From 'Vogue', October 1986

An English Dance

There was a rail hung with clothes for the photograph. Charles Dance arrived: tall, lanky, tanned from filming in Los Angeles, with compellingly pale eyes and fine, auburn hair. He flicked through the clothes and stopped at a red shirt from Paul Smith. "I have tried telling myself red suits me — I have a shirt just this colour hanging in my wardrobe at home, but whenever I put it on, my face fades away. So it just hangs there." He shrugged.

Born forty years ago, raised in Devon, he was introduced to acting in the college theatre group while studying graphic design. By 1975 he had joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he spent five years. The Jewel in the Crown was a turning point. "It was a brilliant series, hugely successful, and it gave me that thing which all actors need; a break." He is now in demand, as shown by the projects he has completed this year.

In the first, a television series, Out on a Limb, Dance plays opposite Shirley Maclaine. For the next, The Golden Child (with Eddie Murphy), he grew his hair long to play the Devil: "I want to get away from the short back and sides image, it is so limiting." His third project, Good Morning Babylon, is the one he has enjoyed most to date, because it was directed by the Taviani Brothers. "One of my ambitions has always been to work with the best of the European directors and Paolo and Vittorio Taviani don’t come any better. I would like to have worked with Truffaut, with Fassbinder," he says. "Those are the sort of films that I watch, and they are the sort of films that I want to be in." Good Morning Babylon has made him enthusiastic about working on the Continent. One evening, at a huge Italian family party, he was persuaded by the Tavianis to give a rendition of All the world’s a stage. "Quoting Shakespeare is a really ham thing to do if you are an actor. I went to town, it was wonderful. Something happens to me when I cross the Channel, it is like a shot in the arm."

So he is aware of his very English reserve. Charming and well-mannered, but bristly, he seemed slightly daunted at the prospect of modelling clothes. Which did he like? "This, I like this," he said, pointing at a shawl. The last choice to be expected from a man so restrained. " "It reminds me of India — I have one of those Yasser Arafat things, the Berber scarves, I cut quite a dash in the streets in that, although I wouldn’t wear it shopping in Golders Green." He has his suits made at Morris Angel’s, the theatrical tailors. He buys the shirts made for his films. Otherwise he buys clothes whenever they fit. "There is a shop called Maxfields in LA, where I spent a great deal of money – the clothes were the right size. I am happiest in a pair of Levis. I have got eight pairs of them. What else can I say?"

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