Ronan Vibert obit

Ronan Vibert, ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ and ‘The Borgias’ Actor, Dies at 58

He also had roles on 'Carnival Row,' 'Penny Dreadful' and 'Rome,' along with appearing in acclaimed films 'Shadow of the Vampire' and 'The Pianist.' 

He was not on the list.

Ronan Vibert, an actor known for the fact-based roles of P.L. Travers’ publisher Diarmuid Russell in Saving Mr. Banks, Giovanni Sforza on Showtime’s The Borgias and Perry Cline on History’s Hatfields & McCoys, has died. He was 58.

Vibert died Thursday at a Florida hospital after a brief illness, his manager Sharon Vitro told The Hollywood Reporter. The exact nature of the illness was not specified.

He also recurred in television series including Carnival Row, Penny Dreadful, Rome and Waking the Dead, in addition to a number of stage and film credits.

Born in Cambridgeshire, England, on Feb. 23, 1964, Vibert lived in Penarth, South Wales, until attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Prominent early roles included three episodes on 1989’s acclaimed British miniseries Traffik, which served as the basis for Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning 2000 film Traffic.

Vibert scored a number of roles in the 1990s on British television programs, including episodes of Birds of a Feather, Lovejoy and Gimme Gimme Gimme. He then went on to appear in such films as Shadow of the Vampire (2000) opposite John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe, the Kirsten Dunst-starring The Cat’s Meow (2001) from director Peter Bogdanovich, Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning The Pianist (2002), the Angelina Jolie-led sequel Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) and the James Franco vehicle Tristan + Isolde (2006).

In John Lee Hancock’s Oscar-nominated Disney Studios drama Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Vibert played the publisher to Emma Thompson’s Mary Poppins author Travers as part of a cast that also included Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti and Bradley Whitford.

His most recent feature film roles came with two 2017 titles: the Michael Fassbender-led thriller The Snowman and the historical action flick 6 Days with Jamie Bell and Mark Strong. Other TV credits included The Alienist, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, NCIS: Los Angeles, Poirot, The Bill and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

 

Survivors include his wife, Jess Grand Vibert.

 

Filmography

 

Film and television

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1987    On the Black Hill            Jim Watkins           

1989    Traffik            Lee     

1990    Birds of a Feather            Martin            "Love on the Run"

1991    Van der Valk            Martin Lepweg            "Dangerous Games"

1992    Jeeves and Wooster            Wilmot, Lord Pershore ('Motty')            "Bertie Sets Sail"

1993            Lovejoy          Lindsey Parry Davies            "Second Fiddle"

1995    Cadfael            Le Gaucher            "The Virgin in the Ice"

The Buccaneers            Lord Richard Marabel          

1996    Tales from the Crypt              "Horror in the Night"

1998    Tale of the Mummy            Young 

1999    Gimme Gimme Gimme            Vince            "I Do, I Do, I Do"

Highlander: The Raven   Sir Trevor Benton            "The Frame"

1999–2000            The Scarlet Pimpernel            Maximilien Robespierre           

2000    The Mrs Bradley Mysteries            Douglas            "Laurels Are Poison"

Shadow of the Vampire            Muller 

2001    The Cat's Meow            Joseph Willicombe      

2002            Shearing          Stewart            short film

2002    The Pianist  Janina's Husband          

2002    The Princess and the Pea Laird   

2003    Keen Eddie   Craig Booth   "The Amazing Larry Dunn"

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life      MI6 Agent Calloway         

2004    London            Joseph Conrad

Gladiatress            Caesar

2005    Hex            Mephistopheles           

Waking The Dead    Dr Jonathan Lynch            "Subterraneans"

2006            Ultimate Force            Griffin            "Violent Solutions"

2006            Midsomer Murders            Giles Armitage            "Death in Chorus"

2007    Taggart            James Forsyth "Users and Losers"

Rome   Lepidus            "Philippi"

2008    The Sarah Jane Adventures            Professor Skinner            The Last Sontaran

2009    The Bill            Curtis Jensen 

Inspector Lewis   Simon Monkford            "The Quality of Mercy"

2010    The Last Seven            Isaac   

Agatha Christie's Poirot            Captain Dacres "Three Act Tragedy"

1066    Sweyn 

2011    The Borgias            Giovanni Sforza          

The Man Who Crossed Hitler            Walther Stennes           

2012            Hatfields & McCoys            Perry Cline   

2013    Saving Mr. Banks            Diarmuid Russell          

2013    New Tricks   Ray Barlow "Roots"

2014    Dracula Untold  Simion "The Wise"      

2015            Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell The Duke of Wellington       

2015    Penny Dreadful            Sir Geoffrey Hawkes            "The Nightcomers", "Little Scorpion"

2015    The Coroner            Gavin Drake   Series 1 Episode 3 "That's The Way To Do It"

2017    The Snowman            DCI Gunnar Hagen 

Radio

Radio

Year     Play            Role            Notes

2008    A Dance to the Music of Time            Peter Templer            BBC Radio 4