Roger Hammond

John Roger Hammond (21 March 1936 – 8 November 2012) was an English character actor who appeared in many films and television series. Hammond's father was a chartered accountant and managing director of a cotton mill. John attended Stockport Grammar School for two years followed by Bryanston School in Dorset. He then went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he initially read English, then switched to archaeology and anthropology and he appeared extensively in their drama programme, alongside actors such as Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. Following that, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1963, he joined the Arts Theatre Company, and appeared in a number of productions there, including productions of the associated Unicorn Theatre. In 1964, Hammond made his first television appearance, as Tidiman in an episode of The Villains, and his first film appearance the next year. Although he worked primarily as a television actor in his early years, from the 1990s his career was more focused on film, and his credits boast an impressive 125 credits in a variety of roles, ranging from all sorts of genres, although mostly in costume dramas and period pieces. Hammond's credits include the Prince of Wales in The Duchess of Duke Street, Valence in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia, and Cecil in A Good Woman. Hammond was also cast as a clergyman several times, including as the Archbishop in Ian McKellen's Richard III, the Bishop de Cambrai in The Princes in the Tower, and as the Chief Augur in the HBO television drama Rome. In 1984 he appeared as agoraphobic bookmaker Albert Wendle in the Minder episode Get Daley! Hammond additionally contributed to some audio books on tape, appearing in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and The Tempest.