The actor, who is about to star opposite Nicola Walker in new BBC drama Marriage, talks about chemistry, crying and being killed off
Sean Bean used to be known as an action hero – a gritty Hollywood hard man who usually died before the credits rolled. Yet the past decade has seen him become one of our most reliably excellent dramatic actors: a tender, terrific performer with multiple awards to show for it.
Now 63, he trained as a welder in his home city of Sheffield before discovering acting, winning a scholarship to Rada in London and becoming a member of the RSC in 1986. He found mainstream fame in the 90s as the swashbuckling hero of ITV’s period action romp Sharpe. His film roles have included a terrorist in Patriot Games, a James Bond villain in GoldenEye and Boromir in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. On TV he has starred as Mellors in the BBC’s 1993 adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Mr Wilford in current dystopian drama Snowpiercer and Ned Stark in Game of Thrones.
