Allan Corduner

Allan Corduner
Corduner in 2012
Born	(1950-04-02) 2 April 1950 Stockholm, Sweden
Years active	1973–present
Spouse	Juha Leppäjärvi ​ (m. 2013)​

Allan Corduner (/kɔːrˈdjuːnər/; born 2 April 1950) is a British actor. Born in Stockholm to a German mother and a Russo-Finnish father, Corduner grew up in a secular Jewish home in London. After earning a BA (Hons) in English and Drama at Bristol University he trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has worked extensively on stage, TV, and film, both in the UK and in the United States. His voice is familiar from many BBC radio plays, audio books and TV documentaries.

Corduner made his feature film debut in Yentl, with Barbra Streisand and Mandy Patinkin. Of his 44 films, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Sir Arthur Sullivan in Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy. He also voiced Gehrman the first hunter in the 2015 video game Bloodborne.

Early life

Corduner grew up in a secular Jewish home in North London with his parents and younger brother. His mother had escaped to Great Britain from Nazi Germany with her family in 1938. His father was born in Helsinki, Finland, of a Finnish-born mother and a Ukrainian-born father. Corduner's parents first settled in Stockholm, where he was born, but the family moved to London when he was one year old.

Interest in arts and music was always encouraged at home, and Corduner's early ambition was to become either an orchestra conductor or a concert pianist. He attended University College School in Hampstead, London. Although Corduner developed into a skilled jazz and classical pianist, musical aspirations had taken second place by the time he went to study at Bristol University and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career

Corduner has worked extensively in theatre in London's West End and on Broadway, television as well as in film. He has also appeared in several BBC Radio plays including The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Insignificance, and Fanny and Alexander.

His voice is familiar to listeners of audio books including The Book Thief. TV appearances include Exile, ITV's Midsomer Murders, Stephen Poliakoff's Dancing on the Edge, and as Andrea Verrocchio in seasons 1 and 2 of the Starz original series Da Vinci's Demons. He appears on seasons 5 and 6 of the Showtime TV series Homeland.

After drama school, Corduner's first two years as a professional actor were spent playing a wide variety of parts at Newcastle Repertory Theatre. Spells at the Birmingham Rep and the Actors' Company followed, until Corduner returned to London to make his West End debut in Mary O'Malley's Once a Catholic at the Wyndham's Theatre. Corduner has appeared several times at the Royal Court Theatre, in plays such as Three Birds Alighting on a Field, Fucking Games, Ice Cream, and most notably Caryl Churchill's satirical Serious Money, which subsequently transferred to London's West End and Broadway in New York.

He garnered acclaim on Broadway for the role of Etches in the musical Titanic. In February 2014, he played Etches again in a one-off concert version of Titanic at Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall) in New York, re-uniting him with the original cast of the musical. He played Fritz Litten in Mark Hayhurst's Taken at Midnight, first at Chichester Festival Theatre, and subsequently at Theatre Royal Haymarket in West End.

One of his first film roles was in Yentl in 1982, with Barbra Streisand. He is probably best known for his portrayal of Sir Arthur Sullivan in Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy (1999), his first leading role in a feature film. Corduner's film work spans a variety of genres, such as action-adventure film Defiance, horror comedy film Burke and Hare, and western Medicine Men. Recent films include Woman in Gold (2015) and Tár (2022).

Voice acting

Corduner's voice is familiar to listeners of BBC radio plays such as Insignificance, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Fanny and Alexander. He was also the subject of BBC Radio 3 Private Passions.

Corduner has provided voices for various video game characters, notably the first, second, third and fifth Harry Potter video games (namely as, among others, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Fillius Flitwick and Argus Filch). He also voiced Apus, the pet parrot belonging to Queen Cassiopeia, the primary antagonist, for the English version of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White White which was released in February 2013. In 2015, Corduner voiced Gehrman, the First Hunter in Bloodborne.

Audiobooks and narration

Corduner is also known for solo narration of TV documentaries such as Fish Warrior for the National Geographic Channel, and various audiobooks for Simply Audiobooks, notably The Book Thief and Inkdeath. He also narrated Magyk written by Angie Sage and produced by Harper Audio. He has received two Earphones Awards by AudioFile His narration of "Anna and the Swallow Man" earned the Odyssey Award in 2017.

Personal life

Corduner's mother was from Berlin, Germany, and his father was born in Finland. He was born in Stockholm but grew up in London.

Corduner and his partner Juha Leppäjärvi met in 2006 in London, formed their civil partnership in December 2009, and married in New York City in August 2013. Corduner is a trustee of the children's arts charity Anno's Africa.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	Savage Messiah	Newspaper Vendor	Uncredited
1979	Phoelix
1981	Sredni Vashtar	Mortimer	Short film
1982	The Return of the Soldier	Pianist
1983	Yentl	Shimmele
1985	Bad Medicine	Dr. Diaz the Bus Driver
1986	Valhalla	Loke	English version, Voice only
1987	Hearts of Fire	Music Executive
1988	Talk Radio	Vince
1989	Fat Man and Little Boy	Franz Goethe
1991	Edward II	Poet
1992	Carry On Columbus	Sam
1994	A Business Affair	Dinner Guest
1995	Voices	Oscar Butterworth
1996	Indian Summer	Therapist
	Soup	Einstein	Short film
1998	The Impostors	Captain
1999	Topsy-Turvy	Arthur Sullivan
2000	Joe Gould's Secret	Francis McCrudden
	Gladiator	Trainer
2001	Zoe	Rupert
	Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang)	Big Bob
	Me Without You	Max
	The Grey Zone	Miklós Nyiszli
	The Search for John Gissing	Francois "Fuller" Feulliere
2002	Food of Love	Joseph Mansourian
	Moonlight Mile	Stan Michaels
	The King's Beard		Voice role
2004	De-Lovely	Monty Woolley
	The Merchant of Venice	Tubal
	Vera Drake	Psychiatrist
2005	Bigger Than the Sky	Kippy Newberg
	A Higher Agency	Manager	Short film
	Against Nature	Des Esseintes	Short film
	The White Countess	Samuel Feinstein
2007	The Waiting Room	Fiona's Dad
	Fred Claus	Dr. Goldfarb
2008	Defiance	Shimon Haretz
2009	Mr. Nobody	Dr. Feldheim
2010	Burke & Hare	Nicéphore Niépce
2011	A Thousand Kisses Deep	Buddy
2012	An Enemy To Die For	Martin
	47 Orchard Street	Hirsch	Short film
	The Sweeney	Doctor
2013	The Funeral	Rabbi Stephen	Short film
	Closer to the Moon	Flaviu
2014	Amendment	Anthony	Short film
2015	Woman in Gold	Gustav Bloch-Bauer
2016	Florence Foster Jenkins	John Totten
	The Book of Gabrielle	Saul
2017	Disobedience	Moshe Hartog
2018	Miss Dalí	Captain Moore
	Operation Finale	Gideon Hausner
2022	Mosquito	Ozwald Godfrey
	Tár	Sebastian Brix
2023	The Offering	Saul
TBA	Christmas Karma		Filming
	The Entertainment System Is Down		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Wings	Harris	Episode: "Never Turn Back"
	Poldark	Manservant	Episode: "Series 2, Episode 9"
1979	Follow the Star	Shepherd	Television film
1980	Tales of the Unexpected	Store Assistant	Episode: "Mr Botibol's First Love"
	Buccaneer	Monty Bateman	Recurring role; 4 episodes
	The Onedin Line	Auctioneer	Episode: "Jonah's Luck"
1981	Roots	Melvin Solomons
	Diamonds	Roger Marker	Recurring role; 4 episodes
1983	Maybury	Dr. Walker	Episode: "New Gods for Old: Part 1"
1984	Cold Warrior	Joachim	Episode: "Bright Sting"
	Freud	Oscar Rie	Miniseries; 2 episodes
1985	Girls on Top	Benny	Episode: "Hark"
1986	The Collectors	Joe Kalman	Episode: "Go for Gold"
1987	Mandela	Benny	Television film
	C.A.T.S. Eyes	Morrish	Episode: "Carrier Pigeon"
1988	Tales of the Unexpected	Hatchard's Bookshop Assistant	Episode: "The Colonel's Lady"
1989	The Fairy Queen	Quince	Television film
1990	ScreenPlay	Stephen Carlinsky	Episode: "Antonia and Jane"
1991	Spatz	Rex	Episode: "Talent Contest"
1992	The Bill	George Quigley	Recurring role; 2 episodes
	Boon	Dennis	Episode: "Whispering Grass"
1993	Minder	Marty	Episode: "I'll Never Forget Whats'ername"
	Inspector Morse	Gentile Bellocchio	Episode: "Twilight of the Gods"
	Teenage Health Freak	Dr. Lime	Recurring role; 2 episodes
	Heart of Darkness	Verme	Television film
1994	Headhunters	Saul Karkoff	Episode: "The Golden Hello"
	Birdland	Chip Rafferty	Episode: "Plan B"
	The Bill	Defence Barrister	Episode: "Backlash"
	Paris	Minotti	Series regular; 6 episodes
	Nobody's Children	Ion	Television film
1995	An Independent Man	Robert Flower	Episode: "Market Forces"
1996	Norma Jean & Marilyn	Billy Wilder	Television film
	Gadgetman	Professor McNeil	Television film
	No Bananas	Benjamin Marks	Episode: "Escape"
	Mad About You	Osofsky	Episode: "Burt's Building"
1996–1997	Nostromo	Hirsch	Miniseries; 4 episodes
1997	Love in the Ancient World	Member at Platon's Guest Meal	Television film
1998	Drop the Dead Donkey	Art Critic	Recurring role; 2 episodes
1999	Liverpool 1	Alan Pollock	Episode: "Sweet Dreams"
2000–2005	Fat Friends	Leonard Harris	Recurring role; 4 episodes
2001	The Way We Live Now	Croll	Miniseries; 4 episodes
2002	Foyle's War	Carlo Lucciano	Episode: "A Lesson in Murder"
	Daniel Deronda	Herr Klesmer	Miniseries; 3 episodes
2003	Trust	Michael Cohen	Miniseries; 1 episode
2004	Heartbeat	Gerard Lowe	Episode: "In the Bleak Midwinter"
	The Last Detective	Maurice Leyman	Episode: "Christine"
	La Femme Musketeer	Aramis	Television film
2005	The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle	Herbert Greenhough Smith	Television film
	Friends and Crocodiles	Marcus	Television film
2006	Simon Schama's Power of Art	Mark Rothko	Episode: "Rothko"
2007	Rome	Clerk	Episode: "These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero"
	Heartbeat	Tristram Johnstone	Episode: "Seeds of Destruction"
	The Whistleblowers	Daniel Black	Episode: "Ghosts"
	The Last Days of the Raj	Lord Ismay	Television film
2008	No Heroics	Shopkeeper	Episode: "Supergroupie"
2010	A Passionate Woman	Mr Solomon	Miniseries; 1 episodes
	Grandma's House	Richard	Episode: "The Day Simon Felt the Family Was Ready to Be Healed"
	Lennon Naked	Arthur Janov	Television film
2011	Zen	Michelangelo Gattuso	Episode: "Cabal"
	Exile	Geller	Miniseries; 1 episode
	Nazi Underworld	Narrator	Episode: "Hitler's Family"
2012	Midsomer Murders	Michael Hipsman	Episode: "A Rare Bird"
	We'll Take Manhattan	Alex Liberman	Television film
2013	Spies of Warsaw	Viktor Rosen	Miniseries; 4 episodes
	Dancing on the Edge	Mr. Wax	Miniseries; 5 episodes
2013–2014	Da Vinci's Demons	Andrea Verrocchio	Recurring role; 11 episodes
2014	Utopia	Ross	Recurring role; 2 episodes
2015–2017	Homeland	Etai Luskin	Recurring role; 7 episodes
2016	The Musketeers	Van Laar	Recurring role; 2 episodes
	The Collection	Inspector Bompard	Recurring role; 4 episodes
2017	Fearless	Monty Berman	Miniseries; 5 episodes
2018	Call the Midwife	Arnold Gelin	Episode: "Series 7, Episode 1"
	FBI	Victor Beniov	Episode: "This Land Is Your Land"
2019	The Blacklist	Aaron Meyers	Episode: "The Corsican (No. 20)"
2021	Ridley Road	Rabbi Leslie Lehrer	Miniseries; 4 episodes
2022	Count Magnus	Deacon	Television film
2024	Dinner with the Parents	Irv Langer	3 episodes

Video games

Year	Game	Role	Notes
2001	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Argus Filch / Filius Flitwick / Gringotts Goblin / Quirinus Quirrell / Severus Snape	Voice only
2002	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Filius Flitwick / Lucius Malfoy / Severus Snape / Argus Filch	Voice only
2004	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Filius Flitwick / Severus Snape	Voice only
2007	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Argus Filch / Severus Snape / Basil Fronsac / Reginald Oddpick	Voice only
	Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors	Xiphos	English version, voice only
2009	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Argus Filch	Voice only
2011	Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch	Apus	English version, voice only
2014	Transformers Universe	Ironhide	Voice only
2015	Bloodborne	Old Hunter Gehrman	Voice only
	Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward	Eynzahr Slafyrsyn / Midgardsormr	English version, voice only
2018	Call of Cthulhu	James Fitzroy / Additional Voices	Voice only
2020	Assassin's Creed Valhalla	Trygve	Voice only
2021	Bravely Default II	Gwydion	English version, voice only
	Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker	Quintus Cinna	Voice only

Theatre

• Once a Catholic as Cuthbert; Wyndham's Theatre (1977)
• No End of Blame as Grigor; Oxford Playhouse, Oxford & Royal Court Theatre (1981)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream as Puck; Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (1984)
• Serious Money as Durkfeld/Freville Todd/Duckett/Soat/Gleason; Royal Court Theatre & Wyndham's Theatre (1987); Broadway, New York City (1988)
• The Beaux' Stratagem as Scrub; Royal National Theatre (1989)
• Ice Cream as Man in Devon / Shrink / Fellow Guest / Hitcher / Professor; Royal Court Theatre (1989)
• Marya; Old Vic (1989)
• The Boys Next Door; Comedy Theatre (1990)
• Three Birds Alighting on a Field; Royal Court Theatre (1991)
• Rosmersholm as Headmaster Kroll; Young Vic (1992)
• Titanic as Henry Etches; Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway, New York City (1997)
• The Heart of Art as Arthur Dick; Off-Broadway, New York City (1999)
• Fucking Games as Terence; Royal Court Theatre (2001)
• Comedians as Sammy Samuels; Samuel Beckett Theatre, New York City (2003)
• Two Thousand Years as Danny; Royal National Theatre (2005)
• The Birthday Party as Goldberg; McCarter Theatre, Princeton, United States (2006)
• The Grouch as Alan; West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds (2008)
• Born in the Gardens as Maurice; Theatre Royal, Bath (2008)
• Hello, Dolly! as Horace Vandergelder; Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2009)
• A View from the Bridge as Alfieri; Duke of York's Theatre (2009)
• Passion as Doctor Tambourri; Donmar Warehouse (2010)
• Taken at Midnight as Fritz Litten; Chichester Festival Theatre (2014), Theatre Royal Haymarket (2015)
• Show Boat as Cap'n Andy Hawks; Sheffield Crucible (2015)
• Murder on the Orient Express as Hercule Poirot; McCarter Theatre (2017)
• My Fair Lady as Colonel Pickering; Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway, New York City (2018)
• The Motive and the Cue as Hume Cronyn; Noel Coward Theatre, London's West End (2023)
• Misalliance; Birmingham Rep
• The Amazons; Actor's Company
• The Entertainer; Actor's Company

Audiobooks

• Inkdeath
• Magyk
• The Book Thief
• The Castle
• The Keys to the Kingdom
• Smoke
• The Vorrh
• Magpie Murders
• Moonflower Murders

External links

• Allan Corduner at IMDb
• Allan Corduner at the Internet Broadway Database