Actor David Warner attends Day 4 of the Official Star Trek Convention at the Rio Las Vegas Hotel & Casino on August 14, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images) LONDON (AP) - David Warner, a versatile British actor whose roles ranged from Shakespearean tragedies to sci-fi cult classics, has died.
He was 80.Warner’s family said he died from a cancer-related illness on Sunday at Denville Hall, a retirement home for entertainers in London.Often cast as a villain, Warner had roles in the 1971 psychological thriller "Straw Dogs," the 1976 horror classic "The Omen," the 1979 time-travel adventure "Time After Time" — he was Jack the Ripper — and the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic," where he played the malicious valet Spicer Lovejoy.Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Warner became a young star of the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing roles including King Henry VI and King Richard II.
His 1965 performance in the title role of "Hamlet" for the company, directed by Peter Hall, was considered one of the finest of his generation.Gregor Doran, the RSC's artistic director emeritus, said Warner's Hamlet, played as a tortured student, "seemed the epitome of 1960’s youth, and caught the radical spirit of a turbulent age."Warner also starred in Hall’s 1968 film of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream," opposite Helen Mirren and Diana Rigg.Despite his acclaim as as a stage actor, chronic stage fright led Warner to prefer film and TV work for many years.He was nominated for a British Academy Film Award for the title role in Karel Reisz’s Swinging London tragicomedy "Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment," released in 1966.