Hugh Keays-Byrne

Born: 1947-05-18

Hugh Keays-Byrne (18 May 1947 – 2 December 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.


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Mad Max: Fury Road

as Immortan Joe
Released: 2015-05-13

An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape...

Movie page

Mad Max

as Toecutter
Released: 1979-04-12

In the ravaged near-future, a savage motorcycle gang rules the road. Terrorizing innocent...

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Sleeping Beauty

as Man 3
Released: 2011-06-10

A haunting erotic fairytale about Lucy, a young University student drawn into a mysterious...

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Where the Green Ants Dream

as Mining Executive
Released: 1984-08-31

The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green...

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The Chain Reaction

as Eagle
Released: 1980-09-25

Contaminated by a nuclear-plant spill, an Australian worker hides with a woman and tries to warn...

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The Blood of Heroes

as Lord Vlle
Released: 1989-10-19

Set in a futuristic world where the only sport that has survived in a wasted society is the...

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The Man from Hong Kong

as Morrie Grosse
Released: 1975-07-31

Australian authorities arrest a man believed to be connected to the Sydney criminal underworld...

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Mad Dog Morgan

as Simon
Released: 1976-07-09

The true story of Irish outlaw Daniel Morgan, who is wanted, dead or alive, in Australia during...

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Going Mad: The Battle of Fury Road

as Self
Released: 2017-08-01

For 20 years director George Miller fought to unleash the ultimate Mad Max movie- Mad Max: Fury...

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Burke & Wills

as Ambrose Kyte
Released: 1985-10-30

A story based on true events about two explorers on a doomed journey trying to cross Australia...

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Stone

as Toad
Released: 1974-01-02

After one of its members witnesses a political assassination, an outlaw motorbike gang becomes...

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For Love Alone

as Andrew
Released: 1986-05-22

Teresa is a spirited young girl chafing under the oppressive attitudes of 1930s society, and her...

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The Madness of Max

as Self
Released: 2015-08-01

The Madness of Max is a feature-length documentary on the making of arguably the most...

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Lorca and the Outlaws

as Danny
Released: 1984-12-13

Jowitt, a mercenary without recluse institutes a totalitarian regime in a small mining city of...

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Badlands 2005

as Moondance
Released: 1988-08-29

In 1995, a severe drought forced Americans to flee the West for the cities. Water became more...

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Snapshot

as Linsey
Released: 1979-06-01

A young hairdresser enters into the modeling world while fearing retaliation from her...

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Les Patterson Saves the World

as Inspector Farouk
Released: 1987-04-09

Fat middle aged 24/7 drunkard Les Patterson represents Australia at the UN where his fart...

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Blue Fin

as Stan
Released: 1978-12-01

Based on the children's novel by celebrated South Australian author 'Colin Thiele' , this is an...

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Resistance

as Peter
Released: 1992-01-01

Over the five days after a military coup, army troops arrive to enforce martial law and...

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Seven Friends: George Miller’s Justice League

as Self
Released:

Documentary chronicling director George Miller's unmade 2008 superhero movie Justice League Mortal.

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Kangaroo

as Kangaroo
Released: 1986-07-24

A mild-mannered English conscientious objector moves to what he feels will be the relative calm...

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Dadah Is Death

as Hammed
Released: 1988-10-23

On 9th of November 1983 two Australians, Kevin Barlow and Geoff Chambers were arrested at Penang...

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Treasure Island

as (voice)
Released: 1987-01-01

Young Jim Hawkins is caught up with the pirate Long John Silver in search of the buried treasure...

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Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars

as Grunchlk
Released: 2004-10-17

When the evil Scarran Empire initiates a great war, the Peacekeeper Alliance has only one hope:...

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Strikebound

as Idris Williams
Released: 1984-09-20

Via the New York Times: "...reconstructs the true story of a coal miners' strike in the small...

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Going Down

as Bottom
Released: 1983-07-01

Karli's over the Sydney scene and its small-pond bohemian excesses. That's why she's moving to...

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Barnaby and Me

as Huggins
Released: 1977-08-08

Barnaby and Me is a 1978 Australian TV movie about a girl and her talking koala who are pursued...

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The Death Train

as uncredited
Released: 1978-08-21

An insurance investigator comes to a small town to investigate the death of a man insured by his...

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Farscape

as Grunchlk
First aired: 1999-03-19

A freak accident during an experimental space mission catapults Astronaut John Crichton across a...

TV Show page

Journey to the Center of the Earth

as McNiff
First aired: 1999-09-14

Remake of Jules Verne's classic story finds adventurers seeking a mysterious hidden land. They...

TV Show page

Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars

as Grunchlk
First aired: 2004-10-17

When a full-scale war is engaged by the evil Scarran Empire, the Peacekeeper Alliance has but...

TV Show page

Moby Dick

as Mr. Stubb
First aired: 1998-03-15

The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive...

TV Show page