Bill Paterson (born 3 June 1945) is a
Scottish stage, film and television actor.
Early years
Born in
Glasgow,
Scotland, Paterson spent three years as a
quantity surveyor's apprentice, before attending the
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He made his professional acting debut in 1967, appearing alongside
Leonard Rossiter in
Bertolt Brecht's
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Glasgow
Citizens Theatre. In 1970, Paterson joined the Citizen's Theatre for Youth. He remained there as an actor and assistant director until 1972, when he left to appear with
Billy Connolly in
The Great Northern Welly Boot Show at the
Edinburgh Festival. Paterson would work with Connolly again, some years later, when he performed in Connolly's play
An Me Wi' a Bad Leg Tae.
Career
Paterson spent much of the 1970s in
John McGrath's theatre company,
84 touring the
United Kingdom and
Europe with plays such as
The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black Black Oil. He was a founding member of 7:84, and made his
London debut in 1976 with the company. He appeared in the Edinburgh Festival and London with
John Byrne's first play,
Writer's Cramp, and he first appeared in the
West End when he took over the lead role in
Whose Life Is It Anyway? at the
Savoy Theatre in 1979.
Paterson's career began to centre more on television than the theatre. His first appearances included the 1978
BAFTA award winning drama
Licking Hitler, and playing
King James in the UK television serial
Will Shakespeare the same...
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