Vernon Dobtcheff

About

Vernon Alexandre Dobtcheff (born 14 August 1934) is a French-British character actor, who has appeared in over 300 film, television, and stage productions in a career spanning six decades. Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a British mother (Vernon) and a father of Bulgarian descent (Dobtcheff). He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup. One of his many television roles was as the Chief Scientist in the Doctor Who story The War Games in 1969. In his 2006 memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, British actor Rupert Everett describes an encounter with Dobtcheff on the boat train to Paris, and reveals his extraordinary reputation as the "patron saint" of the acting profession, stating that Dobtcheff "was legendary not so much for his acting as for his magical ability to catch every first night in the country"....

Known for

Doctor WhoSeries • 1963Agatha Christie's PoirotSeries • 1989Play for TodaySeries • 1970The AvengersSeries • 1961Crown CourtSeries • 1972The WitcherSeries • 2019Highlander: The SeriesSeries • 1992The SaintSeries • 1962Sherlock HolmesSeries • 1984BBC Play of the MonthSeries • 1965Relic HunterSeries • 1999PlayhouseSeries • 1974Theatre 625Series • 1964Thirty-Minute TheatreSeries • 1965The Name of the GameSeries • 1968The SweeneySeries • 1975The ChampionsSeries • 1968The BorgiasSeries • 2011The Little Murders of Agatha ChristieSeries • 2009The Name of the RoseMovie • 1986The GoldSeries • 2023Rumpole of the BaileySeries • 1975Indiana Jones and the Last CrusadeMovie • 1989Blake's 7Series • 1978