Bruce Robert Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand-born Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre.

Career

Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ''

Stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

''. Spence's best known film role is as the gyrocopter pilot in ''

Mad Max 2 ''Mad Max 2'' (released as ''The Road Warrior'' in the United States) is a 1981 Australian Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian action film directed by George Miller (filmmaker), G ...

'' (1981). He also played the lead role in Werner Herzog's '' Where the Green Ants Dream'' (1984) and portrayed Jedediah the pilot in '' Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' (1985). In the 21st century, Spence played the Mouth of Sauron in '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2003), the Trainman in '' The Matrix Revolutions'' (2003), and Baxter in Disney's '' Inspector Gadget 2'' (2003), and voiced the character Chum in ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...

'' (2003). He also portrayed Tion Medon in '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) and played Lord Rhoop in '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' (2010). Spence portrayed the

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

(Huxley) in the Australian performance of BBC's ''

Walking with Dinosaurs ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Science Unit, the Discovery Channel and BBC Worldwide, in association with TV Asahi, ProSieben and France 3. ...

: The Live Experience''. In his role, Spence narrated the activities of life-sized mechanical dinosaurs operated by teams of puppeteers and drivers. Bruce Spence

In 2008, Spence joined the television series '' Legend of the Seeker'', which was based on the '' Sword of Truth'' series by

Terry Goodkind Terry Lee Goodkind (January 11, 1948September 17, 2020) was an American writer. He was known for the epic fantasy series ''The Sword of Truth'' as well as the contemporary suspense novel ''The Law of Nines'' (2009), which has ties to his fantasy ...

. He played the role of Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, co-starring with Craig Horner and Bridget Regan. The show ran for two seasons. In 2014, Spence played prison inmate George Corella in episode 3.1 of '' Rake''. In 2024, Spence was named as the recipient for the Equity Lifetime Achievement award.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Bruce Best Actor AACTA Award winners Living people New Zealand male film actors New Zealand male television actors New Zealand male video game actors New Zealand male voice actors People educated at Henderson High School, Auckland Australian male film actors Australian male comedians Australian male television actors Comedians from Auckland 1945 births New Zealand sketch comedians 21st-century New Zealand comedians