Vernon Dobtcheff

Born: 1934-08-14 in Nimes, France

Known For: Acting

Biography

Vernon Alexandre Dobtcheff (born 14 August 1934) is a French-British character actor, who has appeared in over 300 film, television, and stage productions in a career spanning six decades. Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a British mother (Vernon) and a father of Bulgarian descent (Dobtcheff). He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup. One of his many television roles was as the Chief Scientist in the Doctor Who story The War Games in 1969. In his 2006 memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, British actor Rupert Everett describes an encounter with Dobtcheff on the boat train to Paris, and reveals his extraordinary reputation as the "patron saint" of the acting profession, stating that Dobtcheff "was legendary not so much for his acting as for his magical ability to catch every first night in the country". Widely travelled and prone to pop up in the most unlikely of locales, if unable to attend an opening night, Dobtcheff will still endeavour to send the cast a card wishing the production good luck. Description above from the Wikipedia article Vernon Dobtcheff, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

2024

Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour as The Scientist (archive footage)
Alec Guinness: A Class Act as self

2023

The Gold as Matteo Constantino

2019

The Witcher as Older Elf

2018

The Romanoffs as M. Audran
L'hypothèse de la reine rouge as Sherlock Holmes
The Violet Hour as M. Audran

2017

Emerald City as High Born Man
The Man with the Iron Heart as Emile Hacha

2016

The Durrells as Mr. Kralefsky

2015

Killing Jesus as Isaiah

2014

The Invisible Boy as Artiglio
Horsehead as George
Seven Lucky Gods as Lawrence

2013

The Great Beauty as Arturo

2012

Zarafa as Le vieux sage (voice)
Another Woman's Life as Dimitri Speranski

2011

The Borgias as Cardinal Versucci
The Passage as Vieil homme

2010

Undisputed III: Redemption as Rezo
Godforsaken as The Surgeon

2009

The Little Murders of Agatha Christie as Anatole Deschanel
Changing Climates, Changing Times as Lucas

2008

Apparitions
Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1 as Self
The Joy of Singing as Le lecteur du bar
Accordez-moi as Joseph Von Stieglitz

2007

La Légende des 3 clefs as The anthropologist Gilles Clément

2006

2005

Empire of the Wolves as Kudseyi
An American Haunting as Elder #1

2004

Before Sunset as Bookstore Manager
Evilenko as Bagdasarov
Pontormo - Un amore eretico as Riccio

2003

Brocéliande as Brennos
Thank You, Doctor Rey as François

2002

The Red Siren as Vitali
The Falklands Play as Nicanor Costa Méndez (Argentine Minister of External Relations)

2001

Largo Winch as Maurice de Beliveau
The Body as Monsignor
The Order as Oscar
David Copperfield as Quinion
Festival in Cannes as Millie's Escort
Revelation as Curé at Rennes-le-Chateau

2000

David Copperfield as Quinion
The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization as Cleisthenes
Le Prof as Patte Folle
The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization as Cleisthenes
Falling Through as Father

1999

Relic Hunter as Anthony Cureton
Dreaming of Joseph Lees as Italian Doctor
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka as Art Gallery Lecturer

1998

Highlander: The Raven as Count Van Der Meer
Merlin as 1st Physician
Hilary and Jackie as Professor Bentley
Jinnah as Lord Willingdon
30 Years to Life as Sandler
Déjà Vu as Konstantine
Vigo as Papa Lozinska
St. Ives as Bonnefoy
Spanish Fly as Carl's Friend
The Wonderland Experience as Vincent

1997

The Odyssey as Aegyptius
Anna Karenina as Pestov
The Hunchback as Father Michel

1996

Jude as Curator
Surviving Picasso as Diaghilev
Catherine the Great as Naryshkin
The Ogre as Lawyer
The Ice Princess as Chancellor

1995

Father Ted as Old Nazi
Le fils de Paul as Duval
Jefferson in Paris as King's Translator
Sharpe's Sword as Don Felipe
The House that Mary Bought

1994

Mademoiselle O as Rouka

1993

Sharpe as Don Felipe
M. Butterfly as Agent Etancelin
The Hour of the Pig as Apothecary
Frankenstein as Chancellor
Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher as Un Héraut / Un prêtre / Un clerc
Temptation of Sainthood as Freud

1992

Highlander: The Series as Carlo Luchesi
As Time Goes By as Dr. Stoker
Venice/Venice as Alexander
The First Circle as Riyumin
Sweetheart as Thurson
Obiettivo indiscreto as Primo editore

1991

The Strauss Dynasty as Hirsch
Let Him Have It as Clerk of Court

1990

Hamlet as Reynaldo
The Krays as Teacher
Meridian as Priest
The Plot to Kill Hitler as Fellgiebel
The Garden as Old Man at Sauna
Flight from Paradise as Merrill
Vincent and Me as Dr Winkler

1989

Agatha Christie's Poirot as Simeon Lee
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as Butler
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story as Jules Glaenzer
Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again as Felix Penroux
Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story as Doctor Webber
The Hostage of Europe as Hudson Lowe
Splendor
The Sweet House of Horrors as The Exorcist
Natalia as Alfred Grabner
Berlin-Jerusalem as Editor

1988

War and Remembrance as Henri Bulle
Maigret as Gannett
Pascali's Island as Pariente
Catacombs as Brother Timothy
Testimony as Gargolovsky
Le due croci as Bischof de Jong

1987

Crossbow
Fortunes of War as Prince Hadjimoscos

1986

The Name of the Rose as Hugh of Newcastle
The Return of Sherlock Holmes as Mendelstam
If Tomorrow Comes as Boris Melnikov
Caravaggio as Art Lover

1985

A.D. as Flavius Sabinus
Tender Is the Night as Luis Campion
Mussolini: The Untold Story as Sebastiani
Morenga as Lohmann
Mata Hari as Prosecutor

1984

Sherlock Holmes as Mendelstam
Gwendoline as Shirko
L'Homme de Suez as Konya, Turkish Colonel, spy in the service of the English
Much Ado About Nothing as Don John
Night Patrol as James
Mon Ami Washington
The Devil's Lieutenant as Dr. Goldschmiedt

1983

Dramarama as Mr. Rolyat
The Scarlet and the Black as Count Langenthal
An Englishman Abroad as Guildenstern

1982

Marco Polo as Pietro De Abano
That Night of Varennes as Judge at the confiscation
Enigma as Minister
Nutcracker as Markovitch

1981

Masada as Chief Priest
Private Schulz as Sturmer
Goldene Zeiten - Bittere Zeiten as M. Bernard
Peter and Paul as High Priest of Herod
Le Beau Monde as Pablo
Condorman as Russian Agent
Troilus & Cressida as Agamemnon
San-Antonio ne pense qu'à ça as Un tueur russe
L'Amour nu as John, le patron de Claire
Sredni Vashtar as Dr. Russell

1980

Nijinsky as Sergei Grigoriev

1979

Ike as Gen. Charles DeGaulle
Turning Year Tales as Bailiff
Ike as Gen. Charles DeGaulle
A Question Of Faith as Mikhail Mikhailovich

1978

Blake's 7 as The Chairman
Holocaust as Karp
Mazarin as Pimentel
Little Girl in Blue Velvet as Lamberti
Romeo and Juliet as Apothecary
Question of Love as Peter
The Roads of Exile as Le peintre Ramsay
Last In, First Out as Le réceptionniste

1977

The Spy Who Loved Me as Max Kalba
1990
March or Die as Mean Corporal
Joseph Andrews as Fop Two
The Achurch Letters as Eugene

1976

Police Commissioner Moulin as Astman
Dickens of London as Legal Gentleman
Killers as Clerk of the Assizes
French Without Tears as Monsieur Maingot

1975

Rumpole of the Bailey as Edward Gandolphini
The Sweeney as Harry Kretchmar
Michael Strogoff as Blount
Des Christoffel von Grimmelshausen abenteuerlicher Simplizissimus as Dr. Canard
Playing with Fire as A messenger
Operation: Daybreak as Pyotr
Rumpole of the Bailey as Magnus Piecan
India Song as Georges Crawn
Cat and Mouse as Germain's accomplice
Lovers Like Us as Coleman
The Messiah as Samuel
Van der Valk and the Scapegoat as Reinders
The Secret Agent as Karl Yundt

1974

Playhouse as Eugene
Churchill's People as De Reynes
Murder on the Orient Express as Concierge
Father Brown as Simon Vesty
Fall of Eagles as Count Stookau
Soft Beds, Hard Battles as Padre
À vous de jouer Milord as N° 2
Cartesius as Astronomo Ciprus
Scent of a Woman as Don Carlo (uncredited)
The Marseille Contract as Lazar

1973

The Day of the Jackal as Interrogator
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em as Henry
Nobody Is Norman Wisdom as Proshnik
An Echo of Theresa as Bannerheim
Impossible Object as Private Investigator

1972

Crown Court as John Maitland-Wilson
New Scotland Yard as Jacob Harmann
The Protectors as Joe Flynn
Van der Valk as Sebastian Jonge
The Edwardians as Benjamin Disraeli
The Canterbury Tales as The Franklin
Up the Front as Muller
Far from Dallas

1971

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes as Molbech
Fiddler on the Roof as Russian Official
Nicholas and Alexandra as Dr. Lazovert
Mary, Queen of Scots as Duc De Guise
The Married Couple of the Year Two as le pasteur
The Horsemen as Zam Hajji
The Beast in the Cellar as Newsmith

1970

Play for Today
Ace of Wands as Sandor Zandar
Codename as Herman Voss
Them as Brisbane
Darling Lili as Otto Kraus

1969

Anne of the Thousand Days as Mendoza
The Assassination Bureau as Baron Muntzof
Baby Love as Man in Cinema
Doctor Who: The War Games as Chief Scientist
Beach Head as N.G. Waldron

1968

1967

The Further Adventures of the Musketeers as Msgr. de Gondy
The Taming of the Shrew as Pedant

1966

1965

BBC Play of the Month as Monsieur Maingot
Thirty-Minute Theatre as Carpenter
The Troubleshooters as Peebles
Out of the Unknown as N.G. Waldron
The Mask of Janus as Colonel Valenkov
The World of Wooster as Music Store Assistant
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes as Member of the French Team
Darling as Art Critic at Ralph Riggs Exposure (uncredited)
The World of George Orwell: 1984 as Goldstein
The Debussy Film as The Actor

1964

Theatre 625 as Priest
The Protectors as Cherni
The Count of Monte Cristo as Prison Inspector
Martin Chuzzlewit
The Life of Galileo as Philosopher

1963

Doctor Who as Scientist
Espionage as Captain of Police
Festival as Philosopher

1962

The Saint as Vogel
The Scales of Justice as Mr. Strang

1961

The Avengers as Spencer

1955

Dixon of Dock Green as Counsel for Defence