Harry Bernard Cross was an English stage and film actor.
30 Facts About Ben Cross
2.
Ben Cross was best known for playing Billy Flynn in the original West End production of the musical Chicago, and his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.
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Harry Bernard Ben Cross was born in London on 16 December 1947, to a working-class family.
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Ben Cross was the son of Catherine, a cleaner, and Harry Cross, a doorman.
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Ben Cross's father died of tuberculosis when Cross was aged eight.
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Ben Cross started his career by taking manual jobs, including working as a window cleaner, waiter, and joiner.
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Ben Cross worked as a carpenter for the Welsh National Opera, and was the Property Master at The Alexandra theatre in Birmingham.
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Ben Cross then joined the Prospect Theatre Company and played roles in Pericles, Twelfth Night, and The Royal Hunt of the Sun.
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In 1977, Ben Cross became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company; he performed in the premiere of Privates on Parade as "Kevin Cartwright" and played Rover in a revival of a Restoration play titled Wild Oats.
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Ben Cross trained hard for his role as Abrahams; his co-star Ian Charleson played Liddell.
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Ben Cross's starring role in Chariots of Fire has been credited with continuing a transatlantic trend in elegant young English actors that had been set by Jeremy Irons in Brideshead Revisited.
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In 1982, the US union Actors' Equity, in a landmark reversal of a previous ruling, allowed Ben Cross to appear in John Guare's off-Broadway play Lydie Breeze.
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Ben Cross subsequently replaced James Garner as the featured actor endorsing the Polaroid Spectra camera in 1986.
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Ben Cross was featured in GQ Magazine as one of the annual "Manstyle" winners in January 1985 followed by a featured photo shoot in March 1985.
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Ben Cross twice portrayed a vampire, first in the 1989 USA Network film Nightlife, then again as Barnabas Collins in the 1991 MGM miniseries remake of the cult classic TV soap opera Dark Shadows.
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Ben Cross appeared as Sir Harold Pearson in the 1994 Italian production Caro Dolce Amore, Solomon in the 1997 Trimark Pictures production Solomon and Captain Nemo in the 1997 CBS film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
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Ben Cross played Ikey Solomon in the Australian production The Potato Factory in 2000.
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Ben Cross played Rudolf Hess in the 2006 BBC production Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial.
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In November 2007, Ben Cross was cast in the role of Sarek in the 2009 Star Trek film directed and produced by JJ Abrams.
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Ben Cross spoke to Star Trek magazine following the film's release, saying:.
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In 2012, Ben Cross was cast as Rabbit, the main antagonist on the Cinemax original series Banshee.
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Ben Cross wrote music, screenplays, and articles for English-language publications, and the lyrics for an album with Bulgarian singer Vasil Petrov, which was released in late 2007.
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Ben Cross sang two Frank Sinatra songs with Petrov in the Apollonia Festival at the Black Sea in September 2007.
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Ben Cross starred in it and played the part of the hangman.
25.
Square One, directed by Ben Cross, was performed at the Etcetera Theatre in London in 2004.
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From 1977 to 1992, Ben Cross was married to model Penelope Butler and had two children, Lauren and Theo.
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Ben Cross was later married to gyrotonics trainer Michele Moerth, from 1996 to 2005.
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Ben Cross was an active Freemason for the final 10 years of his life.
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Ben Cross died of cancer in Vienna on 18 August 2020, aged 72.
30.
Ben Cross had recently finished two films, Prey for the Devil and The Last Letter from Your Lover, which were released posthumously.