Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre.

Biography

Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ''

Stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

''. Spence's best known film role is as the

gyrocopter An autogyro (from Ancient Greek, Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift (force), lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an ...

pilot in ''

Mad Max 2 ''Mad Max 2'' (released as ''The Road Warrior'' in the United States) is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed by George Miller. It is the second installment in the ''Mad Max'' franchise, with Mel Gibson reprising his role a ...

'' (1981). He also played the lead role in Werner Herzog's ''

Where the Green Ants Dream ''Where the Green Ants Dream'' (german: Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen, links=no) is a 1984 German film directed by Werner Herzog, made in Australia. Based on a true story about Indigenous land rights in Australia but slated as a mixture of fac ...

'' (1984) and portrayed Jedediah the pilot in ''

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' is a 1985 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie and written by Miller and Terry Hayes. It stars Mel Gibson and Tina Turner in a story of a lone roving warr ...

'' (1985). In the 21st century, Spence played the Mouth of Sauron in '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2003), the

Trainman is a Japanese movie, television series, manga, novel, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a 23-year-old ''otaku'' who intervened when a drunk man started to harass several women on a train. The ''otaku'' ultima ...

in ''

The Matrix Revolutions ''The Matrix Revolutions'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the third installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, released six months following ''The Matrix Reloaded''. The film stars ...

'' (2003), and Baxter in Disney's ''

Inspector Gadget 2 ''Inspector Gadget 2'' (sometimes called ''Inspector 2 Gadget'' and ''IG2'') is a 2003 American superhero comedy film released direct-to-video on VHS and DVD on March 11, 2003. The film is based on the 1983 cartoon series created by DIC Enterta ...

'' (2003), and voiced the character Chum in ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...

'' (2003). He also portrayed

Tion Medon This incomplete list of characters from the '' Star Wars'' franchise contains only those which are considered part of the official ''Star Wars'' canon, as of the changes made by Lucasfilm in April 2014. Following its acquisition by The Walt D ...

in '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) and played Lord Rhoop in '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' (2010). Spence portrayed the

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

(Huxley) in the Australian performance of BBC's ''

Walking with Dinosaurs ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Science Unit the Discovery Channel and BBC Worldwide, in association with TV Asahi, ProSieben and France 3. Envi ...

: The Live Experience''. In his role, Spence narrated the activities of life-sized mechanical dinosaurs operated by teams of puppeteers and drivers. Bruce Spence

In 2008, Spence joined the television series ''

Legend of the Seeker ''Legend of the Seeker'' is an American television series created by Sam Raimi, based on the fantasy novel series ''The Sword of Truth'' by Terry Goodkind. Distributed in U.S. by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, ABC Studios produced the series ...

'', which was based on the '' Sword of Truth'' series by

Terry Goodkind Terry Lee Goodkind (January 11, 1948September 17, 2020) was an American writer. He was known for the epic fantasy series ''The Sword of Truth'' as well as the contemporary suspense novel ''The Law of Nines'' (2009), which has ties to his fantasy ...

. He played the role of

Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander ''The Sword of Truth'' is a series of twenty-one epic fantasy novels and 6 novellas written by Terry Goodkind. The books follow the protagonists Richard Cypher, Kahlan Amnell, Nicci, Cara, and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander on their quest to defeat opp ...

, co-starring with

Craig Horner Craig Horner (born 24 January 1983) is an Australian actor and musician who first appeared in the Australian television program ''Cybergirl''. He is best known for his role as Richard Cypher in the television series '' Legend of the Seeker''. B ...

and

Bridget Regan Bridget Catherine Regan (born February 3, 1982) is an American actress known for portrayals such as Kahlan Amnell in the television series '' Legend of the Seeker'', Rebecca Lowe / Rachel Turner in '' White Collar'', Rose Solano in '' Jane th ...

. The show ran for two seasons. In 2014, Spence played prison inmate George Corella in episode 3.1 of '' Rake''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Bruce Best Actor AACTA Award winners 1945 births Living people New Zealand male film actors New Zealand male television actors New Zealand male video game actors New Zealand male voice actors People educated at Henderson High School, Auckland Australian male film actors Australian male comedians Australian male television actors