Hugh Keays-Byrne

Hugh KeaysByrne 18 May 1947 2 December 2020 was a BritishAustralian actor and film director A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company he was best known for playing the main antagonist in two films from the Mad Max franchise Toecutter in Mad Max 1979 and Immortan Joe in Mad Max Fury Road 2015 He also played Toad in the 1974 biker film Stone and Grunchlk on the science fiction series Farscape KeaysByrne was born in Srinagar in the state of Jammu and Kashmir part of the British Raj then India now to British parents his family returned to Britain when India was partitioned He began his career as a stage actor KeaysByrne made his first television appearance in 1967 on the British television programme Boy Meets Girl He was part of Peter Brooks production of A Midsummer Nights Dream with the Royal Shakespeare Company which toured Australia in 1973 KeaysByrne decided to remain in Australia after the tour ended In 1974 he acted in the TV movie Essington then made his first film appearance in the motorcycle picture Stone 1974 This was followed by supporting roles in films like The Man from Hong Kong 1975 Mad Dog Morgan 1976 The Trespassers 1976 and Snapshot 1979 After his first starring role in the 1978 TV movie Death Train KeaysByrne was cast as the violent gang leader Toecutter in Mad Max 1979 Director George Miller had KeaysByrne and the other actors for the gang travel from Sydney to Melbourne in a group on motorcycles as there was no money for airplane tickets In an early international print of the film KeaysByrne was dubbed with a bad American accent which Miller later regretted KeaysByrne then continued to act in postapocalyptic and science fiction films like The Chain Reaction 1980 Strikebound 1984 Starship 1985 and The Blood of Heroes 1989 In 1992 he made his directorial debut and acted in the film Resistance He also appeared in TV miniseries adaptations of Moby Dick 1998 and Journey to the Centre of the Earth 1999 KeaysByrne played Grunchlk in the science fiction television series Farscape 19992003 and its conclusion Farscape The Peacekeeper Wars 2004 George Miller also cast him as the Martian Manhunter in the planned 2009 movie Justice League Mortal KeaysByrne returned to the Mad Max franchise in the 2015 film Mad Max Fury Road as the main villain Immortan Joe The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture winning 6 and KeaysByrne was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain Description above from the Wikipedia article Hugh KeaysByrne licensed under CCBYSAfull list of contributors on Wikipedia