31 Facts About Michael Gough

Francis Michael Gough was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances.

Michael Gough is known for his roles in the Hammer Horror Films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthur Holmwood in Dracula, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth from 1989 to 1997 in the four Batman films directed by Tim Burton or Joel Schumacher.

Michael Gough appeared in three more Burton films: Sleepy Hollow, voicing Elder Gutknecht in Corpse Bride and the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland.

At the National Theatre in London Michael Gough excelled as a comedian, playing a resigned and rueful parent in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce.

One of Michael Gough's most well-received West End roles was as Baron von Epp in the 1983 revival of John Osborne's A Patriot for Me.

Michael Gough was born in Kuala Lumpur, Federated Malay States on 23 November 1916, the son of English parents Francis Berkeley Michael Gough, a rubber planter, and Frances Atkins.

Michael Gough was educated at Rose Hill School, Tunbridge Wells, and at Durham School.

Michael Gough moved on to Wye Agricultural College, which he left to go to the Old Vic.

In 1948, Michael Gough made his film debut in Blanche Fury and thereafter appeared extensively on British television.

Michael Gough became known for his appearances in horror films; following his performance as Arthur Holmwood in Hammer's original Dracula, his horror roles mainly saw him feature as slimy villains, notably in Horrors of the Black Museum, Konga, The Phantom of the Opera, Black Zoo, Trog, The Corpse, Horror Hospital and Norman J Warren's cheaply-made Satanism shocker Satan's Slave.

Michael Gough guest-starred in Doctor Who, as the titular villain in The Celestial Toymaker and as Councillor Hedin in Arc of Infinity.

Michael Gough was set to reprise his role as the Toymaker in the proposed 23rd Season story The Nightmare Fair, but the season and the serial were cancelled and never produced.

Michael Gough played the automation-obsessed wheelchair user Dr Armstrong in "The Cybernauts", one of the best remembered episodes of The Avengers, returning the following season as the Russian spymaster Nutski in "The Correct Way to Kill".

Michael Gough was introduced in the first-season episode "Maximum Security" of Colditz as Major "Willi" Schaeffer, the alcoholic second-in-command of the Kommandant.

Michael Gough played Mikhel, a slippery assistant to a slain British spy opposite Alec Guinness in the television adaptation of John le Carre's Smiley's People the following year.

Michael Gough appeared in The Citadel as Sir Jenner Halliday, in 1985's Out of Africa as Lord Delamere and as the fictional deposed KGB spymaster Andrei Zorin in Sleepers.

Michael Gough voiced the character in two BBC radio dramas - Batman: The Lazarus Syndrome and the 1994 adaptation of Batman: Knightfall.

Michael Gough reprised his role in a 1989 advertisement for Diet Coke and in 2001, in six television commercials for the OnStar automobile tracking system.

Michael Gough retired in 1999 after appearing in Burton's Sleepy Hollow.

Michael Gough would emerge from retirement twice more, both as a favour to Burton, to voice Elder Gutknecht in Corpse Bride and the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland.

Michael Gough married his first wife Diana Graves in 1937; their son Simon Peter was born in 1942 and they divorced in 1948.

Wills and Michael Gough met at various times during her life, firstly during a theatre trip with her mother in 1952, but they first met formally on the set of Candidate for Murder and the attraction was instant.

Michael Gough adopted Wills' daughter Polly and in 1965 their son Jasper was born.

Polly died in a motorcycle accident in 1982 at the age of 18, believing that Michael Gough was her biological father.

Michael Gough married his fourth wife Henrietta Lawrence in 1981, and they remained together until his death.

Michael Gough won Broadway's 1979 Tony Award as Best Actor for Bedroom Farce.

Michael Gough was nominated in the same category in 1988 for Breaking the Code.

Michael Gough was nominated for a Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in 1979 for Bedroom Farce and again in 1988 for Breaking the Code.

Michael Gough died from pneumonia aged 94 on 17 March 2011 at his home in Salisbury, Wiltshire, having been ill with prostate cancer for the previous year.

Michael Gough was survived by his fourth wife Henrietta, daughter Emma and son Simon and Jasper, a photographer.

Michael Gough was added to In Memoriam at the 18th Screen Actors Guild Awards.