Hugh Keays-Byrne
Date of birth: 1947-05-18
Place of birth: Kashmir, India
Known for: Acting
Also known as: هیو کیز-برن
Biography
Hugh Keays-Byrne (May 18, 1947 – December 2, 2020) was a British-Australian actor and film director. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was best known for playing the main antagonist in two films from the Mad Max franchise: Toecutter in Mad Max (1979), and Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). He also played Toad in the 1974 biker film Stone, and Grunchlk on the science fiction series Farscape. Keays-Byrne was born in Srinagar, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (part of the British Raj then, India now) to British parents; his family returned to Britain when India was partitioned. He began his career as a stage actor. Keays-Byrne made his first television appearance in 1967 on the British television programme Boy Meets Girl. He was part of Peter Brook's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which toured Australia in 1973. Keays-Byrne decided to remain in Australia after the tour ended. In 1974, he acted in the TV movie Essington, then made his first film appearance in the motorcycle picture Stone (1974). This was followed by supporting roles in films like The Man from Hong Kong (1975), Mad Dog Morgan (1976), The Trespassers (1976) and Snapshot (1979). After his first starring role in the 1978 TV movie Death Train, Keays-Byrne was cast as the violent gang leader Toecutter in Mad Max (1979). Director George Miller had Keays-Byrne and the other actors for the gang travel from Sydney to Melbourne in a group on motorcycles, as there was no money for airplane tickets. In an early international print of the film, Keays-Byrne was dubbed with a bad American accent, which Miller later regretted. Keays-Byrne then continued to act in post-apocalyptic and science fiction films like The Chain Reaction (1980), Strikebound (1984), Starship (1985) and The Blood of Heroes (1989). In 1992, he made his directorial debut and acted in the film Resistance. He also appeared in TV miniseries adaptations of Moby Dick (1998) and Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1999). Keays-Byrne played Grunchlk in the science fiction television series Farscape (1999–2003) and its conclusion Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004). George Miller also cast him as the Martian Manhunter in the planned 2009 movie Justice League: Mortal. Keays-Byrne returned to the Mad Max franchise in the 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road as the main villain Immortan Joe. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning 6, and Keays-Byrne was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain. Description above from the Wikipedia article Hugh Keays-Byrne, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movie Credits
The Man from Hong Kong
1975-07-31
Australian authorities arrest a man believed to be connected to the Sydney criminal underworld and s
Mad Max
1979-04-12
In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent civilians
Stone
1974-01-02
After one of its members witnesses a political assassination, an outlaw motorbike gang becomes the t
The Chain Reaction
1980-09-25
Contaminated by a nuclear-plant spill, an Australian worker hides with a woman and tries to warn the
Blue Fin
1978-12-01
Based on the children's novel by celebrated South Australian author 'Colin Thiele' , this is an emot
Lorca and the Outlaws
1984-12-13
Jowitt, a mercenary without recluse institutes a totalitarian regime in a small mining city of an ar
Snapshot
1979-06-01
A young hairdresser enters into the modeling world while fearing retaliation from her puritanical mo
Strikebound
1984-09-20
Via the New York Times: "...reconstructs the true story of a coal miners' strike in the small town o
Burke & Wills
1985-10-30
A story based on true events about two explorers on a doomed journey trying to cross Australia on fo
Les Patterson Saves the World
1987-04-09
Fat middle aged 24/7 drunkard Les Patterson represents Australia at the UN where his fart literally
The Trespassers
1976-08-18
In 1970, political journalist Richard lives with Penny but is having an affair with actress Dee. The
Polly My Love
1975-06-01
An Australian-set romance starring Jacki Weaver.
For Love Alone
1986-05-22
Teresa is a spirited young girl chafing under the oppressive attitudes of 1930s society, and her fat
The Death Train
1978-08-21
An insurance investigator comes to a small town to investigate the death of a man insured by his com
Barnaby and Me
1977-08-08
Barnaby and Me is a 1978 Australian TV movie about a girl and her talking koala who are pursued by c
Mad Max: Fury Road
2015-05-13
An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where hu
Dadah Is Death
1988-10-23
On 9th of November 1983 two Australians, Kevin Barlow and Geoff Chambers were arrested at Penang Air
Treasure Island
1987-01-01
Young Jim Hawkins is caught up with the pirate Long John Silver in search of the buried treasure of
Mad Dog Morgan
1976-07-09
The true story of Irish outlaw Daniel Morgan, who is wanted, dead or alive, in Australia during the
The Blood of Heroes
1989-10-19
Set in a futuristic world where the only sport that has survived in a wasted society is the brutal g
Voyage au centre de la terre
1999-01-01
Where the Green Ants Dream
1984-08-31
The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants
Going Down
1983-07-01
Middle-class Karli, alcoholic Jane, unemployed Jackie, and square Ellen are four friends living toge
Badlands 2005
1988-08-29
In 1995, a severe drought forced Americans to flee the West for the cities. Water became more precio
Kangaroo
1986-07-24
A mild-mannered English conscientious objector moves to what he feels will be the relative calm of A
Going Mad: The Battle of Fury Road
2017-08-01
For 20 years director George Miller fought to unleash the ultimate Mad Max movie - Mad Max: Fury Roa
Sleeping Beauty
2011-06-10
A haunting erotic fairytale about Lucy, a young University student drawn into a mysterious hidden wo
The Madness of Max
2015-08-01
The Madness of Max is a feature-length documentary on the making of arguably the most influential mo
Resistance
1992-01-01
Over the five days after a military coup, army troops arrive to enforce martial law and encounter a
Huntsman 5.1
1999-01-01
A university student is suddenly attacked by a tactical squad. After blacking out, he resumes consci
It’s a Mad Max World
2025-06-22
Emerging from the depths of the film industry, the Mad Max saga became an instant cult classic after
Ginger Meggs
1982-12-16
The escapades of Ginger Meggs, local larrikin. He's trying to win the heart of Minnie Peters, but th