Brendan Coyle

Actor

• Born: December 2, 1963
• Place of Birth: Corby, England

Contribution: Brendan Coyle is an Emmy-nominated English actor, best known as the valet John Bates in the British period drama Downton Abbey (2010–15) and motion pictures based on the series.

Background

Brendan Coyle was born on December 2, 1963, in Corby, Northamptonshire, England, to an Irish father and a Scottish mother. Coyle was desperate to become anything other than a butcher like his father; he was first inspired to become an actor when he saw a production of William Shakespeare’s Richard III as a teenager.

Before he could make his dream a reality, however, Coyle had to finish school and apprentice for a year in his father’s shop. With these formalities out of the way, Coyle moved to Dublin, Ireland, to learn from his cousin, a drama teacher, who trained him in acting and stage managing. Upon completing his cousin’s program, Coyle was awarded a scholarship to London’s Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Career

Coyle started acting on stage soon after graduating from the academy, appearing in such plays as All Souls Night, Over the Bridge, and Playboy of the Western World. After finding some degree of success in theater, he shifted to English television, where he made his onscreen debut in the 1992 television film Fool’s Gold: The Story of the Brink’s-MAT Robbery. The same year, he had a guest spot in an episode of the police procedural The Bill. Coyle went on to land guest-starring roles in the television shows Dangerfield, Silent Witness, and Thief Takers and a starring role in the miniseries The Glass Virgin. His rising prominence in television earned him the small part of a henchman in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.

Coyle interspersed his screen work with a steady flow of theater jobs, including a role in Conor McPherson’s The Weir, which he performed in London and on Broadway in New York. Coyle was widely praised for his work in this play and, in 1999, won both a Laurence Olivier Award and a New York Critics Theater World Award for his performance.

While acting offers continued to come in for Coyle, they were only for more television films and series episodes, although the prominence of the work increased with each role. In 2000, Coyle appeared in the television film McCready and Daughter, which became a miniseries the following year. Coyle was also a regular in two other miniseries at that time, Paths to Freedom (2000) and Rebel Heart (2001). He gained a more international audience when he was cast in the role of Heinrich Müller, chief of the Gestapo, in the 2001 BBC/HBO film Conspiracy.

Coyle appeared in several episodes of the TV series Rockface in 2002 and 2003 and in all four episodes of the miniseries North & South in 2004. In 2005, he landed the lead role of Irish Republican leader Michael Collins in the television film Allegiance; later that year, he appeared in a supporting role in the thriller film The Jacket, starring Adrien Brody. His next miniseries appearance was in all six episodes of True Dare Kiss (2007). Coyle found the steadiest work of his career to date when he was cast in the period drama Lark Rise to Candleford; from 2008 to 2010, he appeared in thirty-one episodes, earning further critical praise and increasing his national fame.

In 2010, Coyle earned true international stardom and acclaim with his role as valet John Bates on the British period drama Downton Abbey. The series revolves around the lives and relationships of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early part of the twentieth century. The characters’ lives are affected by true historical events, such as the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the beginning of World War I, and the Irish War of Independence. Though the cast of Downton Abbey is large, Coyle is a standout, attracting a great deal of critical praise for his inspired yet subtle performance. In 2011 and 2012, respectively, he was nominated for a BAFTA Award and an Emmy Award for his work on the show. The entire cast of Downton Abbey, including Coyle, won three Screen Actors Guild Awards for best ensemble in a drama out of five nominations.

Even though Coyle enjoyed working on Downton Abbey, he expressed discomfort with the amount of fame it brought him, especially when it infringed on his privacy. However, he also expressed appreciation for this fame. After his initial success on the show, Coyle began receiving offers for more prominent films and television shows. In 2012, he appeared in the American film The Raven, starring John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe. He was also cast as the lead in the British comedy-drama series Starlings (2012–13) and as oil tycoon Gerry Shaw in the 2014 film Noble, based on the true-life story of Christina Noble.

After the Downtown Abbey television series concluded in 2015, Coyle took on several roles in other television series and films. Of these, the most notable were his portrayal of mob boss Nelson Clay in Spotless (2015), his turn as the Earl of Lennox in the 2018 film Mary Queen of Scots, and his return to the role of Mr. Bates in the 2019 film Downton Abbey and the 2022 movie Downton Abbey: A New Era. He also appeared in the 2016 films Me Before You and Unless and in six episodes of the television miniseries Requiem (2018). In 2022, he appeared in six episodes of the Amazon Prime series Riches, and in 2024 he made an appearance in the miniseries Finders Keepers. He was set to reprise his Downton Abbey role in a third film.

Impact

Coyle has made a career of playing respectable roles in British television films and series. Though critics have always appreciated his talents, it took him many years to find mainstream success. Since 2010, when he began playing John Bates on Downton Abbey, Coyle has proved to be a popular and highly skilled actor. In 2014, Coyle incorporated Anderson Shelter Productions Limited with Joy Harrison. Anderson Shelter is a small production company with the stated goal of finding and funding short films by talented young filmmakers. He is also passionate about the Christina Noble Foundation, which provides protection, health care, and education to children experiencing homelessness in Vietnam and Mongolia.

Personal Life

Coyle is the great-nephew of famous soccer star and Manchester United manager Matt Busby (1909–94). He has homes in London and Norfolk.

Bibliography

"Brendan Coyle." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0185354/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

Coyle, Brendan. “Brendan Coyle Starlings Q&A: ‘I Felt Warmth for These Characters.’” Interview by Morgan Jeffery and Clarissa Place. Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK, 11 May 2012. Web. 24 July 2013.

Iley, Chrissy. “Brendan Coyle Interview: ‘I Try to Choose My Battles Carefully.’” Telegraph. Telegraph Media, 2 July 2013. Web. 24 July 2013.

Williams, Zoe. “Brendan Coyle on Downton Abbey, Looking for Love, and Whether Bates Killed His Wife.” Radio Times. Immediate Media, 20 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 July 2013.

Wilson, Benji. “Brendan Coyle: Downton Abbey’s Unlikely Sex Symbol, Interview.” Telegraph. Telegraph Media, 11 May 2012. Web. 24 July 2013.

Wolf, Matt. “They Also Act Who Only Sit and Listen.” New York Times. New York Times, 13 June 1999. Web. 24 July 2013.