David Calder (actor)
British actor
title: "David Calder (actor)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1946-births", "20th-century-english-male-actors", "21st-century-english-male-actors", "alumni-of-bristol-old-vic-theatre-school", "english-male-film-actors", "english-male-television-actors", "living-people", "male-actors-from-portsmouth"] description: "British actor" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Calder_(actor)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary British actor ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | David Calder PB030058 (cropped).JPG |
| imagesize | |
| caption | Calder at the National Theatre Studio on 3 November 2009 |
| name | David Calder |
| birth_name | David Ian Calder |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Portsmouth, Hampshire, England |
| occupation | Actor |
| years_active | 1970—present |
| :: |
|image = David Calder PB030058 (cropped).JPG |imagesize = | |caption = Calder at the National Theatre Studio on 3 November 2009 | name = David Calder | birth_name = David Ian Calder | birth_date = | birth_place = Portsmouth, Hampshire, England | death_date = | death_place = | othername = | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1970—present | spouse = David Ian Calder (born 1 August 1946) is an English actor. His film and television credits include the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, Crown Court, The Blackstuff, The Professionals, Enemy at the Door, Minder, Bergerac, The New Statesman, Between the Lines, Bramwell, Cracker, Dalziel and Pascoe, Heartbeat, Sleepers, Spooks, Midsomer Murders, Hustle, Waking the Dead, Wallis & Edward, A Touch of Frost, Cold Blood, Burn Up, Lewis, Houdini, United, and The Last Front.
Life and career
Calder was born 1 August 1946 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, In 1989, he appeared in the adaptation of the David Lodge novel Nice Work. From 2005–06, he took on the role of PC George Dixon in the radio adaptation of the BBC's long running television series Dixon of Dock Green.
Calder's other television credits include Crown Court, Boys from the Blackstuff, The Professionals, Enemy at the Door, Minder, Bergerac, The New Statesman, Between the Lines, Bramwell, Cracker, Dalziel and Pascoe, Heartbeat, Sleepers, Spooks, Midsomer Murders, Hustle, Waking the Dead, Wallis & Edward, A Touch of Frost, Cold Blood, Burn Up, Lewis, and Houdini. He also appeared as Harold Hardman, the Manchester United chairman at the time of the Munich air disaster in 1958, in the TV drama United, aired by the BBC in April 2011. In 2013, he played Mr Reid in The Wrong Mans.
Calder appeared as Sir Robert King in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough. His other film appearances include Moonlighting (1982), Defence of the Realm (1986), American Friends (1991), Hollow Reed (1996), FairyTale: A True Story (1997), The King Is Alive (2000), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), and Rush (2013).
In 1979, Calder appeared in a public information film as a crime prevention officer, asking people to consider how they would get into their own home if they lost their keys. The PIF, which was used to encourage people to make their homes secure, and to contact their crime prevention officer for advice, ran until at least 1985. In February 2010, Calder played Stuart Bell in the television film On Expenses.
In October 2016, Calder played Gus, in The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures by Tony Kushner at the Hampstead Theatre.
In October 2016, Calder appeared as Mr Bruff in the BBC mini-series The Moonstone and from October 2017 in the title role of Julius Caesar at the new Bridge Theatre. This production was broadcast by National Theatre Live in March 2018.
Also in 2018, Calder played a closeted gay man suffering from dementia on BBC's Call the Midwife.
In 2024, Calder played Father Michael in the World War I television film The Last Front.
Filmography
::data[format=table title="Film"]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | ** | J.C. | |
| 1978 | Superman | 3rd Crewman | (Superman's 1st Night) |
| 1979 | All the Fun of the Fair | Pat Collins | |
| 1982 | Moonlighting | Supermarket Manager | |
| 1986 | Defence of the Realm | Harry Champion | |
| 1991 | American Friends | Pollitt | |
| 1996 | Hollow Reed | Martin's Lawyer | |
| 1997 | FairyTale: A True Story | Harold Snelling | |
| 1999 | ** | Sir Robert King | |
| 2000 | ** | Charles | |
| 2001 | Mr In-Between | Tattooed Man | |
| 2006 | Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Bishop of Grasse | |
| Goya's Ghosts | Monk 1 | ||
| 2008 | ** | Roger Wilson | |
| 2010 | National Theatre Live: Hamlet | Polonius | |
| 2011 | United | Harold Hardman | |
| 2013 | Rush | Louis Stanley | |
| 2015 | Queen of the Desert | Hugh Bell | |
| ** | Leo Fairchild | ||
| 2017 | ** | Terry Perkins | |
| 2018 | National Theatre Live: Julius Caesar | Caesar | |
| 2024 | The Last Front | Father Michael | |
| :: |
::data[format=table title="Television"]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode: "#" | |||
| ** | Episode: "#" | ||
| ITV Playhouse | John Marriott | Casting the Runes | |
| Enemy at the Door | Hoffman | Episode: "No Quarter Given" | |
| June-July 1981 | Get_Lost! | Det Sgt Tomlin | Four episodes |
| Wynne and Penkovsky | Greville Wynne | ||
| Bergerac | Sir Clive Hamer | Episode: "SPARTA" | |
| 1987 | Star Cops | Nathan Spring | Series regular |
| ** | Douglas | Episode: "Unreported Incident" | |
| Sleepers | Victor Chekhov | ||
| Screen One | Chubb | Episode: "A Question of Attribution" | |
| Screen Two | Abbé de L'Epée | Episode: "The Count of Solar" | |
| Friday on My Mind | Wing Commander Donahue | ||
| Covington Cross | Abbott | Episode: "The Persecution" | |
| The New Statesman | Le Cul | Episode: "Heil and Farewell" | |
| ** | Robert Legge | Episode: "Death at the Bar" | |
| Between the Lines | Leavis | Episode: "The End User" (2 parts) | |
| Cracker | Michael Harvey | Episode: "Brotherly Love" (3 parts) | |
| Dalziel and Pascoe | James Marsham | Episode: "Cunning Old Fox" | |
| Heartbeat | Saul Arkwright | Episode: "The Shoot" | |
| Spooks | Sergei Lermov | Episode: "The Rose Bed Memoirs" | |
| Midsomer Murders | George Hamilton | Episode: "Birds of Prey" | |
| ** | Richard Martin | Episode: "A Traitor to Memory" | |
| Hustle | Victor Maher | Episode: "Cops and Robbers" | |
| Waking the Dead | Commander Bill Drake | Episode: "Cold Fusion" | |
| Trial & Retribution | William Thorpe | Episode: "The Lovers" | |
| ** | Kenneth Shaw | Episode: "Endangered Species" | |
| Heartbeat | DI Ludlow | Episode: "Night Mail" | |
| Casualty | Roy Parks | Episode: "Into the Fog" | |
| Agatha Christie's Marple | Dermot | Episode: “The Blue Geranium” | |
| Lewis | Andrew Lipton | Episode: "The Indelible Stain" | |
| Mr Selfridge | King Edward VII | Episode: "Episode 10" | |
| Father Brown | Sir Aaron Armstrong | Episode: "The Three Tools of Death" | |
| DCI Banks | Jack Barber | Episode: "Piece of My Heart" | |
| Casualty | Phillip Perry | Episode: "A Life Less Lived" | |
| Vera | Frank McAffee | Episode: "The Sea Glass" | |
| Inside No. 9 | Percy | Episode: "Once Removed" | |
| Call the Midwife | Donald | Episode: "Episode 8" | |
| 2021 | Time | John Cobden | 3 episodes |
| 2021 | The Trick | Sir David King | TV film |
| 2017-2022 | Motherland | Geoff | 3 episodes |
| 2024 | Doctors | Lord Rodney Carleton | 2 episodes |
| :: |
::data[format=table title="Podcast series"]
| Date | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | The Lovecraft Investigations | Henry Akeley | 11 episodes (Radio 4) |
| 2023 | The Victory of Joan of Arc | Fontaine | Podcast series |
| :: |
References
References
- "BFI Screenonline: Widows (1983-85)".
- "BBC - Cult - Classic TV - Star Cops".
- "BBC Radio 4 Extra - Dixon of Dock Green, Series 2, the Gentle Scratcher".
- "David Calder Credits". tvguide.com.
- "David Calder".
- "BBC Two - United".
- "David Calder".
- "The World Is Not Enough (1999)".
- "David Calder | Movies and Filmography".
- "BBC Four - on Expenses".
- Billington, Michael. (28 October 2016). "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism … review – Tony Kushner's turbulent epic fizzes with ideas".
- "BBC One - the Moonstone, Episode 1".
- correspondent, Mark Brown Arts. (19 April 2017). "Karl Marx comedy to kick off first season at new London theatre".
- Hytner, Nicholas. (2018-03-22). "National Theatre Live: Julius Caesar".
- Hogan, Michael. (11 March 2018). "Call the Midwife is something special - a triumphant series created by, starring and largely about women: series seven, episode eight review". The Telegraph.
- "The Trick".
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