This distinguished-looking, blond lead first established himself on stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Charles Dance first garnered international attention in the highly acclaimed 15-part epic that became emblematic of English heritage TV, "The Jewel in the Crown" (1984-85). With his blanched foppish allure, he soon became a film actor, appearing as Meryl Streep's long-suffering husband in "Plenty" (1985) and later starred as a sexual rogue in Michael Radford's uneven "White Mischief" (1987). He also has portrayed a boobish archeologist in "Pascali's Island" (1988) and was quite effective as pioneering film director D W Griffith in the Taviani brothers' "Good Morning Babylon" (1986).

Dance has played class-act Brits in starring turns in several action pictures: "Alien 3" (1992), as the love interest of Sigourney Weaver, and "The Last Action Hero" (1993), as a villain with an explosive glass eye in that notorious flop. Dance next had a bit of a stretch, personifying a high-toned Southern wife batterer in the somewhat muddy noir, "China Moon" (1994). He won critical praise, however, for his performance as an upper-crust seducer in Philip Haas' anachronistic "The Blood Oranges" (1997). After returning to the stage in a 1999 revival of "Good", for which he earned widespread page, Dance returned to the small screen as co-star of the British telefilm "Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes" (2000) and was seen in the ensemble of "Gosford Park" (2001).