Peter Vaughan obit

Peter Vaughan, 93, Maester Aemon in ‘Game of Thrones’

He was not on the list.

Peter Vaughan, a British character actor who often played rogues early in his career but was more familiar to recent audiences as a wise, blind mentor on the HBO fantasy series “Game of Thrones,” died Tuesday. He was 93.

The office of his agent, Sally Long-Innes, did not say where he died.

Craggy-visaged and imposing, Mr. Vaughan was a regular in films and on British television for more than 50 years, long before taking the part of Maester Aemon Targaryen on “Game of Thrones.”

As Maester Aemon, he forsakes his royal heritage, giving up the chance to rule the seven kingdoms of Westeros to serve in the Night’s Watch, a group of warriors and criminals tasked with defending a colossal wall to protect lands to the south from invaders of the north.

Mr. Vaughan also played a manipulative British spy in “The Naked Runner” (1967), with Frank Sinatra; one of the English villagers who harass Dustin Hoffman and Susan George in Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs” (1971); and a bureaucrat in Terry Gilliam’s dystopian satire “Brazil” (1985), which starred Jonathan Pryce and featured Robert De Niro.

He played other elderly figures, including Anthony Hopkins’ ailing father in James Ivory’s film adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the Day” (1993) and a cantankerous old man in the farce “Death at a Funeral” (2007).

Mr. Vaughan, whose last credited television role was as Maester Aemon, said he was grateful that he had chosen a profession that allowed him to work well into old age.

“It’s not the sort of career where you have to retire at a given age,” he told Shropshire magazine in 2007. “I compare it to being a painter or a professional musician — as long as you’re fit and healthy to carry on, and the offers come in, you just keep going.”

Filmography

Vaughan appeared in the following films and television series:

    The 39 Steps (1959) as 2nd Police Constable on Train (uncredited)

    Sapphire (1959) as Detective Whitehead (uncredited)

    Village of the Damned (1960) as P.C. Gobby

    Make Mine Mink (1960) as Policeman in Car (uncredited)

    Two Living, One Dead (1961) as John Kester

    The Court Martial of Major Keller (1961) as Purvey

    I Thank a Fool (1962) as Police Inspector

    The Devil's Agent (1962) as Chief of Hungarian Police

    The Punch and Judy Man (1963) as Committee Man

    The Victors (1963) as Policeman

    Smokescreen (1964) as Roper

    Fanatic (1965) as Harry

    Rotten to the Core (1965) as Sir Henry Capell

    The Naked Runner (1967) as Martin Slattery

    The Man Outside (1967) as Nikolai Volkov

    The Bofors Gun (1968) as Sgt. Walker

    Hammerhead (1968) as Hammerhead

    A Twist of Sand (1968) as Johann

    Alfred the Great (1969) as Burrud

    Taste of Excitement (1970) as Inspector Malling

    Eyewitness (1970) as Paul Grazzini

    Straw Dogs (1971) as Tom Hedden

    The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971, TV Series) as Horace Dorrington

    The Pied Piper (1972) as Bishop

    Savage Messiah (1972) as Museum Attendant

    A Warning to the Curious (1972) as Mr Paxton

    The Return (1973) as Steven Royds

    The Blockhouse (1973) as Aufret

    The MacKintosh Man (1973) as Brunskill

    Malachi's Cove (1973) as Mr. Gunliffe

    Massacre in Rome (1973) as Gen. Albert Kesselring

    Symptoms (1974) as Brady

    11 Harrowhouse (1974) as Coglin

    Intimate Reflections (1975) as Saleman

    Valentino (1977) as Rory O'Neil

    Zulu Dawn (1979) as Q.S.M. Bloomfield

    Porridge (1979) as Harry Grout

    Time Bandits (1981) as Winston the Ogre

    The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) as Mr. Freeman

    Coming Out of the Ice (1982) as Belov

    The Razor's Edge (1984) as Mackenzie

    Forbidden (1984) as Major Stauffel

    Brazil (1985) as Mr. Helpmann

    Sins (1986, TV miniseries) as Chief Prosecutor

    Monte Carlo (1986, TV miniseries) as Pabst

    Haunted Honeymoon (1986) as Francis Abbot Sr.

    Coast to Coast (1987) as The Chiropodist

    Countdown to War (1989) as Hermann Göring

    Mountains of the Moon (1990) as Lord Houghton

    King of the Wind (1990) as Captain

    Prisoner of Honor (1991) as Gen. Mercier

    Nightingales (1993) as William Stevens

    The Remains of the Day (1993) as William Stevens

    Fatherland (1994) as Nebe

    The Secret Agent (1996) as The Driver

    The Crucible (1996) as Giles Corey

    Our Friends in the North (1996) as Felix Hutchinson

    The Moonstone (1997) as Gabriel Betterege

    Face (1997) as Sonny

    Our Mutual Friend (1998, TV Mini-Series) as Mr. Boffin

    Les misérables (1998) as the Bishop

    The Legend of 1900 (1998) as 'Pops', the Shopkeeper

    The Good Son (1998) as Mick Doyle

    An Ideal Husband (1999) as Phipps

    Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War (1999, TV Movie) as Admiral Lord Hood

    Canone inverso – Making Love (2000) as Old Baron Blau

    Longitude (2000) as George Graham

    The 10th Kingdom (2000) as Wilfred Peep

    Hotel Splendide (2000) as Morton Blanche

    Second Sight (2000, TV Series) as Harold King (guest appearance, episode Kingdom of the Blind)

    Kiss Kiss (2001) as Daddy Zoo

    The Jury (2002, TV Series) as Michael Colchester

    The Mother (2003) as Toots

    Thursday the 12th (2003, TV movie) as Edgar Bannister

    The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004) as Bill Sellers

    The Queen of Sheba's Pearls (2004) as Edward Pretty

    Heartbeat 2005 as Mr. Andrews

    Care (2006) as Archie

    Death at a Funeral (2007) as Uncle Alfie

    Lark Rise to Candleford (2008-2011, TV Series) as Reverend Ellison

    Is Anybody There? (2008) as Bob

    Doc Martin (2011, TV Series) as William Newcross (guest appearance)

    Silk (2011, TV Series) as Michael Dodd (guest appearance)

    Albatross (2011) as Grandpa

    Game of Thrones (2011-2015, TV Series) as Maester Aemon (11 episodes; recurring) (final role)