Michael John Edward Culver was born on 16 June 1938 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. He was the son of actor Roland Culver and casting director Daphne Rye.[5] He was educated at Gresham's School and trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.[6] His birth name was Michael John Edward Culver.
Culver was twice married. In 1962, he married actress Lucinda Curtis and divorced in 1986. He married sculptor Amanda Ward in 2004.[6] With Lucinda Curtis he had 3 children.
Culver died on 27 February 2024, at the age of 85.[6][3]
Culver appeared in several television series in recurring roles, as Squire Armstrong in The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972–74), Major Erwin Brandt in the BBC drama Secret Army (1977–78), crooked banker Ralph Saroyan in the second series of The House of Eliott (1992) and the strict Prior Robert ('Brother Prior') in Cadfael (1994–98).[6]
Culver performed in three of Tricycle Theatre’s Tribunal Plays: Nuremberg (A distillation of the 1945–46 Nuremberg trials – of leading Nazi war criminals); Half the Picture (From transcripts from the Scott Inquiry into Arms-to-Iraq – the first play to be performed in the Palace of Westminster.) and The Colour of Justice (The dramatisation of the evidence given during Sir William Macpherson’s inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, his family's search for justice and endemic racism in the police force). They were directed by Nicolas Kent. The Colour of Justice and Half the Picture and were broadcast by the BBC Television.[6]
Gore-Booth and Sir Nicholas Lyell in Half the Picture, adapted by Richard Norton-Taylor With additional material by John McGrath; Tricycle Theatre, 1994. Directed by Nicolas Kent. This was the first play to be performed in the Palace of Westminster.
Ragnar Brovik in The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen, Translated by Michael Meyer, The New Arts Theatre Club, 1962. Directed by Terence Kilburn.
Sir William Macpherson in The Colour of Justice, edited by Richard Norton-Taylor, transferred to the Lyttelton Theatre and toured the UK, 1999. Directed by Nicolas Kent, assisted by Surian Fletcher-Jones, it won Best Touring Production in Theatrical Management Association Awards.
The Burning Glass by Jo Anderson and Directed Andy Jordan.
"Breizh has a problem. The World Cup looms and all eyes are on FRANCE. Down on the estate, something stirs."
Others in the cast: Philip Madoc and Frances Jeater. BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play 30 May 1998 repeated 20 March 1990
Cast included Anton Lesser (Xavier March), Graham Padden (Krause), Robert Portal (Jost), Peter Ellis (Max Jarger), Thomas Copeland (Pili), Andrew Sachs, Amanda Walker, Patrick Godfrey, Michael Byrne, Ian Gelder, Angeline Ball, William Scott Masson, Stratford Johns, Eleanor Bron, Dan Fineman, Alice Arnold and Trevor Nichols, with Ned Sherrin, Jonathan Coleman and Alan Dedicoat. Goldhawk Radio production. Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9 June 1997
Flight of the Swan by Jean MacVean. BBC Radio 4, 7 August 1982
Cast included: Rosalind Shanks and David Neal.
The play deals with human love and how it is so often impossible for one person to really know another.
Wilderness of Mirrors Unabridged 1989 reading of the novel by Ted Allbeury
The Shadow of Mir by Nick Fisher and directed by John Dryden. First broadcast BBC Radio 4 on 8 May 1998 as the Friday Play[9]
In 2018, Michael was the primary contributor to an audio monument to the peace campaigner Brian Haw. Still sited in Parliament Square in London, the monument - 'And There Was Brian' - gives Michael's account of how he supported Haw throughout his ten-year campaign against the Iraq War and other military conflicts. The work was created by Michael, alongside Guy Atkins, Nina Garthwaite, James Bulley, and Amanda Ward. The monument can be accessed via the project's website, www.andtherewasbrian.uk.
