In "Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope" GARRICK HAGON is Biggs Darklighter, Luke Skywalker's old friend and, as Red Three, one of the best X-Wing pilots of the Rebel Alliance. The hangar scene between Luke and Biggs which was added to the Special Edition has given a further background to Biggs before his death in the attack on the Death Star. Garrick's most recent film role was as Father Loughton, an English missionary in Xie Jin's Chinese epic, "The Opium War". With a cast of Chinese and English stars, the script called for him to learn his first scene entirely in Mandarin. And even more remarkable, he says, the Chinese actors seemed to understand him. Garrick's first film role was as Eros in Charlton Heston's "Antony and Cleopatra". He went on to star in Marvin Lichtner's "Some Kind of Hero" a feature film about a deserter from the Vietnam war. Other films have included: "Cry Freedom", "A Bridge Too Far" and "The Message", in which he starred with Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas, working for over a year in the deserts of North Africa. One of his favorite film experiences was the night he filmed the first scene of Tim Burton's "BATMAN" on the huge Pinewood set playing the Father along with his wife, actress Liza Ross, as the Mother, lost with their son in Gotham City. On television, Garrick's first major role was in New York in a United States Steel Hour production, "Little Lost Sheep" starring Jane Wyatt and Hans Conreid. Since then he has played in hundreds of television dramas around the world. In the series, "The Adventurer", shot at Elstree Studios in England, Garrick starred alongside Gene Barry. In the series, "Oppenheimer", about the making of the first atomic bomb, which starred Sam Waterston, Garrick played Frank Oppenheimer and in the BBC's "Lady of the Camellias", he played Dumas Fils, with Kate Nelligan in the title role. Garrick acted with Angela Lansbury and Sir Laurence Olivier in the BBC TV drama, "A Talent for Murder" and in the HBO mini-series "Fatherland", he played opposite opposite Rutger Hauer and Miranda Richardson. In Turner TV's "The Nightmare Years", directed by Anthony Page, he played the famous broadcaster Edward R. Murrow. Garrick's love of science fantasy started in his first British TV role as Ky in the "Dr. Who" series "The Mutants". He went on to do a science fiction series for the BBC called "Moonbase". From there it was a giant step to "Star Wars". The BBC has also given Garrick the chance to pursue his love of classical theatre. In their Shakespeare series he played Mountjoy in "Henry V" and Octavius in "Julius Caesar". In repertory theatre in England he has played Hamlet and at the Stratford Festival of Canada, where he won the Tyrone Guthrie Award, he played Don John in "Much Ado About Nothing". On CBC-TV in Canada Garrick had a long career as a presenter of a weekly magazine program and starred in over 20 TV dramas, winning a Best Supporting Actor Award in 1985. On stage, Garrick starred with Colin Blakely and Rosemary Harris in a West End production of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" directed by Michael Blakemore and at the Royal National Theatre he was in another production, highly approved by Miller himself, of "After the Fall". He has acted in the theatre in England, Canada and Europe in roles as diverse as Capt.Stanhope in "Journey's End" and Teach in David Mamet's "American Buffalo". A busy radio actor, Garrick has read over fifty stories on BBC Radio and played in many of radio dramas in England and Canada, as well as having recorded over 80 books on audio cassette, the most recent title being "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. On the popular BBC Radio soap opera, "The Archers", he plays Simon Gerrard. Garrick writes and directs for his own audio cassette company, The Story Circle, which has just finished multi-voice productions of Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" and "The Subtle Knife" for Random House as well as a series of Goosebumps stories by R.L.Stine. Any spare time he tries to spend in Spain renovating an old farmhouse with his family and riding in the Alpujarras. |