Actor. As a young man, he served in the army and attended Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire. He first appeared on the London stage in “Prisoners of War”(1955) and later had great success in Eugene O´Neills “The Iceman Cometh”(1957) and “Long day´s Journey into Night”(1958). Bannen was an original member of the Royal  Shakespeare Company and also made numerous appearances on Broadway. He made several high profile roles on film in the 1960s, including: “The Hill”(1965), “The Flight of the Phoenix”(1965) (for which he was nominated for an academy award) and “Penelope”(1967). Scores of other roles followed, both on film and television. His most notable roles in the 1970s and 1980s were: “The Offence”(1972), “Identikit”(1974), “Bite the Bullet”(1975), “Jesus of Nazareth”(1977)(TV miniseries), “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”(1979)(TV miniseries), “Eye of the Needle”(1981), “Gandhi”(1982), “Gorky Park”(1983), “Defence of the Realm”(1985) and “Hope and Glory”(1987). In the 1990s, Bannen won acclaim for his role as the father of Robert Bruce in the Oscarwinning epic “Braveheart”(1995). In 1998 he starred alongside David Kelly in the charming comedy “Waking Ned Devine”, which was a surprise hit all over the world. Sadly, a year later , Ian Bannen died in a car accident near Loch Ness in Scotland. He was 71. Cause of death: Car accident Inscription:Loving & deeply loved husband ofMarilyn Salisbury