Michael A James, known professionally as Michael Jayston, was an English actor.
24 Facts About Michael Jayston
1.
2.
Michael Jayston played Nicholas II of Russia in the film Nicholas and Alexandra.
3.
Michael Jayston made many television appearances, which included portraying Peter Guillam in the miniseries Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, playing the Valeyard in all fourteen episodes of the Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord, and appearing in the Only Fools and Horses episode "Time on Our Hands" as Raquel's father, James.
4.
Michael Jayston was born on 29 October 1935 in West Bridgford, Nottingham as Michael A James, the only son of Aubrey Vincent James and Edna Myfanwy Medcalfe.
5.
Michael Jayston's father died of pneumonia when Michael was one, and his mother died when he was a young teenager.
6.
Michael Jayston attended the Becket RC School on Wilford Lane, West Bridgford.
7.
Michael Jayston began his stage career in 1962, performed at the Bristol Old Vic, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1965.
8.
Michael Jayston starred as Captain von Trapp in the 1981 stage revival of The Sound of Music at the Apollo Victoria in London's West End, alongside Petula Clark as Maria.
9.
In 1984, Michael Jayston starred as Mirabell in a production of William Congreve's The Way of the World at the Haymarket Theatre opposite Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright.
10.
Michael Jayston played Shakespearean roles on TV including Macbeth in Macbeth, Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice and Edmund in King Lear.
11.
In 1972, Michael Jayston played Sir Henry Royce alongside Robert Powell in the episode "Mr Rolls and Mr Royce" of the BBC drama series The Edwardians; the following year he took the role of Mr Rochester in a BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre, opposite Sorcha Cusack.
12.
Michael Jayston made two appearances in the anthology series Thriller in 1974, and in 1975 played Quiller, a spy who never used a gun, in the short-lived British TV series of the same name.
13.
Michael Jayston appeared as Dornford Yates' gentleman hero Jonathan Mansel in the 1978 BBC adaptation of She Fell Among Thieves.
14.
Michael Jayston played Neville Badger in the 1989 television adaptation of David Nobbs's comedy of manners A Bit of a Do.
15.
Michael Jayston appeared in Foyle's War, Holby City, Sherlock Holmes, Tracy Beaker Returns, and Midsomer Murders.
16.
In 1986, Michael Jayston played the role of the Valeyard in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
17.
Michael Jayston later reprised the part of the Valeyard in the Big Finish Productions audio plays Michael Jayston Jests at Scars.
18.
In 1968 Michael Jayston played Demetrius in Peter Hall's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
19.
Michael Jayston appeared as Gratiano opposite Laurence Olivier as Shylock in the National Theatre's film The Merchant of Venice.
20.
Michael Jayston recorded most of John le Carre's novels in audiobook format, providing a link with his role as Peter Guillam in the 1979 TV series Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
21.
Michael Jayston was the storyteller in the BBC radio readings of the novels Rogue Male and Rogue Justice, both written by Geoffrey Household.
22.
Michael Jayston was married three times, to Lynn Farleigh in 1965 and, after his first divorce, to Heather Sneddon in 1970.
23.
Michael Jayston had three children with Sneddon and two children with Smithson.
24.
Michael Jayston died on 5 February 2024, at the age of 88, following a short illness.