of the Lichfield Canal
Lichfield Canal
The Lichfield Canal, as it is now known, was historically a part of the Wyrley and Essington Canal, being the section of that canal from Ogley Junction at Brownhills on the northern Birmingham Canal Navigations to Huddlesford Junction, east of Lichfield, on the Coventry Canal, a length of 7 miles...
and the Hatherton Canal
Hatherton Canal
The Hatherton Canal is a derelict branch of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal in south Staffordshire, England. It was constructed in two phases, the first section opening in 1841 and connecting the main line to Churchbridge, from where a tramway connected to the Great Wyrley coal mines...
, both of which the Trust wishes to see reopened. He has also been officially voted in as chairman of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
Alliance in November 2005. At the July 2006 Annual General Meeting of the River Thames Alliance, he agreed to continue being chairman for another year.
Awards and honours
Suchet's first major award was the Royal Television SocietyRoyal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
's award for best male actor for A Song for Europe in 1985. His performance as Agatha Christie's famous detective Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
in the television series Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
earned him a 1991 British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) nomination. In preparation for the role he says that he has read every novel and short story and compiled an extensive file on Poirot.
Suchet was given a Variety Club Award in 1994 for best actor for portraying John in David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
's play Oleanna
Oleanna (play)
Oleanna is a two-character play by David Mamet, about the power struggle between a university professor and one of his female students, who accuses him of sexual exploitation and, by doing so, spoils his chances of being accorded tenure...
at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
, London. He later won another Variety Club Award (as well as a 2000 Tony nomination for best performance by a leading actor in a play) for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....
in a revival of Amadeus
Amadeus
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
.
Suchet was nominated for another Royal Television Society award in 2002 for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in The Way We Live Now
The Way We Live Now (2001 TV serial)
The Way We Live Now is a 2001 four-part television adaptation of the novel by Anthony Trollope. The serial was first broadcast on the BBC and was directed by David Yates, written by Andrew Davies and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark...
, which also earned him a BAFTA nomination. The same year, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
On 10 October 2008, Suchet was awarded an honorary degree for his contributions to the Arts, from the University of Chichester. This was presented by the Vice Chancellor at The Chichester Festival Theatre.
On 24 November 2008, David Suchet won the 'Best Actor' accolade at the 2008 International Emmy Awards in New York for his role as tycoon Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
in the 2007 BBC drama, Maxwell. He said: "It's been an unbelievable night for the Brits. I'm absolutely thrilled to bits, I can't believe it's really true. This is my first Emmy ever, and I can't tell you what it feels like to win for England because it's international, and to represent my acting community as well."
On 7 January 2009, David Suchet was awarded Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of London, at the Guildhall in London.
On 13 July 2010, David Suchet was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Kent
University of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
at Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
in Canterbury.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to drama.
Personal life
One of Suchet's hobbies is photographyPhotography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
. His maternal grandfather, James Jarché
James Jarché
James 'Jimmy' Jarché was a famous Fleet Street photographer notable for the first pictures of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and also for his pictures of Louis Blériot and the Siege of Sidney Street....
, was a famous Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
photographer notable for the first pictures of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and also for his pictures of Louis Blériot
Louis Blériot
Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of £1,000...
(1909) and the Siege of Sidney Street
Siege of Sidney Street
The Siege of Sidney Street, popularly known as the "Battle of Stepney", was a notorious gunfight in London's East End on the 2nd of January 1911. Preceded by the Houndsditch Murders, it ended with the deaths of two members of a supposedly politically-motivated gang of burglars supposedly led by...
. Suchet first became interested in photography when his grandfather gave him a Kodak camera as a present. Suchet also plays the clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, and drums.
He affectionately calls his fat suit for Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
his "armadillo padding".
He lived in Pinner
Pinner
- Climate :Pinner's geographical position on the far western side of North West London makes it the furthest London suburb from any UK coastline. Hence the lower prevalence of moderating maritime influences make Pinner noticeably warmer in the spring and the summer compared to the rest of the capital...
, a suburb in Greater London, for many years.
Family
In 1972, Suchet first met his wife, Sheila Ferris, at the Belgrade TheatreBelgrade Theatre
The Belgrade Theatre is a live performance venue seating 858 and situated in Coventry, England. It was the first civic theatre to be built after the Second World War in Britain and as such was more than a place of entertainment...
, Coventry, where they were both working; he says that he fell in love with her as soon as he saw her, and that it took a while to persuade her to go out for a meal with him. They were married on 30 June 1976, and they have one son, Robert, a captain in the Royal Marines, and a daughter, Katherine, a physiotherapist.
Suchet is the brother of John Suchet
John Suchet
John Suchet is a British news reader and television presenter.Suchet has two brothers, one of whom is David Suchet, a British actor. His father was Jack Suchet, who emigrated to England from South Africa in 1932, and trained to be a doctor at St Mary's Hospital, London...
, a national news presenter for Five News
Five News
5 News is the news programme of British broadcaster Channel 5, produced by Sky News. From 1 January 2005, Sky News was awarded the contract to provide the news for Channel 5, replacing ITN, which had provided the channel's news service from the channel's launch in 1997...
and Breakfast Show Presenter on Classic FM (January 2011). His maternal grandfather was James Jarché, a pioneering photographer. The Jarché family was originally named Jarchy, and were Russian Jews. His paternal grandfather, Isidor Shokhet (from shochet, meaning "kosher butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
" in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
), lived in Kretinga
Kretinga
Kretinga is a city in the Klaipėda County, Lithuania. It is the capital of the Kretinga district municipality. It is located east of the popular Baltic Sea resort town of Palanga, and about north of Lithuania's 3rd largest city and principal seaport, Klaipėda.The population was listed as 21,423...
, a city in the Pale of Settlement
Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia, in which permanent residency by Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish permanent residency was generally prohibited...
of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
), and changed his surname to the Germanised Suchedowitz after escaping to Memel
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
, Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, and then to Suchet after moving to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa.
Suchet's maternal grandmother's great grandfather, George Jezzard, was a master mariner. He was captain of the brig Hannah, which foundered nine miles off the coast of Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
during the terrible storm of 28 May 1860, in which more than 100 vessels and at least 40 lives were lost. Jezzard and six others of his crew were saved by local rescuers just before their ship sank.
Religious beliefs
Suchet's father was Jewish and his mother an Anglican (of paternal Jewish heritage); neither was religious. Likewise, Suchet's upbringing was without religious observance. In 1986, he underwent a religious conversion after reading RomansEpistle to the Romans
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
8 in a hotel Bible; soon afterwards, he was baptised into the Anglican Church. Suchet stated in an interview with Strand Magazine, "I’m a Christian by faith. I like to think it sees me through a great deal of my life. I very much believe in the principles of Christianity and the principles of most religions, actually—that one has to abandon oneself to a higher good."