Michael Kitchen

For the ice hockey player/coach, see Mike Kitchen.

Michael Kitchen
Born	Michael R. Kitchen (1948-10-31) 31 October 1948 Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Occupation	Actor, television producer
Years active	1971–present

Michael Kitchen (born 31 October 1948) is an English actor and television producer, best known for his role as Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle in the ITV drama series Foyle's War since 2002. He also played the role of Bill Tanner in two James Bond films.

Early life

Kitchen was born in Leicester, Leicestershire. As a young boy (circa 1960) he was head chorister in the Church of the Martyrs choir, where he was a regular soloist. He attended the City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School, where he appeared on stage in a production of Cymbeline. He worked with the National Youth Theatre and the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1969, while still at RADA, he won the "Emile Littler Award" for 'outstanding talent and aptitude for the professional theatre'.

Career

Television and film

Kitchen was discovered at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) by talent agent Peter Froggatt of Plant & Froggatt Ltd. In the early 1970s, Kitchen appeared in small roles in films such as Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971) and the Hammer film Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) before becoming a fixture of British television. His early TV appearances include roles in Play for Today (Hell's Angels by David Agnew, 1971), Thriller and Beasts. He then played the role of Martin in the original 1976 production of Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle, Peter in Stephen Poliakoff's Caught on a Train, Edmund in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of King Lear, the Antipholi in the same series' production of The Comedy of Errors, Private Bamforth in the 1979 BBC television play of The Long and the Short and the Tall, Larner in the film Breaking Glass (1980), Rochus Misch in The Bunker (1981), Berkeley Cole in the film Out of Africa (1985), the King of the United Kingdom in To Play the King (1993), an English land agent during the Irish Famine in The Hanging Gale (1995), and a recurring role as Bill Tanner in the Pierce Brosnan Bond films GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). His later films include The Russia House (1990), Fools of Fortune (1990), Enchanted April (1992), The Trial (1993), Fatherland (1994), Doomsday Gun (1994), The Hanging Gale (1995), Kidnapped (1995), Mrs Dalloway (1997), The Railway Children (2000), Proof of Life (2000) as Ian Havery, Lorna Doone (2001) as Judge Jeffreys, and My Week with Marilyn (2011).

From 2002 to 2015, Kitchen starred in the ITV mystery-drama Foyle's War as the lead character, DCS Christopher Foyle. He was also a producer for the show.

Other noted appearances include The Buccaneers as Sir Helmsley Thwaite (1995), Dandelion Dead (1994), A Royal Scandal (1996), The Last Contract (Sista Kontraktet,1998) a Swedish film about the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme, Paul Abbott's Alibi in 2003, Andrew Davies' dramatisation of Falling in 2005, ITV's three-part drama series Mobile (2007) and Channel 4's phone hacking comedy Hacks (2012). He has guest-starred in roles in other popular British television shows such as The Professionals, Minder, Chancer, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Between the Lines, Pie in the Sky and Dalziel and Pascoe.

Kitchen played Richard Crane in Reckless and John Farrow in the mockumentary The Life of Rock with Brian Pern.

Theatre

Kitchen is also a noted actor in British theatre. His roles have ranged from Ptolemy in Caesar and Cleopatra at the Belgrade Theatre in 1966 to Will in Howard Brenton's Magnificence at the Royal Court in 1973 to William Hogarth in Nick Dear's The Art of Success in 1986–87.

He played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet for the RSC at Stratford and was a member of the National Theatre Company and the Young Vic, where he played Iago in Othello. In 1974 he appeared at Laurence Olivier's National Theatre in the play Spring Awakening opposite Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Beryl Reid and Cyril Cusack. Later he appeared opposite Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, directed by Peter Hall. In 1981 he played Melchior, the manservant of Zangler, in Tom Stoppard's play On the Razzle. In 1984 he played the cabin steward Dvornicheck in Tom Stoppard's play Rough Crossing.

Personal life

Kitchen is married to Rowena Miller, whom he met while she was a dresser at the RSC in the late 1980s. They have two sons. Kitchen rarely gives interviews.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Unman, Wittering and Zigo	Bungabine
1972	Dracula A.D. 1972	Greg
1980	Breaking Glass	Larner
1985	Out of Africa	Berkeley
1989	Dykket	Bricks
1990	Fools of Fortune	Mr Quinton
1990	The Russia House	Clive
1992	Enchanted April	George Briggs
1992	Hostage	Fredericks
1993	The Trial	Block
1995	GoldenEye	Bill Tanner
1997	Mrs Dalloway	Peter Walsh
1999	The World is Not Enough	Bill Tanner
2000	New Year's Day	Robin
2000	Proof of Life	Ian Havery
2011	My Week with Marilyn	Hugh Perceval

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Waller	1 episode
1971	Man at the Top	Trevor	1 episode
1971	Z Cars	Royal Hall	2 episodes
1972	ITV Sunday Night Theatre		1 episode
1972	New Scotland Yard	Peter Coppard	1 episode
1973	Country Matters	Henry Batley	1 episode
1973	Late Night Theatre	Paul	1 episode
1973	Crime of Passion	Philippe Villon	1 episode
1973	The Brontes of Haworth	Branwell Bronte	4 episodes
1973	Great Mysteries	Herbert White	1 episode
1973	Love Story	Roy	1 episode
1973	Marked Personal	Simon	2 episodes
1974	Fall of Eagles	Trotsky	2 episodes
1974	Seven Faces of Woman	Archie	1 episode
1974-1976	Thriller	Ian/George Newton	2 episodes
1975	Churchill's People	John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester	1 episode
1975	Centre Play	The Student	1 episode
1989	The Justice Game	Tim Forsythe	4 episodes
1992	Inspector Morse	Russell Clark	1 episode
1993	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Lloyd George	1 episode
1993	To Play the King	The King	4 episodes
1995	The Hanging Gale	Captain William Townsend	4 episodes
1997	Reckless	Richard Crane	6 episodes
1999	Oliver Twist	Mr Brownlow	4 episodes
2002-2015	Foyle's War	Christopher Foyle	28 episodes
2014	The Life of Rock with Brian Pern	John Farrow	6 episodes

External links

• Michael Kitchen at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Kitchen BFI
• Michael Kitchen in Foyle's War
• Michael Kitchen Messageboard