Oliver Tobias

Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born, UK-based film, stage and television actor and director.^[1]

Oliver Tobias
Oliver Tobias (1969)
Born	Oliver Tobias Freitag (1947-08-06) 6 August 1947 (age 77) Zürich, Switzerland
Alma mater	East 15 Acting School
Years active	1968–present
Spouse	Arabella Zamoyska (2001 – present)
Website	www.olivertobias.co.uk (Archive from 2018)

Biography

Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Robert Freitag and the German actress Maria Becker. He came to the United Kingdom at the age of eight and trained at East 15 Acting School, London. In 1968, he appeared in the original London production of Hair, playing the prime rebel role of Berger.^[2] The following year, he starred in, directed, and choreographed the rock opera in Amsterdam and, in 1970, directed a production in Tel Aviv.

Film career

Tobias's first role was in the feature film Romance of a Horsethief, co-starring with Yul Brynner, Serge Gainsbourg and Eli Wallach.^[3] He then co-starred with Charlotte Rampling in the Jacobean tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, a film directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi. He became popular as Arthur in the TV series Arthur of the Britons (1972). Peter Weir then directed him in the TV series Luke's Kingdom.^[4]

Many other successful films followed, including The Stud in 1978 in which he co-starred with Joan Collins, helping to rekindle her career. In 1981, he starred in the British television series Dick Turpin's Greatest Adventure, where he played the character Noll Bridger, a Colonial North American. Tobias also starred in Smuggler (1981) a children's drama series, set in Cornwall in 1801. Tobias also appeared as the Devil in the promotional video for Ultravox's 1982 hit "Hymn". Tobias became a frontrunner for the role of James Bond in Octopussy (1983) when Roger Moore intended to retire from the role, but Moore was ultimately recast.^[5]

In 1991, Tobias starred alongside Charles Gray in the sci-fi movie "Firestar – First Contact" for Ice International Films. In 1996, Tobias played Rebecque, an aide to the Prince of Orange (Paul Bettany), in Sharpe's Waterloo. In 1998, he played Bassa Selim in Mozart in Turkey. In 2000, he starred in the West End musical La Cava. Three years later, he portrayed Percival Brown in the 50th-anniversary production of The Boy Friend and the next year toured in the rock musical Footloose. In 2005, he finished shooting the film An Airfield in England. He has been acting in a variety of roles for German and Swiss TV and has recently reprised the role of Bassa Selim in Mozart's Seraglio at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Italy. Tobias is famous for his voiceover work and was the narrator on the opening track of DJ Shadow's 2006 album The Outsider.

Personal life

In 2001, he married Arabella Zamoyska, with whom he has two sons.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Arthur? Arthur!	Peter "Bobo" Jackson
1970	Romance of a Horsethief	Zanvill Kradnik
1971	'Tis Pity She's a Whore	Giovanni
1974	The God King	General Miara
1975	King Arthur, the Young Warlord	King Arthur
1978	The Stud	Tony Blake
1979	Arabian Adventure	Prince Hasan
1979	A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square	"Foxy"
1983	The Wicked Lady	Kit Locksby
1985	Mata Hari	Captain Georges Ladoux
1986	Operation Nam (Cobra Mission)	Richard Wagner
1987	Johann Strauss: The King Without a Crown [de]	Johann Strauss
1988	The Choice	Unknown
1991	L'ultima meta	Cliff Gaylor
1991	Firestar: First Contact	Captain Bremner
1993	Nexus	Tarn
1995	Vendetta	Colonel de Piemonte
1995	Savage Hearts	Country Gent
1996	Past Into Present	Himself
1997	Breeders	Police Lieutenant Moore
1997	Diana & Me	Himself
1998	The Brylcreem Boys	Hans Jorg Wolff
1998	Candy	The Man
1998	Mozart in Turkey	Bassa Selim
1999	Grizzly Falls	Genet
1999	Darkness Falls	The Money Dealer
1999	Alec to the Rescue!	Professor James Richards
2001	Journey of a Lifetime, Europe and the Middle East		Narrator
2003	Half-Empty	Lead
2003	Don't Look Back!	Tom Johnson
2004	Method	Teddy
2005	An Airfield in England		Writer / Director
2015	Dad's Army	Wilhelm Canaris
2015	The Honourable Rebel	Himself
2016	Open My Eyes	Gunter Meinertzhagen
2017	When the Devil Rides Out	"Doc" Antler
2020	Conjuring: The Book of the Dead	Dr. Klien

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972–1973	Arthur of the Britons	King Arthur	24 episodes
1974	Luke's Kingdom	Luke Firbeck	13 episodes
1975	Thriller	Alan Smerdon	Episode: "Won't Write Home Mom - I'm Dead"
1977	Jesus of Nazareth	Joel	TV Mini-Series
1980	Smuggler	Jack Vincent	13 episodes
1985	Robin of Sherwood	Bertrand de Nivelle	Episode: "Lord of the Trees"
1985	The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	Captain Jack Crocker	Episode: "The Abbey Grange"
1986	Mountain Men: A Dangerous Kind of Love	Melchior Anderegg	TV movie
1986	Adventurer	Jack Vincent	12 episodes
1988	Boon	Jonathan Hillary	2 episodes
1989	Der Schattenspieler	Unknown
1990	Cluedo	Count Henri de Beauchamp	Episode: "Countdown"
1990	The Paper Man	Ian Harris	3 episodes
1992–1993	Flash - Der Fotoreporter	"Flash"	6 episodes
1992	Glückliche Reise	Leibwächter Mathias	Episode: "Sri Lanka"
1993	Donauprinzessin	Rick Reimers	12 episodes
1993	Das Traumschiff	Stefan Reinking	Episode: "Hongkong"
1994	Broken Lullaby	Count Borodin	TV movie
1994	Eurocops	Crook	Episode: "Drei Mädchen"
1995	The Knock II	Alan Montfort	6 episodes
1997	Sharpe's Waterloo	Colonel Rebecque	TV movie
1997	Real Women	Callun
2000	Klinik unter Palmen	Dr. Rudolfo Garcia	3 episodes
2001	Der Bestseller	Miguel Gonzales	TV movie
2002	Holby City	Jim Frost	Episode: "Every Cloud..."
2005	Unter weißen Segeln	Yussuf Arazi	Episode: "Abschiedsvorstellung"
2006	Mord in bester Gesellschaft	Comissario Santa Cruz	Episode: "Mord in bester Gesellschaft"
2006	Abschiedsmorgen	Father
2008	Hunkeler macht Sachen	Thomas Garzoni	TV movie

References

1. Editorial Staff (4 February 2002). "20 Questions with Oliver Tobias". WhatsOnStage.com, Inc. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
2. Tobias, Oliver (7 January 2011). "Stage". Oliver Tobias – The Official Website. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
3. "Romance of a Horsethief (1971)". Turner Classic Movies. Time Warner Company. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
4. Luke's Kingdom. 22 May 1974. p. 24. Retrieved 5 August 2014. {{cite book}}: |newspaper= ignored (help)
5. "Octopussy". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 11 June 2021.

External links

• Oliver Tobias at IMDb