Walter Charles Dance OBE (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor, screenwriter, and director. He typically plays strict, authoritarian characters or villains. He is best known for his roles as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones, Kitchener in The King's Man, Martin Benson in Amazon Prime's The Widow, Lord Mountbatten in Netflix's The Crown (for which he was nominated for aΒ Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series), Thomas in Underworld: Awakening and Underworld: Blood Wars, Harold Fillmore in Ghostbusters (2016), Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Frankenstein in Victor Frankenstein, Master Vampire in Dracula Untold, Conrad Knox in the Cinemax series Strike Back, Raymond Stockbridge in Gosford Park, one-eyed hitman Benedict in Last Action Hero, Clemens in AlienΒ³, Sardo Numpsa in The Golden Child, and Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown.
He started his career on stage with theΒ Royal Shakespeare CompanyΒ (RSC) before appearing in film and television. For his services to drama, he was appointed anΒ Officer of the Order of the British EmpireΒ (OBE) byΒ Queen Elizabeth IIΒ in 2006.
He made his directorial film debut with the drama filmΒ Ladies in LavenderΒ (2004), which he also wrote and executive produced.
