Veteran British actor Roy Dotrice, best known for his role as Leopold Mozart in the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, passed away on October 16, 2017. A statement released by the actor’s family confirmed that the 94-year-old passed in his London home surrounded by family.
During World War II, Dotrice served in the Royal Air Force and was imprisoned in a German POW camp between 1942 and 1945. After returning home, Dotrice briefly voiced “Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Gregory Pitkin” on BBC Radio’s long-running comedy The Men from the Ministry. He also played the caretaker Ramsay, alongside Patricia Hayes in the Radio 4 sitcom Know Your Place. Dotrice later transitioned from radio to theater, where he received the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of solo performances (1,782) for his role of John Aubrey in Brief Lives. This record was later exceeded by Hal Holbrook for his performances as Mark Twain. Additional theater roles for Dotrice included Hay Fever, White Christmas, and A Moon for the Misbegotten – the latter of which won him a Tony Award for Best Actor.
In the 1970s, Dotrice rose in popularity following his roles on the BBC’s adaptation of A.P. Herbert’s Misleading Cases and the miniseries Dickens of London. North American audiences will remember Dotrice as Father Gary Barrett on the 1980s TV series, Beauty and the Beast, as well as Picket Fences, Space: 1999, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff, Angel. In 2010, Dotrice was cast as Grand Maester Pycelle in the HBO television series Game of Thrones. Following medical reasons, Dotrice withdrew from the part and was replaced by Julian Glover.
Dotrice later recorded audiobooks for each of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. This endeavor earned Dotrice the current Guinness World Record for the most characters voiced by a single actor in an audiobook (223 characters). This record was reached after recording a 33-hour long audiobook for the saga’s first novel, A Game of Thrones.
In addition to a long career in radio, theater, television, and film, Dotrice enjoyed a 60-year marriage with his late wife Katherine Newman. The pair had three daughters Michele, Yvette, and Karen, who have all been actresses at some point in their lives.
