Peter Eyre

American-born, but educated in the UK and based there ever since, Peter Eyre embarked on his initial theatrical training in France, after London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) disappointed him by deferring his entry. RADA was apparently no great loss: Eyre has since trod the boards for the most august and distinguished British stage companies, including the Old Vic, where he made his professional debut, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court and the National Theatre. Stage directors with whom Eyre has worked include Trevor Nunn, Jonathan Miller and Michael Grandage, and his theatrical co-stars have included Ralph Fiennes and Dame Judi Dench. Onscreen too, Eyre is a flexible and dynamic character actor, and has worked with a rollcall of greats. He appeared as Otto Mahler in Ken Russell's "Mahler," and -- like most of the great British thesps of his vintage -- took roles in several Merchant-Ivory titles, including "Maurice" and "The Remains of the Day." He played his late friend the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan in Janet Munsil's acclaimed stage play "Smoking with Lulu," and also appeared as a character based on Gore Vidal in Edmund White's "Terre Haute," which imagines the writer's interaction with Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh.