Photo of Michael Byrne
Acting

Michael Byrne

Profession
Acting
Born
November 7, 1943 · London, England, UK
Died
June 20, 2026

Biography

Michael Byrne was a British actor sometimes cast as Nazis such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Major Schroeder in Force 10 from Navarone, Reinhard Beck in The Scarlet and the Black, General Olbricht in The Plot to Kill Hitler and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris. Also seen as the aged but fanatical SS General Neurath in "Outpost 2 - Black Sun", former concentration camp commandant and involved in the Nazis's sinister reality-shifting experiments. Byrne appeared as a Jewish concentration camp survivor who is instrumental in the capture of a Nazi war criminal (played by Ian McKellen) in the film Apt Pupil. He was also familiar to audiences as Smythe, a soldier who attempts to rape William Wallace's wife and first inspires Wallace to seek independence from England in the film Braveheart. His other film credits include The Eagle Has Landed, A Bridge Too Far, The Medusa Touch, The Saint, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Good Father, The Sum of All Fears, Gangs of New York and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. On television, heappeared in Z-Cars, Secret Army, Tales of the Unexpected, The Professionals, The Devil's Crown,Smiley's People, Yes, Prime Minister, Lord Mountbatten - the Last Viceroy, Between The Lines, Sharpe, The Mists of Avalon, Waking the Dead, The Body Farm, Honest, Hamish Macbeth, and Casualty. From April 2008 to January 2010, Michael starred in Coronation Street, as Ted Page, Gail Platt's long lost father and the ex-lover of Audrey Roberts. Byrne appeared in State of Play at the Edinburgh Festival written by Zia Trench. He played Romeo to Siân Phillips' Juliet at the Bristol Old Vic. He was the father of actress Allie Byrne.

Known for

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 poster
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Film · 2010 · ★ 7.7
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith poster
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Film · 2005 · ★ 7.5
Braveheart poster
Braveheart
Film · 1995 · ★ 7.9
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade poster
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Film · 1989 · ★ 7.9
Gangs of New York poster
Gangs of New York
Film · 2002 · ★ 7.3
Tomorrow Never Dies poster
Tomorrow Never Dies
Film · 1997 · ★ 6.4
Mortdecai poster
Mortdecai
Film · 2015 · ★ 5.5
The Omen poster
The Omen
Film · 1976 · ★ 7.4
The Sum of All Fears poster
The Sum of All Fears
Film · 2002 · ★ 6.4
The Saint poster
The Saint
Film · 1997 · ★ 6.1
A Bridge Too Far poster
A Bridge Too Far
Film · 1977 · ★ 7.2
Battlefield Earth poster
Battlefield Earth
Film · 2000 · ★ 3.3

Filmography