David Threlfall (born 12 October 1953 in Burnage, Manchester) is an English actor and director. He portrayed Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series Shameless.
He has also directed several episodes of the show since Series 3. In April 2014, he portrayed comedian Tommy Cooper in a television film entitled Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This.
Early Life[]
The son of a plumber, Tommy Threlfall and his wife, David was born in Manchester. His introduction to drama came in school and from two English teachers, at Wilbrham High School, where he was a contemporary of the younger Lorraine Ashbourne. Encouragement from both teachers resulted in him playing the male lead in a four performance school production of Ann Jellicoe's Rising Generation in 1971. December that year saw him playing the role of John Proctor in a school production of The Crucible and then getting involved with Manchester Youth Theatre.
He attanded art college in Sheffield, now Sheffield Hallam University, but only stayed for a year. Later, after consulting a magazine in a public library which listed drama colleges, Threlfall successfully applied to Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama. By graduation, he has an audition with Mike Leigh.
Threlfall has been a keen supporter of Manchester City since childhood.
Career[]
David graduated from The Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre. He has notched up a wife range of film and television credits since his 1974 acting debut in the Play for Today adaption of the film Scum as the eloquent Archer. Television appearances include Trevor in Mike Leigh's 1977 made-for-TV film Kiss of Death, Leslie Titmuss in Paradise Postponed, Edgar in the 1984 Granada Television production of King Lear opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in the title role. He also had regular roles in the situation comedies Nightingales and Men of the World, and guest appearances in dramas such as Cutting It, The Knock, CI5: The New Professionals and Spooks. He played Prince Charles in Diana: Her True Story in 1993 and his father Prince Philip in the 2005 drama The Queen's Sister. DAvid played the key character of Frank Gallagher in Paul Abbott's Shameless, shown on Channel 4 for 11 series between 2004 and 2013.
He also played the role of Friedrich Kritzinger in the BBC/HBO drama Conspiracy, a dramatisation of the infamous Wannsee Conference. In 2006, he played the domineering husband of wartime diarist Nella Last, in the TV drama Houswive, 49. Film credits include John le Carre´'s The Russia, House, Patriot Games, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the War, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, alongside Cate Blanchett, and Nowhere Boy in which he took the part of John Lennon's Uncle George.
He also had a small role in the 2006 film Alien Autopsy and played the character Martin Blower in the 2007 film Hot Fuzz, acting alongside Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. He starred in an episode of The Whistle Blowers. He starred as the lead role in the fifth episode of the BBC docu-drama series Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire as the Empereror Constantine I.
David voiced the part of Iago in Othello for the Arcangel audio production of the same. He also voiced the detective Paolo Baldi in BBC Radio 4's Baldi. He also read Joseph Gonrad's Heart of Darkness for a radio adaption. In 1980, he played Smike in the eight-hour stage version of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby for the Royal Shakespeare Company in both London and New York.
Other notable stage performances include Riddley Walker, Oedipus, Macbeth, Your Home in the West, and Peer Gynt at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, Bolingbroke in Richard II and Orgon in Tartuffe at the National Theatre in London. David played Jack in When the Whales Came, opposite Paul Scofield and Helen Mirren. In 2010, he appeared as a guest on Have I Got News for You.
David was awarded an honorary doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University on July 15, 2013.
In 2013 he played Len Harper in What Remains.
Personal Life[]
David has been married to Bosnian actress Brana Bajic since 1995. They met 1994, whilst working on The Count of Monte Cristo at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.
David has said that despite his Shameless character being a chain smoker, in real life he is a non-smoker who has a dislike for nicotine.
Credits[]
Acting[]
Shameless - 2004 to Present
Frank Gallagher
Nowhere Boy - 2009
Uncle George
The Whistleblowers (TV Series)
Professor Lewington
Episode: Pandemic (2007)
Elizabeth: The Golden Age - 2007
Dr. John Dee
Hot Fuzz - 2007
Martin Blower
Housewife, 49 (TV movie) - 2006
Daddy - Will Last
The Battle for Rome (TV mini-series) - 2006
Constantine
2006 Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (TV series)
Constantine the Great
Episode: Constantine (2006)
Afterlife (TV series)
Ian Garland
Episode: The Rat Man (2006)
Like Minds - 2006
John Colbie
Alien Autopsy - 2006
Jeffrey
The Romantics (TV mini-series) - 2006
William Wordsworth
The Queen's Sister (TV movie) - 2005
Prince Philip - Duke of Edinburgh
Spooks (TV series) - 2005
Keith Moran
Episode: #4.3 (2005)
Cutting It (TV series) - 2004
Beauregard Smee
Episode: #3.3 (2004)
The Last Detective (TV series) - 2004
Carl Swannee
Episode: Benefit to Mankind (2004)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - 2003
Preserved Killick, Captain's Steward
Conspiracy (TV movie) - 2001
Dr. Wilhelm Kritzinger
Chunky Monkey - 2001
Donald Leek
Blind Men (TV movie) - 2001
A Dinner of Herbs (TV mini-series) - 2000
Hal Roystan
Episode: #1.6 (2000)
In the Beginning (TV movie) - 2000
Aaron
The Knock (TV series) - 2000
Bobby Connery
Episode: #5.3 (2000)
1000 AD (TV movie) (voice) - 1999
CI5: The New Professionals (TV series) - 1999
Radovan Pradic
Episode: High Speed (1999)
The Black Dog (short) - 1999
Harvey
Mary, Mother of Jesus (TV movie) - 1999
Joseph of Nazareth
Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll (TV mini-series) - 1999
Norman Kershawe
Thief Takers (TV series) - 1996
Frank McGrath
Episodes: Deja Vu (1996)
A Dead Man (1996)
Men of the World (TV series) - 1994-1995
Lenny Smart
Fighting for Gemma (TV movie) - 1993
Martyn Day
Diana: Her True Story (TV movie)
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
Nightingales (TV series) - 1990-1993
Bell
Screen Two (TV series) - 1990-1993
Andy / Syl
Episodes: The Clothes in the Wardrobe (1993) - Syl
He's Asking for Me (1990) - Andy
Patriot Games - 1992
Insp. Robert Highland
Titmuss Regained (TV mini-series) - 1991
Leslie Titmuss
Episodes: And the Next Day
Tomorrow
Today
A Murder of Quality (TV movie) - 1991
Stanley Rode
The Russia House - 1990
Wicklow
Frederick Forsyth Presents (TV series) - 1989
Tom Rowse
Screenplay (TV series) - 1989
Tony
Episode: Seeing in the Dark
When the Whales Came - 1989
Jack Jenkins
Jumping the Queue (TV movie) - 1989
Hugh Warner
Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (TV movie) - 1989
Alex
The Marksman (TV mini-series) - 1987
Weaver
Paradise Postponed (TV mini-series) - 1986
Leslie Titmuss
Lenny Henry Tonite (TV series) - 1986
Episode: Pratt Outta Hell
Play for Today (TV series) - 1977-1984
Robert / Trevor
Episodes: Dog Ends (1984) - Robert
The Kiss of Death (1977) - Trevor
The Gathering Seed (TV series) - 1983
Joe Henshaw
Episode: #1.1 (1983)
Red Monarch (TV movie) - 1983
Vasily
King Lear (TV movie) - 1983
Edgar
Objects of Affection (TV series) - 1982
Donald
Episode: Rolling Home
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (TV mini-series) - 1982
Smike
Episodes: Part 2
Part 1
BBC2 Playhouse (TV series) - 1979
Episode: The Brylcreem Boys
Here I Stand... (TV series) - 1977
Stapleton
Episode: Margaret Clitheroe
Producer[]
Shameless
Executive Producer - 42 Episodes (2009-2011)
Director[]
Shameless
Director - 15 Episodes (2006-2010)
Music Department[]
Men of the World (TV Series) - 1994
Singer: Main Title Theme - 6 Episodes
Cinematographer[]
Abduction (Short) - 2010
Soundtrack[]
Hot Fuzz - 2007
Performer: "Lovefool"
Self[]
Mastermind (TV series) - 2010
Celebrity Mastermind 2010/2011: Episode 4
Have I Got News for You (TV series) - 2010
Episode: #39.3
The Greatest TV Shows of the Noughties (TV documentary) - 2009
Himself (also archive footage) / Frank Gallagher (also archive footage)
Cutting Edge (TV series documentary) - 2009
Narrator
Episode: The Millionaire and the Murder Mansion - Narrator (voice)
50 Greatest Families (TV documentary) - 2008
Himself (also archive footage) / Frank Gallagher (also archive footage)
The National Television Awards 2007 (TV movie) - 2007
Himself - Audience Member
The Whistleblowers: Behind the Scenes (TV documentary) - 2007
The British Academy Television Awards (TV documentary) - 2007
The South Bank Show (TV series documentary) - 2007
Episode: Victoria Wood
The New Paul O'Grady Show (TV series) - 2005-2006
Episode: #5.59 (2006)
Episode: #2.16 (2005)
Richard & Judy (TV series) - 2004-2005
Episode dated 1 February 2005 (2005)
Episode dated 20 January 2004 (2004)
A History of Britain (TV series documentary) - 2001-2002
Various
Episode: Forces of Nature (2002) - (voice)
Episode: Revolutions (2001) - (voice)
Episode: The British Wars (2001) - (voice)
Comic Relief (TV special) - 1988
Arena (TV series documentary) - 1982
Episode: Mike Leigh Making Plays
Archive Footage[]
Have I Got News For You (TV Series) - 2010
The Big Fat Anniversary Quiz (TV movie) - 2007
Frank Gallagher (Uncredited)