Dominic Guard

British actor, writer and psychologist

Dominic Guard
Born	(1956-06-18) 18 June 1956 (age 67) London, England, UK
Occupation(s)	Actor, author, child psychotherapist
Years active	1969–2000
Parent(s)	Charlotte Mitchell (mother) Philip Guard (father)
Relatives	Christopher Guard (brother) Pippa Guard (cousin)

Dominic Guard (born 18 June 1956) is an English child psychotherapist and author, formerly an actor.

Early life

Guard was born in London on 18 June 1956. His father, Philip Guard, was an English stage actor, his mother, Charlotte Mitchell, an actress and poet. His older brother Christopher, also an actor, was born in 1953. His parents separated when he was twelve. As a 14-year-old, in The Go-Between (1971), Guard played Leo Colston, the title character who runs messages between two secret lovers and has a momentous 13th birthday.^[1] For his performance he won a BAFTA award in 1971 as Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. The film won the Palme d'Or, the main prize at the Cannes film festival.

Adult actor

Guard later appeared in Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) with Richard Chamberlain, Absolution (1978) alongside Richard Burton and Billy Connolly,^[2] Gandhi (1982), and in P. D. James's An Unsuitable Job for a Woman alongside his cousin Pippa Guard.^[3]

In 1978 Guard voiced the role of Pippin in an animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. His brother Christopher Guard starred alongside him in the film, voicing Frodo Baggins. On stage he played Christopher in a 1982 production of The Jeweller's Shop by Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II, at the Westminster Theatre, and appeared in a guest role in the 1983 Doctor Who story Terminus. He continued acting regularly until 2000.

Later career

Guard is now a fully accredited child psychotherapist living in London and has written more than ten books for children,^[4] including "Little Box of Mermaid Treasures", "Pirate Fun", "The Dragon Master's Tale", and "Secrets of the Fairy Ring".

Personal life

Guard is the father of two children with the actress Sharon Duce, with whom he appeared in Absolution (1978).^[5]

Work

Films

The Go-Between (1971) - Leo Colston
The Nelson Affair (1973) - George Matcham Jr.^[6]
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) - Michael Fitzhubert
The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) - Albert Mondego
The Lord of the Rings (1978) - Pippin Took
Absolution (1978) - Benjamin Stanfield
One Fine Day (1979) - Rycroft
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1982) - Andrew Lunn
Gandhi (1982) - Subaltern
L' Homme qui a perdu son ombre (The Man who Lost his Shadow) (1991) - Paul^[7]

Television

The Hands of Cormac Joyce (Hallmark Hall of Fame) (1972) - Jackie Joyce^[8]
How Green Was My Valley (1976) - Huw Morgan
Maybury (1981) - Colin Gilbert
Cousin Phillis (1982) - Paul Manning
Terminus (Doctor Who) (1983) - Olvir
The Hello Goodbye Man (1984) - Glen Harris
A Woman of Substance (1985) - Winston Harte
Big Deal (series 3) 'Playing the ace' & 'The biggest deal' (1986) - Simon
All Creatures Great and Small S7.Ep4 'A Friend for Life' (1990) - Peter Shadwell
The Bill - S7.Ep79 'Friday and Counting' (1991) - Robin Granger
Casualty - S6.E15 'Cascade' (1992) - Tim Turner
The Gingerbread Girl (1993) - David
The Bill - S10.Ep71 'Lesson to be Learned' (1994) - Vernon Meredith
Casualty - S10.E11 'Release' (1995) - Philip Hall
Wycliffe - S2.Ep6 Happy Families (1995) - Mick Brandon
The Bill - S12.Ep147 'Black Money' (1996) - Tony Baker
Annie's Bar (1996) - Alistair Read
Poirot - S7.Ep2 Lord Edgware Dies (2000) - Bryan Martin

References

^ Canby, Vincent (30 July 1971). "Views of a Freudian Classic and an Arctic Adventure" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
^ James, Caryn (1 July 1988). "A Bit of Burton's Legacy". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
^ Maslin, Janet (26 April 1985). "Unsuitable Job for a Woman". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
^ "Certificate in Therapeutic Play". Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education. Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
^ Harvey Fenton, David Flint, Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films of the 1970s (FAB, 2001), p. 288
^ Canby, Vincent (19 April 1973). "Genteel 'Nelson Affair' Opens" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
^ Clarke Fountain. "L' Homme qui a perdu son ombre (1991)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
^ O'Connor, John J. (18 November 1972). "Irish Island Drama is No. 100 on 'Hall of Fame'" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2013. The actors were all impressive, especially young Mr. Guard, who provided an attractively lean performance in a role that could have easily been overstuffed with theatrics.