Ian Richardson
Ian William Richardson CBE ( born April 7, 1934 in Edinburgh, † February 9, 2007 in London ) was an English actor in film, television and theater.
Life
Richardson studied at the College of Dramatic Art in Glasgow. In the 1960s he played mainly in the ensemble of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which he left in 1970 to take over the lead role in the BBC production Eyeless in Gaza. In 1979 he played the aristocratic head of MI6, Sir Henry Cuthbertson, in the film Charlie Muffin on the side of David Hemmings and Pinkas Braun. Mid -1970s, he was seen as Henry Higgins in a revival of My Fair Lady on Broadway. In 1983 he played the detective Sherlock Holmes in the movies The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Known to a wider audience Richardson was as perfidious Machiavellian politician Francis Urquhart in the television miniseries House of Cards (1990 ) and its sequels To head and crown (1993) and The Final Cut on the novels by Michael Dobbs. To this end, Richardson was awarded in 1991 by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Best Actor BAFTA TV Award.
In June 1989, Ian Richardson was appointed Commander of the British Empire.
Ian Richardson, who died unexpectedly on 9 February 2007, was married to Maroussia Frank since 1961. The marriage produced two sons were born.