Ronald Pickup

Pickup was born in Chester England the son of Daisy née Williams and Eric Pickup who was a lecturer1 Pickup was educated at The Kings School Chester trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art RADA in London and became an Associate Member of RADA His television work began with an episode during the second series of Doctor Who in 1964 for which he was paid 30 Pickup worked with Laurence Olivier at the Royal National Theatre most notably in Three Sisters and Long Days Journey Into Night In 1973 he starred in the BBC drama series The Dragons Opponent playing a World War II bomb disposal expert and also appeared in The Day of the Jackal He played Lt Harford in Zulu Dawn in 1979 portrayed Igor Stravinsky in Nijinsky in 1980 Prince John in Ivanhoe in 1982 and in 1983 he appeared opposite Penelope Keith in Moving in 1988 in the BBC miniseries The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe 1988 TV Serial as the voice of Aslan and in 1990 he starred in the short lived sitcom Not with a Bang More modern roles have included parts in Hornblower Hustle Foyles War Midsomer Murders Waking the Dead The Bill Silent Witness Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Morse He is also a regular character in the BBC sitcom The Worst Week of My Life His most recent appearance was in Holby City as Lord Charles Byrne Pickup gave a highly acclaimed performance as a decayed Russian aristocrat in the BBC series Fortunes of War based on a work by Olivia Manning He also provided the voice for Aslan in the BBCs adaptation of the Chronicles of Narnia and starred opposite Judi Dench in the 1989 Channel 4 serial Behaving Badly He is also an accomplished stage actor He was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role of 1997 for his performance in Amys View Pickup had the starring role as composer Giuseppe Verdi in the acclaimed The Life of Verdi written and directed by Renato Castellani In 2005 he had a supporting role in the familybased film The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby Between March and August 2009 he starred as Lucky in Sean Mathias production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett opposite Sir Ian McKellen Estragon Patrick Stewart Vladimir and also Simon Callow Pozzo The tour opened in Malvern before travelling to Milton Keynes Brighton Bath Norwich Edinburgh and Newcastle its run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket was extended due to demand In February 2010 he also appeared as Pegleg in the BBCs period drama Lark Rise to Candleford Description above from the Wikipedia article Ronald Pickup licensed under CCBYSAfull list of contributors on Wikipedia