Suchet was born on 2 May 1946 in the Paddington area of London,[5][1] the son of Jack Suchet
and his wife Joan Patricia (née Jarché; 1916–1992), an actress. Jack emigrated from South Africa to England in 1932, trained to be a physician at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London, in 1933, and became an obstetrician and gynaecologist.[5][6][7]
Suchet's father was of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, the son of Izidor Suchedowitz,[8] originally from Kretinga in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire. At some point, the family name was recorded as "Schohet", a Yiddish word, from Hebrewshochet, defining the profession of kosher butcher. Suchet's father changed his surname to Suchet while living in South Africa. David's mother was born in England and was Anglican. She was of Russian-Jewish descent on her father's side, and English Anglican on her mother's side.[6] He was raised without religion, but became a practising Anglican in 1986, and was confirmed in 2006.[6][9][10][11][12]
Suchet began his acting career at the Gateway Theatre, Chester in 1969. He then appeared in many reps, including Worthing, Birmingham, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Liverpool Playhouse, and the Watermill Theatre. In 1973, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1981–82, he played Bolingbroke in Richard II opposite Alan Howard. In 1993 he played "John" in the drama Oleanna at the Royal Court Theatre. It was directed by Harold Pinter, and co-starred Lia Williams as "Carol".
In 1988, Suchet played Leopold Bloom in the Channel 4 documentary The Modern World: Ten Great Writers, in which some of James Joyce's Ulysses was dramatised.[20] In 1988 Suchet appeared in the penultimate episode of the television series Tales of the Unexpected. He appeared as Yves Drouard, a scheming adulterer, in the episode A Time to Die.[21]
In 1989, he took the title role of Hercule Poirot for the long-running television series Agatha Christie's Poirot. In his book, Poirot and Me, Suchet mentions that prior Poirot actor Peter Ustinov one day approached him and told him that Suchet could play Poirot and would be good at it. Suchet then spoke to Brian Eastman from ITV, who sent him some of the novels to read. "And as I did so, it slowly dawned on me that I'd never actually seen the character I was reading about on the screen...He was quite, quite different: more elusive, more pedantic and, most of all, more human than the person I'd seen on the screen."[22]
Still unsure, Suchet rang his brother John, who advised him against it, calling Poirot "a bit of a joke, a buffoon. It's not you at all." Suchet took his brother's advice as a challenge and accepted the role. In preparation, he wrote a five-page character study of Poirot detailing 93 different aspects of his life. Suchet said he took the list on set with him and "gave a copy to every director I worked with on a Poirot film."[22]
Suchet went on to play the role in adaptations of every novel and short story featuring the character written by Agatha Christie.[23]
In 2001, he had the lead role in the David Yates-directed BBC television serial The Way We Live Now. In April 2002, he played the real-life barrister George Carman in the BBC drama Get Carman: The Trials of George Carman QC.[24]
He starred in the 2009 CBC made-for-TV film Diverted. He starred as the main antagonist, Reacher Gilt, in the 2010 Sky TV adaptation of Going Postal, based on Pratchett's book of the same name. He appeared in the film Act of God as Benjamin Cisco. In 1987, Suchet played a bigfoot hunter in Harry and the Hendersons. He had roles in two Michael Douglas films, A Perfect Murder and The In-Laws. In 1997, he starred in the independent film Sunday.
Between 2014 and 2015, Suchet appeared in and narrated two BBC Television documentaries, undertaking an epic journey spanning the Mediterranean, inspired by the life and travels of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul.
In 2016, Suchet took on the role of the narrator in the BBC live production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong, where he serves as the sole "professional" among the cast. At one point during the broadcast, when one of the actors is electrocuted, he is asked to distract the audience. His solution is to take Captain Hook's moustache and start acting like Poirot, even delivering his lines in a Belgian accent. This prompts the director (who is also playing Captain Hook) to retrieve the moustache and dismiss Suchet.[26]
After starting work at Stratford-on-Avon in 1973, Suchet had a narrowboat named Prima Donna fitted out to his specification as a residence there.[27] He later became vice-president of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Trust, whose most challenging achievement has been securing funding, via an appeal and from influencing government decisions, concerning the building of the new M6 Toll motorway, where it cuts the lines of the Lichfield Canal and the Hatherton Canal, both of which the Trust wishes to see reopened.[28]
He was voted in as chairman of the River Thames Alliance in November 2005.[29] At the July 2006 Annual General Meeting of the River Thames Alliance, he agreed to continue being chairman for another year. He is a patron of the River Thames Boat Project.[28]
Awards, honours and appointments
Suchet's first major award was the Royal Television Society's award for best male actor for A Song for Europe in 1985. His performance as Agatha Christie's famous detective Hercule Poirot in the television series Poirot earned him a 1991 British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) nomination. In preparation for the role, he says that he read every novel and short story and compiled an extensive file on Poirot.[3][4] Suchet was given a Variety Club Award in 1994 for best actor for portraying John in David Mamet's play Oleanna at the Royal Court Theatre, London. He later won another Variety Club Award, as well as a 2000 Tony nomination for best performance by a leading actor in a play, for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri in a revival of Amadeus.
In 1972, Suchet first met his wife, Sheila Ferris, at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, where they were both working; he says that he fell in love with her as soon as he saw her, and that it took a while to persuade her to go out for a meal with him.[38] They were married on 30 June 1976; the couple have a son, Robert (b. 1981), formerly a captain in the Royal Marines,[2] and a daughter, Katherine (b. 1983), a physiotherapist.
Suchet is the brother of John Suchet, a former national news presenter for Five News, and former ITN newscaster, and presenter of the evening concert on Classic FM (2020).[39] He is the uncle of broadcaster Richard Suchet, who is the son of Suchet's younger brother, Peter. Suchet's nephew is the RT broadcaster Rory Suchet.
Suchet's maternal grandfather, James Jarché, was a famous Fleet Street photographer notable for the first pictures of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and also for his pictures of Louis Blériot (1909) and the Siege of Sidney Street. Suchet first became interested in photography when his grandfather gave him a Leica M3 camera as a present.[38] The Jarché family was originally named Jarchy, and were Russian Jews.[6][25]
Suchet's great-great-great-grandfather, George Jezzard, was a master mariner. He was captain of the brig Hannah, which sank nine miles off the coast of Suffolk during a violent storm on 28 May 1860, in which more than 100 vessels sank and at least 40 people died. Jezzard and six others of his crew were saved by local rescuers just before their ship sank.[6]
Religious beliefs
Raised without religion, in 1986 Suchet underwent a religious conversion after reading Romans 8 in his hotel room. Soon afterwards, he was baptised into the Church of England.[40][41] Suchet stated in an interview with Strand Magazine, "I'm a Christian by faith. I like to think it sees me through a great deal of my life. I very much believe in the principles of Christianity and the principles of most religions, actually—that one has to abandon oneself to a higher good."[42]
In 2012, Suchet made a documentary for the BBC on his personal hero, Saint Paul, to discover what he was like as a man by charting his evangelistic journey around the Mediterranean.[43] In 2014, he filmed a documentary about the apostle Saint Peter.[40]
In August 2014, Suchet was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in the September 2014 referendum on that issue.[45]
