Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born UK-based film, stage, and television actor and director.
Biography
Born in
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor
Robert Freitag
Robert Peter Freytag (7 April 1916 in Vienna – 8 July 2010 in Munich), known professionally as Robert Freitag, was an Austrian-Swiss stage and screen actor and film director.
Life
Freitag was the son of the Swiss opera singer Otto Freitag (Ott ...
and the German actress
Maria Becker. He came to the United Kingdom at the age of eight and trained at
East 15 Acting School
East 15 Acting School (East 15) is a British drama school in Loughton, Essex.Its degrees are awarded by the University of Essex, with which it merged on 1 September 2000. As of 2020, Essex University, where East 15 is located, has been ranked No. ...
, London. In 1968, he appeared in the original London production of ''
Hair
Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...
'', playing the prime rebel role of Berger. The following year, he starred in, directed, and choreographed the rock opera in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
and, in 1970, directed a production in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
.
Film career
Tobias's first role was in the feature film ''
Romance of a Horsethief
''Romance of a Horsethief'' (french: Le roman d'un voleur de chevaux, it, Il romanzo di un ladro di cavalli, hbs, Romansa konjokradice) is a 1971 French-Italian-Yugoslav adventure film directed by Abraham Polonsky. It is loosely based on the 191 ...
'', co-starring with
Yul Brynner
Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the ...
,
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoca ...
and
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...
. He then co-starred with
Charlotte Rampling
Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model.
She was cast in the role ...
in the Jacobean tragedy ''
'Tis Pity She's a Whore'', a film directed by
Giuseppe Patroni Griffi
Giuseppe Patroni Griffi (26 February 1921 – 15 December 2005) was an Italian playwright, screenwriter, director, and author.
He was born in Naples in an aristocratic family and moved to Rome immediately after the end of World War II and spent ...
. He became popular as Arthur in the TV series ''
Arthur of the Britons'' (1972).
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...
then directed him in the TV series ''
Luke's Kingdom
''Luke's Kingdom'' is a 1976 Australian TV series set in colonial Australia. Directors included Peter Weir and writers included Elisabeth Kata and Tony Morphett. It was co-produced with Trident Television, the then owners of Yorkshire and Tyne ...
''.
Many other successful films followed, including ''
The Stud'' in 1978 in which he co-starred with
Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime ...
, helping to rekindle her career. In 1981, he starred in the British television series ''
Dick Turpin's Greatest Adventure'', where he played the character Noll Bridger, a Colonial North American. Tobias also starred in ''Smuggler'' (1981) a children's drama series, set in Cornwall in 1801. Oliver also appeared as The Devil in the promotional video for
Ultravox
Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...
's 1982 hit "
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
". Tobias became a frontrunner for the role of
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
in ''
Octopussy
''Octopussy'' is a 1983 spy film and the thirteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth to star Roger Moore as the MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by John Glen and the screenplay was written by G ...
'' (1983) when
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...
intended to retire from the role, but Moore was ultimately recast.
In 1991, Tobias starred alongside Charles Gray in the sci-fi movie "Firestar – First Contact" for Ice International Films. In 1996, Tobias played Rebecque, an aide to the Prince of Orange (Paul Bettany), in ''
Sharpe's Waterloo
''Sharpe's Waterloo'' is a historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. Originally published in 1990 under the title ''Waterloo'', it is the eleventh novel of the Sharpe series and the twentieth novel in chronological or ...
''. In 1998, he played
Bassa Selim in ''Mozart in Turkey''. In 2000, he starred in the West End musical ''
La Cava''. Three years later, he portrayed Percival Brown in the 50th-anniversary production of ''
The Boy Friend'' and the next year toured in the rock musical ''
Footloose
Footloose may refer to:
* ''Footloose'' (1984 film), a musical film
** ''Footloose'' (1984 soundtrack)
** "Footloose" (song), performed by Kenny Loggins
* ''Footloose'' (2011 film), a remake of the 1984 film
** ''Footloose'' (2011 soundtrack) ...
''. In 2005, he finished shooting the film ''An Airfield in England''. He has been acting in a variety of roles for German and Swiss TV and has recently reprised the role of Bassa Selim in Mozart's ''
Seraglio
A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) is a castle, palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the former Ott ...
'' at the Teatro Lirico in
Cagliari, Italy
Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...
. Tobias is famous for his voiceover work and was the narrator on the opening track of
DJ Shadow
Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ, songwriter and record producer. His debut studio album, '' Endtroducing.....'' was released in 1996.
Biography Early years (1989–1995)
DJ Sha ...
's 2006 album ''
The Outsider''.
Personal life
In 2001, he married Arabella Zamoyska, with whom he has two sons.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
Official site-->
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobias, Oliver
1947 births
Living people
Alumni of East 15 Acting School
English male film actors
English male stage actors
English male television actors
20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors
Swiss male film actors
Swiss male stage actors
Swiss male television actors
20th-century Swiss male actors
21st-century Swiss male actors
Swiss emigrants to the United Kingdom
Male actors from Zürich
Waldorf school alumni
Swiss people of Austrian descent
Swiss people of German descent
English people of Austrian descent
English people of German descent
Male actors from London