Charles Dance: From builder’s labourer with a stammer to Tywin Lannister

Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

Global

Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before he was Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones or the commanding presence of The Jewel in the Crown, Charles Dance was a boy from Worcestershire whose father died when he was three and whose mother built a new life for the family, remarried to their lodger. A childhood marked by loss, a stammer and humble beginnings gave little hint of the commanding actor he would become.

In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the Emmy-nominated actor to trace an extraordinary journey from working-class Devon to the stages of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Hollywood sets alongside Meryl Streep, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maggie Smith. Dance reveals how two eccentric mentors in rural Devon taught him to speak, act and think like an actor, and why, even now at 79, he still considers himself a “working actor” rather than a star.

It’s an intimate, reflective conversation about identity, perseverance, class, craft and the enduring magic of the stage- told with the wit and humility of a man who’s seen it all and still can’t quite believe his luck.

Transcript

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