Robert Hardy

One of England's most enduringly successful character actors, Robert Hardy is noted for his versatility and depth. Born Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy in Cheltenham on 29 October 1925, he attended Rugby School, then Magdalene College, Oxford, where he studied with writer CS Lewis (author of The Chronicles of Narnia and received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree.

In 1949, he joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. Television viewers most fondly remember him as the overbearing Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small (beginning in 1978), but his most critically acclaimed performance was as the title character in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981). His portrayal of Britain's wartime leader was so accurately observed that in the following years he was called on to reprise the role in such productions as The Woman He Loved and War and Remembrance.

Other notable TV performances include Queenâ??s favourite Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester opposite Glenda Jackson in Elizabeth R, Von Ribbentrop in the 1974 production of The Gathering Storm, Arthur Brooke in Middlemarch, Sir Herbert Hamilton in Bramwell and Professor Illingworth in the 2001 BBC production of The Lost World.

His work in films has been mainly in British-based productions such as The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, The Shooting Party, Young Winston, 10 Rillington Place, Mrs Dalloway, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Sense and Sensibility, An Ideal Husband and, of course, as Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter films.

His hobbies are archery, horsemanship and medieval history. Widely regarded as one of Britainâ??s leading experts on the longbow, an interest he developed while filming Age of Kings, he serves as a consultant on the weapon for organizations involved in history projects, and handcrafts longbows himself. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries from 1984-95. He has published two books: Longbow and The Great War-Bow.

He is married to Sally Pearson, a costume designer.

In 1981, Robert Hardy received a CBE for his services to acting.