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Robert Lindsay Stevenson (born 13 December 1949) is an English actor known as Robert Lindsay. He is best known for his television work, starring in Citizen Smith, My Family and Hornblower.

Early career

Born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, the son of Norman and Joyce Stevenson, after leaving school, Lindsay enrolled in the drama department of a technical college in Nottingham, and intended to become a drama teacher. However, friends at Nottingham Playhouse encouraged him to apply to RADA, and in 1968 he was accepted there with the aid of a Government grant. After he graduated, he took a job as a dialect coach for a repertory company in Essex, and then joined a regional theatre group

Lindsay first came to prominence as the cockney layabout Jakey Smith in ITV comedy series Get Some In!, and was then given the starring role as incompetent revolutionary Wolfie Smith in the BBC sitcom Citizen Smith. He followed this with roles in a number of the BBC Television Shakespeare productions, including Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, and as Edmund in King Lear opposite Laurence Olivier in 1984.

Stage career

Lindsay enjoyed a successful stage career, especially during the 1980s, including lead roles in several significant Shakespearean productions. He starred in the 1984 revival of Me and My Girl in London and on Broadway, netting a Laurence Olivier Award and a Tony Award in the category of Best Actor in a Musical (against competition that included Colm Wilkinson in Les Mis in both cases). He won another Olivier Award in the same category in 1997, for his portrayal of Fagin in the revival of Oliver!. In the Old Vic 2006-07 season, he is starring in a production of The Entertainer.

1980s and 1990s

Lindsay's success on Broadway and in the West End lead to the starring role in the film Bert Rigby, You're a Fool, although it was not a commercial success. However, he continued to enjoy success on television, and in 1991 played the leading role in Alan Bleasdale's dark comedy serial G.B.H., for which he won a BAFTA for his performance. He also starred in the surreal Channel 4 sitcom Nightingales, and appeared in the films Fierce Creatures and Divorcing Jack. In 1998 he was cast in the recurring role of Captain Pellew in the ITV mini-series Hornblower, based on the novels of C.S. Forester. He was also the original choice for the lead role in the drama Cracker, but turned the part down as he didn't want to become too associated with heavyweight, darker drama characters. He later appeared as Fagin in the 1999 ITV Oliver Twist miniseries.

2000s

Lindsay has become familiar to a new generation of viewers as Ben Harper in the popular BBC sitcom My Family since 2000.

In October 2005 he starred in a new ITV drama series Jericho, about a Scotland Yard detective investigating murder and kidnapping in London's Soho in the 1950's. In January and February 2006, he appeared as Sneath in two loosely linked Stephen Poliakoff dramas, Friends and Crocodiles and Gideon's Daughter, shown on BBC One. He was the only actor to appear in both productions.

He has also portrayed Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Channel 4 satires A Very Social Secretary and The Trial of Tony Blair. In 2003, he made a guest appearance in an episode in Absolutely Fabulous and also provided his voice as the narrator for the BBC documentary series Seven Wonders of the Industrial World.

Lindsay appeared in the 8th Ricky Gervais Video Podcast, where Gervais announced Lindsay would be starring in the second series of Extras.

Personal life

Lindsay married Citizen Smith co-star Cheryl Hall in 1974. They divorced in 1980, when he started a long term relationship with the actress Diana Weston, with whom he had a daughter Sydney (born 1988), who co-starred with him in three episodes of My Family.

He then left Weston for actress/presenter Rosemarie Ford. The couple have two sons, Samuel (born 18 November 1999) and Jamie (born 8 April 2003). The couple married on 31 December 2006.

Lindsay researched his family tree in the third series of Who Do You Think You Are?, and his episode was aired on 13 September 2006, and he travelled to his hometown and to Turkey, where his grandfather had taken part in the Gallipoli campaign during World War I.

• Robert Lindsay

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