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Michael Gough
Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth in Batman
Born	23 November 1917 (1917-11-23) (age 92) Kuala Lumpur, Malaya
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1946–present

Michael Gough (born 23 November 1917) is a British character actor who has appeared in over 100 films. He is perhaps best known to international audiences by his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth in the first four movies of the revived Batman franchise, beginning with Batman (1989).

Early life and career

Gough was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya (now Malaysia), the son of British parents Frances Atkins (née Bailie) and Francis Berkeley Gough.^[1][2][3] Gough made his film debut in 1947 in Blanche Fury, and has since appeared extensively on British television. He has guest-starred on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, most notably as the villain in the serial The Celestial Toymaker and also as Councillor Hedin in Arc of Infinity. In the Ian Curteis television play Suez 1956 (1979) he played Anthony Eden, the Prime Minister. He also appeared in The Citadel (1983) as Sir Jenner Halliday, and in 1985's Out of Africa as Lord Delamere.

He has a cult status among horror fans, because of his frequent appearances in 1960s British horror films such as Hammer Film Productions' Dracula (1958) and The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Anglo-Amalgamated's Horrors of the Black Museum (1960), The Corpse (Velvet House, 1970) for Amicus and Norman J. Warren's stockbroker-satanism debut Satan's Slave (1976).

He was once married to Anneke Wills, who played the Doctor's companion Polly in Doctor Who. Anneke talks frankly of her marriage with Gough in her two part autobiography - Self Portrait and Naked.

Work as Alfred Pennyworth

His later roles included Alfred Pennyworth for director Tim Burton, including Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). He also reprised his role as Alfred in the 1994 BBC radio adaptation of Batman: Knightfall and in Joel Schumacher Batman films, Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). Gough is one of only two actors to appear in the four Batman films (the other actor was Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon). He worked for Burton again in 1999's Sleepy Hollow and 2005's Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. He also briefly reprised his Alfred role in six 2001 television commercials for the OnStar automobile tracking system, informing Batman of the system's installation in the Batmobile. In 2010 he came out of retirement once again to appear in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Awards and nominations

He won Broadway's 1979 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role - Play) for Bedroom Farce. He was also nominated in the same category in 1988 for Breaking the Code.

Acting credits

References

External links

• Michael Gough at the Internet Broadway Database
• Michael Gough at the Internet Movie Database