John Rhys-Davies (b. May 5 1944), is a British actor known for his portrayal of the Dwarf Gimli and the voice of Treebeard in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Biography[]
John Rhys-Davies was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.
Despite his casting as a dwarf, he is the tallest member of the actors in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, his height being 6'1", which was the perfect height to play a Dwarf in relation to the heights of the actors portraying the hobbits. Jackson invited Rhys-Davies to reprise his role as Gimli in The Hobbit film trilogy, but he refused the part, saying, "I don't think my face could take that punishment again", being allergic to the heavy makeup needed.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, he was additionally chosen to provide the voice of the Ent Treebeard.
John Rhys-Davies would reunite with Peter Jackson and much of the primary cast of the trilogy in Josh Gad's "One Zoom to Rule Them All" event, in May 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rhys-Davies is also famous for playing the Egyptian character Sallah in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. One of his earliest television roles was as the Praetorian Guard commander Macro in the miniseries I, Claudius, which also featured Bernard Hill, Derek Jacobi, and Brian Blessed.
He is also known for his many television credits such as Professor Maximillian P. Arturo in Sliders, Agent Michael Malone in The Untouchables, the voice of Macbeth in Gargoyles, Sammy Mutterperl in War and Remembrance, Professor Lampley in Revelations, the Narrator for Takezo Kensei: Sword Saint, and he also appeared as the hologram of Leonardo da Vinci in Season 3 of Star Trek: Voyager.
Documentary appearances[]
- The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
- Part One: From Book to Vision > From Book to Script and Designing and Building Middle-earth
- Part Two: From Vision to Reality > Visual Effects > Scale
- Part Two: From Vision to Reality > The Fellowship of the Cast
- Part Five: The War of the Ring > From Book to Script - Forging the Final Chapter
- Part Six: The Passing of an Age > Cameras in Middle-earth
External links[]
- John Rhys-Davies at Wikipedia
- John Rhys-Davies at the Internet Movie Database
- Interview with Nerd of the Rings, 11/17/2021
- John Rhys-Davies page at TheOneRing.net
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