This cadaverous, intelligent leading man has enjoyed much stage success in his native England, but has only had limited impact in the States. The London-born Cross dropped out of school at 15 to take odd jobs and drifted into backstage work for the Welsh National Opera and the Wimbledon Theatre. After being trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he made his stage debut in a Lancaster production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1973).

Cross went on to numerous theatrical productions in the 1970s, both in England ("Privates on Parade", 1977, "Chicago", 1979, "The Caine Mutiny