Michael Byrne
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- November 7, 1943
- Died
- June 20, 2026 (aged 82)
- Birthplace
- London, England, UK
Biography
Michael Byrne was a British actor sometimes cast as Nazis such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Major Schroeder in Force 10 from Navarone, Reinhard Beck in The Scarlet and the Black, General Olbricht in The Plot to Kill Hitler and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris. Also seen as the aged but fanatical SS General Neurath in "Outpost 2 - Black Sun", former concentration camp commandant and involved in the Nazis's sinister reality-shifting experiments. Byrne appeared as a Jewish concentration camp survivor who is instrumental in the capture of a Nazi war criminal (played by Ian McKellen) in the film Apt Pupil. He was also familiar to audiences as Smythe, a soldier who attempts to rape William Wallace's wife and first inspires Wallace to seek independence from England in the film Braveheart. His other film credits include The Eagle Has Landed, A Bridge Too Far, The Medusa Touch, The Saint, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Good Father, The Sum of All Fears, Gangs of New York and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. On television, heappeared in Z-Cars, Secret Army, Tales of the Unexpected, The Professionals, The Devil's Crown,Smiley's People, Yes, Prime Minister, Lord Mountbatten - the Last Viceroy, Between The Lines, Sharpe, The Mists of Avalon, Waking the Dead, The Body Farm, Honest, Hamish Macbeth, and Casualty. From April 2008 to January 2010, Michael starred in Coronation Street, as Ted Page, Gail Platt's long lost father and the ex-lover of Audrey Roberts. Byrne appeared in State of Play at the Edinburgh Festival written by Zia Trench. He played Romeo to Siân Phillips' Juliet at the Bristol Old Vic. He was the father of actress Allie Byrne.
Known For
Filmography
Bjorn of the Dead
Movie · as Derek
Bodies
TV · as Old Mullins · 3 eps
The Gold Machine
Movie · as Andrew Norton
Intrigo: Samaria
Movie · as Commissioner Keller
Intrigo: Death of an Author
Movie · as Keller
The Last Witness
Movie · as Coroner
Alien Overlords
Movie · as Michael
Strike
TV · as Roy Phipps · 2 eps
The Living and the Dead
TV · as Ebenezer Alsop · 6 eps
Agatha Raisin
TV · as Bishop Parsons · 1 ep
Harry Price: Ghost Hunter
Movie · as Sir Charles Harwood
Mortdecai
Movie · as The Duke
Cuffs
TV · as Leslie Kane · 4 eps
The First Line
Movie · as Richard
Diana
Movie · as Christiaan Barnard
Crossing Lines
TV · as Edward Baxendale · 1 ep
Outpost: Black Sun
Movie · as Neurath
Quartet
Movie · as Frank White
The Body Farm
TV · as Harold Penton · 1 ep
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Movie · as Gellert Grindelwald
Blood: The Last Vampire
Movie · as Elder
The Mark of Cain
Movie · as Lieut General Strathairn
Empire
TV · as Cicero · 6 eps
Beyond the Sea
Movie · as Dr. Andretti
The Return of the Dancing Master
Movie · as Emil Wetterstedt
Double the Fist
TV · 1 ep
The Crooked Man
Movie · as Archie Saunders
Gangs of New York
Movie · as Horace Greeley
The Sum of All Fears
Movie · as Anatoli Grushkov
Sunday
Movie · as Lord Widgery
Ultimate Force
TV · 1 ep
The Musketeer
Movie · as Treville, Head of the Musketeers
Waking the Dead
TV · as Joe Brackley · 2 eps
The Mists of Avalon
TV · as Merlin · 2 eps
Battlefield Earth
Movie · as Parson Staffer
Proof of Life
Movie · as Lord Luthan
The Holocaust on Trial
Movie · as Richard Rampton QC
Mauá - O Imperador e o Rei
Movie · as Mr. Carruthers
The Vice
TV · as Solicitor · 2 eps
Hornblower: The Even Chance
Movie · as Captain Keene
30 Years to Life
Movie · as Oliver Mather
Imogen's Face
Movie · as Patrick
Apt Pupil
Movie · as Ben Kramer
Gunshy
Movie · as Lange
Hornblower
TV · as Captain Keene · 1 ep
Heat of the Sun
TV · 3 eps
The Saint
Movie · as Vereshagin
The Island on Bird Street
Movie · as Bolek
Tomorrow Never Dies
Movie · as HMS Bedford Admiral Kelly
Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse
Movie · as Venables
Sharpe: The Legend
Movie · as Nairn
The Fix
Movie · as Sam Campbell
The Practice
TV · as Officer (uncredited) · 1 ep
Midsomer Murders
TV · as Keith Grundy · 1 ep
Deadly Voyage
Movie · as Commissioner
Silent Witness
TV · 2 eps
No Bananas
TV · as Edward Grant · 10 eps
The Infiltrator
Movie · as Dieter Creutz
Braveheart
Movie · as Smythe
Oliver's Travels
TV · as Moody
Hamish Macbeth
TV · as Duncan Scott · 1 ep
Sharpe's Company
Movie · as Major Nairn
A Few Short Journeys of the Heart
Movie · as Blank/German/Old Geezer
Hildegard
Movie · as Volmar
Nostradamus
Movie · as Inquisitor
Sharpe's Enemy
Movie · as Major Nairn
Sharpe's Honour
Movie · as Major Nairn
Sharpe
TV · as Major Nairn · 6 eps
Running Late
Movie · as Clitheroe
A Touch of Frost
TV · as Alex Ormrod · 1 ep
Between the Lines
TV · 2 eps
Murderous Decisions
Movie · as Octave
The Plot to Kill Hitler
Movie · as Friedrich Olbricht
The Chief
TV · as Sir Robert Eaton · 1 ep
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Movie · as Vogel
Saracen
TV · as Col. Patrick Ansell · 14 eps
Screen One
TV · as Clitheroe · 1 ep
Buster
Movie · as Poyser
The Happy Valley
Movie · as John Carberry
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
TV · as DCC Charles Griswold · 3 eps
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
Movie · as Chorus
Yes, Prime Minister
TV · 1 ep
A Sort of Innocence
TV · 6 eps
Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy
TV · as George Abell · 6 eps
Sunday Premiere
TV · as John Carberry · 1 ep
In the Secret State
Movie · as Guy Preger
The Good Father
Movie · as Leonard Scruby
Screen Two
TV · as Guy Preger · 1 ep
Champions
Movie · as Richard Hussey
The Bill
TV · 1 ep
Ellis Island
TV · as Dr. Carl Travers · 3 eps
Henry VI Part 3
Movie · as Marquess of Montague / Father that killed his son
The Tragedy of Richard III
Movie · as Duke of Buckingham
Henry VI Part 2
Movie · as John Hume / Lieutenant
Henry VI Part 1
Movie · as Duke of Alencon
The Scarlet and the Black
Movie · as Reinhard Beck
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Movie · as Antonio
Man and Superman
Movie · as Henry Straker
Smiley's People
TV · as Peter Guillam · 3 eps
The Search for Alexander the Great
TV · as Demosthenes · 4 eps
The Silence of the Sea
Movie · as Werner Von Ebrennac
The Enigma Files
TV · as David Stanley · 1 ep
Lady Killers
TV · as Edward Marshall-Hall, Edward Marshall-Hall KC · 1 ep
Coming Out
Movie · as Gunnar Wedelman
Tales of the Unexpected: Lamb to the Slaughter
Movie · as Ratrick Marney
Tales of the Unexpected
TV · as Patrick Marney · 1 ep
The Medusa Touch
Movie · as Duff
Force 10 from Navarone
Movie · as Schroeder
Accident
TV · as Ian Shaw · 1 ep
The Devil's Crown
TV · as Richard Lionheart · 5 eps
Strangers
TV · as Sgt Briscoe · 2 eps
The BBC Television Shakespeare
TV · as Antonio · 1 ep
A Bridge Too Far
Movie · as Lt. Col. Giles A.M. Vandeleur
Secret Army
TV · as Paul Vercors · 1 ep
The Professionals
TV · as Werner Dreisinger · 1 ep
Premiere
TV · as Werner Von Ebrennac · 1 ep
The Eagle Has Landed
Movie · as Karl
Rogue Male
Movie · as Interrogator
The Omen
Movie · as Monk (uncredited)
The Madness: Scenes from the Spanish Civil War
Movie · as Gorev
Break In
Movie · as Clarke
If It's a Man – Hang Up!
Movie · as Richard Lovell
Wednesday Love
Movie · as Bruce
Conduct Unbecoming
Movie · as 2nd Lt. Toby Strang
Edward the Seventh
TV · as Fritz · 5 eps
Vampyres
Movie · as Playboy
Butley
Movie · as Reg Nuttall
Ms or Jill and Jack
Movie
Headmaster
Movie
Thriller
TV · as Richard Lovell · 1 ep
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
Movie · as Edward Seymour
Crown Court
TV · 1 ep
New Scotland Yard
TV · as DS Patten · 1 ep
Play for Today
TV · as Russell, Bruce · 1 ep
The Image
Movie · as The Artist
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
TV · as Jason · 1 ep
Much Ado About Nothing
Movie · as Claudio
BBC Play of the Month
TV · as Viskovsky · 1 ep
The Scarlet Blade
Movie · as Lt. Hawke
The Silent Playground
Movie · as Roger
Coronation Street
TV · as Ted Page · 5 eps