As a leading member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for fourteen years, Michael played parts as diverse as Henry V, the Fool in King Lear, Orlando in As You Like It, Ferdinand in The Duchess of Malfi, Charles Courtly in London Assurance, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew,and Troilus in Troilus and Cressida. West End appearances include Pack of Lies, Two Into One and Mr. & Mrs. Nobody, both in London and on tour. His many television appearances include The Hanged Man, My Son, My Son, Love In a Cold Climate, A Fine Romance, Blunt, Angel Voices, the comedy series Double First, Can You Hear Me Thinking? and most recently, September Song, Conjugal Rights, Kavanagh QC and A Dance to the Music of Time. He has been equally versatile on radio - from Robb Wilton to Dr. John H. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series of short stories, Young Jolyon in the acclaimed Forsyte Chronicles, Horatio to Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet and Fool to John Gielgud's King Lear. His film appearances include Dead Cert, Enigma, Educating Rita, Peter Brook's Marat/Sade and as his namesake, the soldier Michael Williams in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V.

His most recent major role in the West End was at the Duchess Theatre in a revival of Brief Lives, he was also in The Forest at the Royal National Theatre.

He appeared together with Donald Sinden in Ray Cooney's farce Out of Order.

He has been married to Dame Judi Dench for over 30 years and they have a daughter Finty and grandson Sam.

Thanks to Tracy T. for sending me this article which was printed in the playbill for the Royal Theatrical Fund's performance of Fond and Familiar at the Fortune Theatre in London. Here, at left, is a thumbnail of the page which shows, albeit not very clearly, how the text was superimposed over a picture of Michael.
Return