With roles as varied as
Count Karnstein in 'Twins of Evil' to Father Alvito in 'Shogun' this busy
British actor has had a long and successful career in Theatre, T.V. and
Film. Asked why he chose acting as a career he has no definitive answer.
"I don't think there was a specific single reason for choosing acting but I had had some success in school plays as a boy and was certainly impressed by the waves of approval this seemed (to me) to generate! I was interested in the theatre in particular and it never occurred to me at that time that it was possible to make a career in films or T.V. I loved the movies though; especially the films of Bunuel, and the French films that you could see in the little 'Arts' cinemas. 'Les Enfants du Paradis' is a favourite and I've seen it countless times!"His first role on leaving R.A.D.A. was 'Raleigh' in 'Journeys End' , with the cast of Dixon of Dock Green. Following that there was a series of 'fortnightly reps' in a variety of roles under the direction of Jonathan Hale and appearances in a number of popular British series, 'The Professionals', 'The Protectors', Blakes 7'. He was then offered the starring role opposite Peter Cushing in one of the best Hammer films, 'Twins of Evil'. In this 1972 cult classic he is ideally suited to the role of the handsome vampire Count Karnstein. After 'Twins of Evil' Damien went on to appear in what is now another cult classic, a 'sexy sixties romp' based on a cartoon strip , 'Tales of Tiffany Jones'.
His
next role, for which he was chosen by Orson Wells , was to play '
Lorenzo' in 'The Merchant of Venice', unfortunately it was never
completed. He went on to star opposite Richard Widmark in
'Madigan -
The Lisbon Beat' and played ' Pindarus' in Stuart Burges film of
'Julius
Caesar'. Always in demand with a busy theatre career he
was also starring in a number of productions throughout England...... some
of his particular favourites are 'Mr Worthy' in 'The Relapse' ,'Romelio'
in the first revival of 'The Devils Lawcase',
and the first production
of 'Rose' in which he played all the male roles.
A talent for dialect and languages, and with his exotic good looks he won the role of 'Zaid' , the adopted son of the Prophet Mohammed in 'The Message' with Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas . It took over a year to shoot at a variety of locations, beginning with Morocco, and was a production fraught with political and cultural problems surrounding the subject matter of the film, the story of Islam. The controversy continued upon the films release and had an impact on its commercial success, but not its quality, it is an excellent 4 star movie.
His next film role was as 'Prince Kassim' in Sam Wanamaker's film
'Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger' in 1977, with Jane Seymore.
More recently he starred as 'Don Alfonso' with Walter Mathau in Roman Polanski's
'Pirates'. A lavish costume romp of pirates and Spanish Lords
in exotic locations.
Perhaps the best loved of all of Damien's T.V. forays is 'Shogun'in which he starred with Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune. Originally contracted for the role of the Spanish captain, on arrival in Japan he was cast by James Clavell as' Father Martin Alvito'. 'Shogun' took over a year to shoot on location in Japan and it presented its own challenges as Damien had quite a lot of dialogue in Japanese. The production was a huge hit and is still running on the Romance channel. He went on to appear in another James Clavell mini series, 'Noble House', with Pierce Brosnan in 1988.
Throughout his career
he has starred and guest starred in a number of popular British T.V. series,
'Jane
Eyre' with Timothy Dalton,
'Poirot'
with David Suchet, and as
'Herod Agrippa' in 'Anno Domini'
with Ava Gardner, John Houseman
and James Mason, and many many more.... Perhaps of all the series
the one he had the most fun with was 'Talisman'
in
which he starred and played 3 very different roles.
He founded Theatre West,
a touring company, in 1993 and co-produced Andover 'Sugar Plum'
with the Crickland Theatre, an adaptation of a Feydeau farce by Reggie
Oliver. A year later the company was invited to be the first resident theatre
company at the Tivoli Theatre, Wimbourne, producing 5 plays , including
an adaptation with original music of a Christmas Carol, 'Humbug', which
he directed and played 'Scrooge'.
When not performing he is teaching, with drama workshops, particularly for children at risk. On a more unusual note Damien recently worked with inmates at HMP Verne where he directed the prisoners in a rock musical based on Hamlet which was performed for the public and the proceeds donated to a local hospital.
