English actor Benedict Cumberbatch, CBE, is celebrating his 45th birthday today. The star of Sherlock and Dr. Strange was born 19 July 1976 in London, England. The odds are good that within twenty years it will be Sir Benedict. He is one of the most popular actors on either side of the Atantic.
Hardly surprising, given his mother actress Wanda Ventham, played Colonel Virginia Lake in UFO, and appeared as a guest star on Dr. Who three times. His father, Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch, played le Comte de Beaulieu in the 1982 adaptation of The Scarlet Pimpernal and appeared in High Road to China (1983).
Benedict “Cumberbatch has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Frankenstein and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Sherlock. His performance in The Imitation Game [as Alan Turing] earned him nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen actors Guild Award andn Globe Award, all for Best Actor in a Leading Role. For playing the title role in five-part drama miniseries Patrick Melrose, he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Cumberbatch has played the title role in Hamlet on stage and in a TV mini-series. in the popular mini-series Good Omens, he played Satan. In Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, Cumberbatch voiced Shere Khan the tiger. He voiced the Grinch in the 2018 remake of The Grinch. He also voiced Smaug in Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit movies. In Star Trek Into Darkness, Cumberbatch played Khan, the role originally brought to life by Ricardo Montalban. He’s played Dr. Hawking twice, in Hawking (2004) and Stephen Hawking’s Universe (2010).
He’s been nominated for two Saturn Awards, eight BAFTAs, and seven Emmies… so far. We wish him a very happy 45th birthday.
Break a leg, Benedict Cumberbatch. We look forward to enjoying your performances for decades to come.
Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
