A true character actor in the best sense of the word, off-beat British thesp Peter Vaughan's hefty frame could appear intimidating or marshmallow benevolent, his beady, hollow eyes menacing or tender, his mere presence menacing or avuncular. Adept at playing both sides of the law, his characters usually possessed a strange, somewhat wary countenance that seemed to keep his audience slightly off balance. A homely sort with a bloated face, jutting chin, sliver lips and a pronounced nose, this veteran has been a stalwart presence for nearly fifty years. Born Peter Ohm in 1923, he began on the stage and didn't enter films until 1959 - well into middle age.

Married in 1952 to rising actress Billie Whitelaw, Peter was primarily in the background at first offering a cheapjack gallery of thugs, unsmiling cops, and foreign agents in movies. An easily unsympathetic bloke, he played unbilled policemen in his first two films, then slowly gravitated up the credits list. He appeared as the Chief of Police in the spy drama The Devil's Agent, which also featured his wife, then gained a bit more attention in a prime part as an offbeat insurance investigator in the programme Smokescreen, a role that propelled him into the higher ranks. Noticeably shady roles came with playing Tallulah Bankhead's seedy handyman who meets a fatal end in the Gothic horror Die! Die! My Darling! [aka Die! Die! My Darling!]; his villainous roles in the spy thrillers The Naked Runner opposite Frank Sinatra and The Man Outside; a German thug in A Twist of Sand; and Sgt. Walker in The Bofors Gun.

Divorced from Whitelaw in 1966, he later married actress Lillias Walker, who had roles in a couple of his pictures - Malachi's Cove and Intimate Reflections. TV became a large source of income for Vaughan in the 1970s, particularly his role of Grouty in Doing Time on both the large and small screen, and his quirky demeanor fitted like a glove for bizarre director Terry Gilliam, who cast him as the Ogre in Time Bandits, then as Mr. Helpman in Brazil. For the past few decades he has maintained a healthy balance between film, including standout roles Zulu Dawn, The Remains of the Day and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, and TV mini-movies, both contemporary and period. Still performing past age 80.


His brilliant performance as Denethor in the BBC radio dramatization of "The Lord of the Rings" is considered by some to be the unsurpassed and defining portrayal of this character. Has twice played a wheelchair-bound man in need of assistance in the restroom, once in Brazil (1985) and again in Death at a Funeral (2007).