"King and I" actor Ian Richardson dead at 72

Posted:
Feb 9, 2007

"Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?"

Ian Richardson was best known to Americans as the man in the Rolls-Royce who rolled down the window to address a total stranger in a TV commercial. He died in his sleep early Friday in his London home at 72.

The veteran stage and TV actor voiced the Kralahome in the Nest Entertainment animated feature film The King and I(1999), distributed by Warner Bros.

The Edinburgh-born Richardson had not been ill and was scheduled to start filming an episode of ITV's Midsomer Murders next week, his agent said.

To Britons, he was known as scheming chief Conservative whip Francis Urquhart in the 1990 BBC drama House of Cards. His famous one-liner from the series was "You may very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment." The catchphrase has since become popular in British politics.

"I'm grateful for the part, as it put me on the map," he said in 2005. "The only trouble is getting rid of it. So many people seem to think that I am like him."

He based the role of the Machiavellian Urquhart on King Richard III.

Richardson won a BAFTA award for his role in House of Cards and was nominated for both its sequels, To Play the King and The Final Cut, as well as the 1992 drama An Ungentlemanly Act. In 1991, he won the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Acting Performance for House of Cards.

He was "a superb actor" who was "very careful not to let the fame get in the way of his personal integrity," said author Michael Dobbs, who wrote the novel on which House of Cards was based.

"I cast him in House of Cards because of his comic talent and he was utterly brilliant," said House of Cards director Paul Seed. "He was the most sophisticated craftsman comic actor in this country."

"I just loved working with him, and am hugely in admiration at the talent and technique that he had. His passing is the end of a generation of that kind of actor," Seed added.

Born Ian William Richardson on April 7, 1934, he was made an honorary associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1960.

Famed for his stern stage personality and melodious voice, the 5'9" Richardson was honored in 1989 with a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his many roles. Recently, he appeared in the BBC's Bleak House and Sky One's Hogfather.

Other TV roles included Sherlock Holmes, Lord Groan in Gormenghast, Sir Godber Evans in Porterhouse Blue, and the Tailor in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

His many films included Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Jane Austen movie biography Becoming Jane, set for release next month.

In an interview last year, he claimed that his father was the inventor of the Jaffa Cake. He studied at Glasgow's College of Dramatic Art. He lived in Devon, UK, not far from Knightshayes Court, where his 1983 Sherlock Holmes TV-movie The Hound of the Baskervilles was filmed.

In 1976, he was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for portraying Henry Higgins in a revival of My Fair Lady. In 1982, he won the Royal Television Society's Television Award for Best Performance for the mini-series Private Schulz.

Ian Richardson is survived by Maroussia Frank, his wife since 1961, and two sons. Funeral arrangements were not announced.