Vernon Dobtcheff
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- 14 August 1934 · Nimes, France
Vernon Alexandre Dobtcheff (born 14 August 1934) is a French-British character actor, who has appeared in over 300 film, television, and stage productions in a career spanning six decades. Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a British mother (Vernon) and a father of Bulgarian descent (Dobtcheff). He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup. One of his many television roles was as the Chief Scientist in the Doctor Who story The War Games in 1969. In his 2006 memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, British actor Rupert Everett describes an encounter with Dobtcheff on the boat train to Paris, and reveals his extraordinary reputation as the "patron saint" of the acting profession, stating that Dobtcheff "was legendary not so much for his acting as for his magical ability to catch every first night in the country". Widely travelled and prone to pop up in the most unlikely of locales, if unable to attend an opening night, Dobtcheff will still endeavour to send the cast a card wishing the production good luck. Description above from the Wikipedia article Vernon Dobtcheff, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Acting 166
- 2026Parlez-nous de l'Amour
- 2024Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour as The Scientist (archive footage)
- 2024Alec Guinness: A Class Act as self
- 2022Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
- 2021Burning Casablanca as Corny
- 2020The Haunting of Margam Castle as Enos
- 2018The Violet Hour as M. Audran
- 2018L'hypothèse de la reine rouge as Sherlock Holmes
- 2017The Man with the Iron Heart as Emile Hacha
- 2015Killing Jesus as Isaiah
- 2015Peplum as Plutarque
- 2014The Invisible Boy as Artiglio
- 2014Horsehead as George
- 2014Seven Lucky Gods as Lawrence
- 2013The Great Beauty as Arturo
- 2012Another Woman's Life as Dimitri Speranski
- 2012Zarafa as Le vieux sage (voice)
- 2011The Passage as Vieil homme
- 2010Undisputed III: Redemption as Rezo
- 2010Godforsaken as The Surgeon
- 2009Changing Climates, Changing Times as Lucas
- 2008The Joy of Singing as Le lecteur du bar
- 2008Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1 as Self
- 2006Priceless as Jacques
- 2006Courts mais Gay : Tome 12 as Anthony
- 2006For the Time Being as Anthony
- 2005An American Haunting as Elder #1
- 2005Empire of the Wolves as Kudseyi
- 2004Thank You, Doctor Rey as François
- 2004Before Sunset as Bookstore Manager
- 2004Evilenko as Bagdasarov
- 2004Pontormo - Un amore eretico as Riccio
- 2003Brocéliande as Brennos
- 2002The Red Siren as Vitali
- 2002The Falklands Play as Nicanor Costa Méndez (Argentine Minister of External Relations)
- 2001David Copperfield as Quinion
- 2001Festival in Cannes as Millie's Escort
- 2001The Order as Oscar
- 2001The Body as Monsignor
- 2001Revelation as Curé at Rennes-le-Chateau
- 2000Le Prof as Patte Folle
- 2000The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization as Cleisthenes
- 2000Falling Through as Father
- 1999Dreaming of Joseph Lees as Italian Doctor
- 1999The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka as Art Gallery Lecturer
- 1998Hilary and Jackie as Professor Bentley
- 1998Jinnah as Lord Willingdon
- 199830 Years to Life as Sandler
- 1998Vigo as Papa Lozinska
- 1998Spanish Fly as Carl's Friend
- 1998Déjà Vu as Konstantine
- 1998The Wonderland Experience as Vincent
- 1998St. Ives as Bonnefoy
- 1997Anna Karenina as Pestov
- 1997The Hunchback as Father Michel
- 1996The Ice Princess as Chancellor
- 1996The Ogre as Lawyer
- 1996Surviving Picasso as Diaghilev
- 1996Catherine the Great as Naryshkin
- 1996Jude as Curator
- 1995Le fils de Paul as Duval
- 1995Sharpe's Sword as Don Felipe
- 1995Jefferson in Paris as King's Translator
- 1995The House that Mary Bought
- 1994Mademoiselle O as Rouka
- 1993Frankenstein as Chancellor
- 1993M. Butterfly as Agent Etancelin
- 1993The Hour of the Pig as Apothecary
- 1993Temptation of Sainthood as Freud
- 1993Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher as Un Héraut / Un prêtre / Un clerc
- 1992Venice/Venice as Alexander
- 1992Obiettivo indiscreto as Primo editore
- 1992Sweetheart as Thurson
- 1992The First Circle as Riyumin
- 1991Let Him Have It as Clerk of Court
- 1991Mel Gibson Goes Back to School as Reynaldo (archive footage)
- 1990Hamlet as Reynaldo
- 1990Vincent and Me as Dr Winkler
- 1990Meridian as Priest
- 1990The Garden as Old Man at Sauna
- 1990The Krays as Teacher
- 1990The Plot to Kill Hitler as Fellgiebel
- 1990Flight from Paradise as Merrill
- 1989The Hostage of Europe as Hudson Lowe
- 1989Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as Butler
- 1989Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story as Doctor Webber
- 1989Natalia as Alfred Grabner
- 1989Splendor
- 1989Berlin-Jerusalem as Editor
- 1989The Sweet House of Horrors as The Exorcist
- 1988Testimony as Gargolovsky
- 1988Pascali's Island as Pariente
- 1988Catacombs as Brother Timothy
- 1988Le due croci as Bischof de Jong
- 1988Maigret as Gannett
- 1986The Name of the Rose as Hugh of Newcastle
- 1986Caravaggio as Art Lover
- 1985Mata Hari as Prosecutor
- 1984Much Ado About Nothing as Don John
- 1984Gwendoline as Shirko
- 1984The Devil's Lieutenant as Dr. Goldschmiedt
- 1984Night Patrol as James
- 1984Mon Ami Washington
- 1983An Englishman Abroad as Guildenstern
- 1983The Scarlet and the Black as Count Langenthal
- 1982Nutcracker as Markovitch
- 1982Enigma as Minister
- 1982That Night of Varennes as Judge at the confiscation
- 1981Troilus & Cressida as Agamemnon
- 1981L'Amour nu as John, le patron de Claire
- 1981Sredni Vashtar as Dr. Russell
- 1981Condorman as Russian Agent
- 1981Le Beau Monde as Pablo
- 1981San-Antonio ne pense qu'à ça as Un tueur russe
- 1980Nijinsky as Sergei Grigoriev
- 1979Ike as Gen. Charles DeGaulle
- 1978Romeo and Juliet as Apothecary
- 1978Question of Love as Peter
- 1978Last In, First Out as Le réceptionniste
- 1978Little Girl in Blue Velvet as Lamberti
- 1978The Roads of Exile as Le peintre Ramsay
- 1977March or Die as Mean Corporal
- 1977The Spy Who Loved Me as Max Kalba
- 1977Joseph Andrews as Fop Two
- 1977The Achurch Letters as Eugene
- 1976French Without Tears as Monsieur Maingot
- 1975Rumpole of the Bailey as Magnus Piecan
- 1975Lovers Like Us as Coleman
- 1975Operation: Daybreak as Pyotr
- 1975The Messiah as Samuel
- 1975The Secret Agent as Karl Yundt
- 1975Cat and Mouse as Germain's accomplice
- 1975Van der Valk and the Scapegoat as Reinders
- 1975India Song as Georges Crawn
- 1975Playing with Fire as A messenger
- 1974Scent of a Woman as Don Carlo (uncredited)
- 1974Murder on the Orient Express as Concierge
- 1974The Marseille Contract as Lazar
- 1974Cartesius as Astronomo Ciprus
- 1974Soft Beds, Hard Battles as Padre
- 1973Impossible Object as Private Investigator
- 1973The Day of the Jackal as Interrogator
- 1973An Echo of Theresa as Bannerheim
- 1972The Canterbury Tales as The Franklin
- 1972Up the Front as Muller
- 1972Far from Dallas
- 1971Mary, Queen of Scots as Duc De Guise
- 1971Nicholas and Alexandra as Dr. Lazovert
- 1971Fiddler on the Roof as Russian Official
- 1971The Horsemen as Zam Hajji
- 1971The Beast in the Cellar as Newsmith
- 1971The Married Couple of the Year Two as le pasteur
- 1970Them as Brisbane
- 1970Darling Lili as Otto Kraus
- 1969Anne of the Thousand Days as Mendoza
- 1969Doctor Who: The War Games as Chief Scientist
- 1969Baby Love as Man in Cinema
- 1969The Assassination Bureau as Baron Muntzof
- 1969Beach Head as N.G. Waldron
- 1968A Dandy in Aspic
- 1967The Taming of the Shrew as Pedant
- 1965The World of George Orwell: 1984 as Goldstein
- 1965Darling as Art Critic at Ralph Riggs Exposure (uncredited)
- 1965Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes as Member of the French Team
- 1965The Debussy Film as The Actor
- 1964The Life of Galileo as Philosopher