- "The sets for this film support everything you do, because the authenticity and attention to detail are quite extraordinary. When we shot the scene in Beckett’s Port Royal office with me and Tom Hollander, normally that would be a kind of fairly intimate scene probably shot inside of a studio soundstage. But in our film, you look out of the window and there’s a whole world of life on the dockside going on. Ships are being loaded. Bananas are going up and down the gangplank. Boats are coming in and out. It’s a great approach to filmmaking. It’s a great mix of old-fashioned filmmaking and modern technology."
- ―Jonathan Pryce
Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; June 1, 1947) is a Welsh actor who is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He had received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2021, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. Pryce had excelled in equal measure on both stage and screen and, in the process, had demonstrated himself to be one of Britain's most versatile talents.
Jonathan Pryce portrayed Governor Weatherby Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy (The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest and At World's End) as well as voicing the character in the At World's End video game.
Biography[]
Early life and career[]
John Price was born on June 1, 1947, in Carmel, Flintshire, the son of Margaret Ellen (née Williams) and Isaac Price, a former coal miner who ran a small general grocery shop with his wife. While studying, he took part in a college theatre production. An impressed tutor suggested he should become an actor, and applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) for an application form on his behalf. Pryce was subsequently awarded a scholarship to RADA. When he joined Equity, he took "Jonathan Pryce" as his stage name because his birth name was too similar to that of a performer already represented by Equity.
On stage, Jonathan Pryce received Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor in Hamlet and Outstanding Performance in a Musical for Miss Saigon, in which he originated the role of The Engineer. Pryce was also nominated for The Taming of the Shrew at the Royal Shakespeare Company and for the role of Fagin in the 1995 West End revival of the musical Oliver! When Pryce opened on Broadway in Miss Saigon, he garnered the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Variety Club Awards. For his major stage debut in Comedians, Jonathan Pryce received a Tony Award for Best Actor. He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?. Pryce also starred as Henry Higgins in the recent hit West End revival of My Fair Lady and the smash hit Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
On screen, Jonathan Pryce's roles have been equally wide-ranging, most notably in Terry Gilliam's Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, Christopher Hampton's Carrington (for which he received the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival), Alan Parker's Evita (in which he acted and sang the role of Juan Peron), the James Bond thriller Tomorrow Never Dies and John Frankenheimer's Ronin. Most recently, Pryce appeared in Irwin Winkler's De-Lovely, Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm and Terrence Malick's The New World.
For television, Jonathan Pryce was honored with Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for HBO's Barbarians at the Gate, and appeared in Thicker Than Water, Great Moments in Aviation, Mr. Wroe's Virgins and Selling Hitler.
Pirates of the Caribbean[]
The Curse of the Black Pearl[]
Veteran actor Jonathan Pryce portrayed Governor Weatherby Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a film he had described as "one of those why-not movies."[1] The character was described as having his hands full trying to raise his rather unconventional, bold and sometimes downright audacious daughter Elizabeth, and copes by arranging her marriage to the newly appointed commander of the British Naval Fleet in Port Royal, Commodore Norrington, played by Jack Davenport. "Elizabeth’s father expects her to marry someone of her own stature," says director Gore Verbinski. "Jonathan Pryce does an excellent job. He's not just the arrogant British governor, he's also the concerned father who's trying to do the best he can for his daughter." "It's clear I haven't brought her up very well," says Pryce in the regretful voice of his character. "Elizabeth is adventurous and refuses to toe the line, and for some unknown reason, she's very attracted to pirates. Will Turner's prospects aren't very good and I'd be much happier if she married Norrington because she'd have a great future as a commodore's wife." Like many of the actors involved in the film, Pryce was attracted by the script, which he says contained "a good deal of wit and intelligence... a great story," and by the Caribbean location. "I've vacationed here over the years. It's a delight to work in. And the Golden Age of Piracy happened right here."[2]
Having missed all of the original screenings and premieres of the first film because of his busy schedule, Pryce finally bought himself a ticket to a cinema in London, "and could barely get a seat, which I thought was ironic. It was four or five weeks after its initial opening, but the cinema was packed. It was a wonderful experience seeing the film with a real audience, watching them laughing and watching the screen in amazement. It was very gratifying to be in a commercial film that audience, young and old, responded to so well."[3]
Dead Man's Chest and At World's End[]
After the success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jonathan Pryce reprised his role of Governor Weatherby Swann for the sequels, Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, which were filmed at the same time but released a year apart. "I never expected to be back," says Jonathan Pryce, who returned as Elizabeth's loving if slightly befuddled father. On the East India Company dock, set decorator Cheryl Carasik and her assistants created an array of cargo and goods as they filmed in Wallilabou Bay. "The sets for this film support everything you do," noted Jonathan Pryce, "because the authenticity and attention to detail are quite extraordinary. When we shot the scene in Beckett's Port Royal office with me and Tom Hollander, normally that would be a kind of fairly intimate scene probably shot inside of a studio soundstage. But in our film, you look out of the window and there’s a whole world of life on the dockside going on. Ships are being loaded. Bananas are going up and down the gangplank. Boats are coming in and out. It's a great approach to filmmaking. It’s a great mix of old-fashioned filmmaking and modern technology."[3]
The supporting cast, depending upon when they were needed for filming, would come and go from the Bahamas with regularity. "That was a great luxury, because since we started shooting I did both a West End play and Broadway musical in between my work for 'Pirates.' It's always nice to come back, see some friends, visit for a few days or a couple of weeks, then go off and do something else. It means people are very pleased to see me when I arrive," adds Pryce with a laugh. "I'm full of admiration for the crew, the majority of whom worked on all three films, and their energy never diminished, nor has Gore's enthusiasm and inventiveness on set amongst this huge machine. Gore always finds time for the actors and the acting, because he knows that's ultimately what the audience focuses on. In a film of this size and success, there's no sense of complacency. It's a bit like doing a musical where there is no place for cynicism. We laugh a lot on `Pirates,' but when you're doing it, you're doing it for real."[4]
In addition to his role onscreen, Jonathan Pryce voiced Governor Swann in the At World's End video game.
After the Pirates Trilogy[]
During early 2007, the BBC serial Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars was first broadcast with Jonathan Pryce in the lead. From September 2007 through June 2008, Pryce returned to the theatre portraying Shelly Levene in a new West End production of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross at the Apollo Theatre, London. Pryce also appeared as part of an ensemble cast in the 2008 real-time strategy video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, playing the role of Marshall Robert Bingham. In 2015, Jonathan Pryce joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in season 5 as the High Sparrow. Pryce also appeared at The Globe Theatre as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, where his real life daughter Phoebe played Shylock's daughter Jessica.
Trivia[]
- He appeared in the 2008 film Bedtime Stories, which also featured Richard Griffiths.
- He appeared in the fifth and sixth seasons of the 2011-2019 TV series Game of Thrones, which also featured Mackenzie Crook, Ian McShane, Deobia Oparei and Anton Lesser.
Appearances[]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Governor Weatherby Swann
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Governor Weatherby Swann
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Governor Weatherby Swann
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Governor Swann (voice)
