John Bach (born 5 June 1946) is a British-born New Zealand actor who has acted on stage, television and film over a period of more than four decades. Though born in the United Kingdom, he has spent most of his career living and working in New Zealand.
John Bach | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 June 1946 Garndiffaith, Monmouthshire , Wales |
| Years active | 1975–present |
International audiences are most likely to have seen Bach as the Gondorian Ranger Madril in the second and third movies of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003). His leading roles in New Zealand television include playing the titular Detective Inspector John Duggan in the Duggan telemovies and television series, one of the truckdriving brothers in series Roche, and time on long-running soap opera Close to Home. In 1992 he starred as Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell in the telemovie The Sound and the Silence. In 1999 he played the Earl of Sackville in an episode of the TV miniseries A Twist in the Tale.
Bach's Australian work includes science fiction series Farscape, playing Mike Power in based on a true story mini-series The Great Bookie Robbery (1986), and as Sir Ian Hamilton in the 2015 TV miniseries Gallipoli.
In 2010 Bach appeared in NZ science fiction series This Is Not My Life as the sinister Harry Sheridan, as magistrate Titus Calavius in Spartacus: Blood and Sand and in an episode of Legend of the Seeker.
He has also appeared in several New Zealand films, including Utu, Carry Me Back, Goodbye Pork Pie, The Last Tattoo, Pallet on the Floor, Old Scores (in which he had a central role), and Beyond Reasonable Doubt.
In 2014 he performed as body double for Saruman in place of Christopher Lee, who was unable to fly to New Zealand for principal photography on The Hobbit film series.
He appeared as the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the first season of the 2016 Netflix drama series, Roman Empire. In 2021, he began a recurring role as Don on the comedy series Under the Vines, created by Erin White and starring Rebecca Gibney and fellow Lord of the Rings alum Charles Edwards.
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Richard Pearse | Jack Pearse | TV movie |
| 1977 | Wild Man | Barman | Feature film |
| 1978 | The Mad Dog Gang Meets Rotten Fred and Ratsguts | Wilkie | TV movie |
| 1979 | The Gathering | Lou | TV movie |
| 1980 | Goodbye Pork Pie | Snout | Feature film |
| Beyond Reasonable Doubt | Feature film | ||
| The Mad Dog Gang Spooks Wilkie, Wink Wink and the Wobbler | Wilkie | TV movie | |
| Sea Urchins | Harvey | TV movie | |
| 1981 | Bad Blood | Bert Chopp | Feature film |
| 1982 | Battletruck | Bone | Feature film |
| Carry Me Back | Winton | ||
| 1983 | Wild Horses | Jack | TV movie |
| Utu | Belcher | Feature film | |
| The Lost Tribe | Edward / Max | Feature film | |
| Prisoners | Bodell | Feature film | |
| Nearly No Christmas | King Penguin | TV movie | |
| 1984 | Heart of the Stag | Shearer | |
| Other Halves | Jim | Feature film | |
| Iris | Mike | TV movie | |
| Pallet on the Floor | Jack Voot | Feature film | |
| 1985 | Lie of the Land | Gorrie | |
| 1986 | Dangerous Orphans | Desk Sergeant | Feature film |
| 1988 | Georgia | Karlin | Feature film |
| 1990 | Blood Oath | Major Roberts | Feature film |
| 1991 | The Sound and the Silence | Alexander Graham Bell | TV movie |
| Old Scores | Lead role | Feature film | |
| 1993 | Crimebroker | Frank MacPhee | TV movie |
| Typhon's People | Daniel Harrington | TV movie | |
| 1994 | The Last Tattoo | Austin Leech | Feature film |
| The Feds: Obsession | Rainer Bass | TV movie | |
| 1995 | The Feds: Suspect | ||
| The Feds: Deception | |||
| The Feds: Abductions | |||
| The Feds: Seduction | |||
| The Feds: Terror | |||
| The Feds: Vengeance | |||
| 1996 | The Feds: Betrayal | ||
| The Feds: Deadfall | |||
| 2000 | Clare | Herbert Green | TV movie |
| 2002 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Gondorian Ranger Madril | Feature film |
| 2002 | Der Liebe entgenen | Mr Chapman | TV movie |
| 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King | Gondorian Ranger Madril | Feature film |
| 2004 | Ike: Countdown to D-Day | Sir Trafford Leigh-Malloy | TV movie |
| 2005 | Kidnapped | Cluny | |
| The Man who Couldn't Dance | Dancing Man | Short film | |
| 2007 | The Tattooist | Lazlo McFadden | |
| 2008 | The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | British Homeguard #1 | Feature film |
| 2009 | Piece of My Heart | Mike | TV movie |
| 2011 | Rest for the Wicked | Frank | |
| 2014 | The Cure | Lionel Stanton | Feature film |
| Nancy Wake, the White Mouse | Fiocca | TV movie | |
| The Hobbit | Saruman body double | Feature film | |
| 2014 | The Light Harvester | Short film | |
| 2016 | Judgement Tavern | The Judge | Short film |
| The Light Between Oceans | Jock Johnson | Feature film | |
| 2019 | Mistress Mercy | Judge Anderson | TV movie |
| 2020 | Zealandia | Man | Short film |
| Reunion | Jack | Feature film | |
| 2022 | The Ballard of Maddog Quinn | Grandpa Quinn | Short film |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–23 | Under the Vines | Don | TV series, 11 episodes |
| 2020 | The Sounds | Frank Cabbott | 6 episodes |
| 2017 | Janet King[1] | Graham King | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 2016 | Roman Empire | Marcus Aurelis | TV docuseries, 2 episodes |
| Jack Irish | Michael Longmore | TV series, 5 episodes | |
| 2015 | Gallipoli[2] | Ian Hamilton | TV miniseries, 7 episodes |
| 2014 | Hope and Wire | Vernon | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2013 | Wentworth | Vinnie Holt | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 2010 | Spartacus | Calavius | 5 episodes |
| Legend of the Seeker | Herald | TV series, 1 episode | |
| This is Not My Life | Harry Sheridan | 5 episodes | |
| 2006 | The Lost Children | Frank | TV series, 12 episodes |
| 2005 | Hercules | Crenon | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 2004 | Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars | Einstein | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 2002–03 | Farscape | Einstein | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 2000–02 | The Dark Knight | Du Bois | TV series, 6 episodes |
| 2000 | The Lost World | Balar | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| Tales of the South Seas | Miller | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1997–99 | Duggan | John Duggan | TV series, 13 episodes |
| 1999 | Young Hercules | Zeus | TV series, 1 episode |
| A Twist in the Tale | Earl of Sackville | 1 episode | |
| 1998 | The Day of the Roses | Tom Weir | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1997 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Thierry | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1995 | Mysterious Island | Captain Nemo | TV series, 22 episodes |
| Snowy River: The Mcgregor Saga | Jim O'Rourke | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1994 | Time Trax | Xavier | TV series, 1 episode |
| High Tide | Boucher | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1993 | White Fang | Tom Cooper | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1989–92 | The Ray Bradbury Theater | Lazlo | TV anthology series, 2 episodes |
| 1992 | Spender | Doorman | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1991 | Heroes II: The Return | Donald Davidson | TV series, 2 episodes |
| Golden Fiddles | Walter Balfour | TV miniseries, 2 episodes | |
| 1990 | The Paper Man | Phillip Cromwell | TV miniseries, 6 episodes |
| 1989 | The Heroes | Donald Davidson | TV miniseries |
| 1988 | Spit MacPhee | Jack Tree | TV miniseries, 4 episodes |
| 1986 | The Great Bookie Robbery | Mike Power | TV miniseries, 3 episodes |
| 1985 | Roche | Mick | TV series, 9 episodes |
| 1984 | Inside Straight | Bill McLean | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1975–83 | Close to Home | Tom Hearte | TV series, 784 episodes |
| 1982 | Loose Enzo | Ron | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1980 | Mortimer's Patch | Kevin Cartwright | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1977 | The Governor | John Sheehan | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1975 | The Games Affair | TV series |
Note
editBach's surname is pronounced "Baitch", and not as in the Welsh language pronunciation of the word for small, from which it is derived.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ "Don Hany, Susie Porter join Janet King. | TV Tonight". 7 November 2016.
- ^ "Gallipoli | TV Tonight". 15 January 2015.