Richard Lynch

Richard Hugh Lynch was born on February 12, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York City, to Irish immigrant parents. He was one of seven children. Before starting a career as an actor, he joined the United States Marine Corps in 1958. He served for four years where he made Corporal, and did a tour of the Middle East with the Sixth Fleet. He began his training with 'Herbert Berghof' (qv) and 'Uta Hagen' (qv) at H.B. Studios in New York's Greenwich Village, and later went on to train extensively with 'Lee Strasberg' (qv) at Carnegie Hall. In 1970, he became a lifetime member of the Actors Studio and spent years in the New York theater community playing in dozens of on- and off-Broadway productions. The more notable plays were: "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel", "The Lion in Winter", "The Devils", "The Lady from the Sea", "Action", "Live Like Pigs", "Richard III", "Offi on a Tangerine", "A View from the Bridge", "The Man with the Flower in His Mouth", and 'Shelley Winters' (qv)' "One Night Stands of a Noisy Passenger".Lynch made his film debut in the classic film _Scarecrow (1973)_ (qv), winner of the Grand Prix Award at the Cannes Film Festival. His performance in Scarecrow launched his film career and brought him to Hollywood, where he has worked in film and television for over twenty years. His more prominent film work has been in: _The Seven-Ups (1973)_ (qv), _Open Season (1974)_ (qv), _The Formula (1980)_ (qv), _Invasion U.S.A. (1985)_ (qv), _Bad Dreams (1988)_ (qv), _Little Nikita (1988)_ (qv), Dostoyevsky's _Crime and Punishment - Du sollst nicht töten (2002)_ (qv), and 'William Peter Blatty' (qv)'s _The Ninth Configuration (1980)_ (qv). His performance as the evil King Cromwell, in the successful fantasy film _The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)_ (qv), won him the Saturn Award for Best Actor from the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Although best known for playing villains, he was cast as the President of the United States in _Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy (2007)_ (qv).He also starred in numerous television series and Movies of the Week, such as _Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story (1980)_ (qv), _Sizzle (1981)_ (qv), _Vampire (1979)_ (qv), _Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979)_ (qv), _Battlestar Galactica (1978)_ (qv), and the _Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)_ (qv) two-part episode "Gambit". His work in a variety of independent films has won him a high profile internationally. He has also worked in China, where he played in the first joint production between the Screen Actors' Guild and the People's Republic of China, The Korean Project. In his spare time, Richard enjoys fishing, the arts, architecture, music and poetry. He is also fluent in several languages including German and Italian.::Eilidh Somerville