Donald Sumpter

Acting

Donald Sumpter

Born 1943-02-13 · Brixworth, Northamptonshire, England, UK

Donald Sumpter (born 13 February 1943) is an English actor. He has appeared in film and television since the mid-1960s. One of his early television appearances was the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Wheel in Space with Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. He appeared in Doctor Who again in the 1972 serial The Sea Devils with Jon Pertwee. He also appeared in the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. His early film work included a lead role as real life British criminal Donald Neilson in the 1977 film, The Black Panther. He also appeared in many television films and serials, including adaptations of Dickens' novels: Nicholas Nickleby in 2001, Great Expectations in 1999 and Bleak House in 1985. Also in 1985, he was remembered for the part of villain Ronnie Day in Big Deal. He played the part of suspected serial killer Alexander Bonaparte Cust in the (1992) Agatha Christie's Poirot episode, The ABC Murders. He has also appeared in episodes of Midsomer Murders, The Bill, Holby City, and A Touch of Frost. He also had a recurring role as Uncle Ginger in the Children's BBC series The Queen's Nose. He played Harold Chapple in Our Friends in the North, and portrayed the physicist Max Planck in Einstein and Eddington. He has also been seen as Kemp in the horror-drama series Being Human. In 2011 he portrayed Maester Luwin in the HBO series Game of Thrones. His film appearances include The Constant Gardener (2005), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), Enigma (2001) and Ultramarines: The Movie (2010).

Acting credits

The Phoenician Scheme poster
6.5

Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

The Phoenician Scheme

2025

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo poster
7.4

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist investigates the disappearance of a weary patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. He is aided by the pierced, tattooed, punk computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander. As they work together in the investigation, Blomkvist and Salander uncover immense corruption beyond anything they have ever imagined.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2011

In the Heart of the Sea poster
6.8

In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex is assaulted by something no one could believe—a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance.

In the Heart of the Sea

2015

Eastern Promises poster
7.3

A Russian teenager living in London dies during childbirth but leaves clues in her diary that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

Eastern Promises

2007

K-19: The Widowmaker poster
6.6

When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

K-19: The Widowmaker

2002

The Constant Gardener poster
7.0

Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife Tessa is killed he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy.

The Constant Gardener

2005

Curse of the Pink Panther poster
4.6

Inspector Clouseau disappears, and the Surete wants the world's second best detective to look for him. However, Clouseau's enemy, Dreyfus, rigs the Surete's computer to select, instead, the world's WORST detective, NYPD Sgt. Clifton Sleigh. Sleigh obtusely bungles his way past assassins and corrupt officials as though he were Clouseau's American cousin.

Curse of the Pink Panther

1983

London Boulevard poster
5.9

A parolee falls for a reclusive movie star while trying to evade a ruthless gangster.

London Boulevard

2010

The Man Who Invented Christmas poster
6.8

In 1843, despite the fact that Dickens is a successful writer, the failure of his latest book puts his career at a crossroads, until the moment when, struggling with inspiration and confronting reality with his childhood memories, a new character is born in the depths of his troubled mind; an old, lonely, embittered man, so vivid, so human, that a whole world grows around him, a story so inspiring that changed the meaning of Christmas forever.

The Man Who Invented Christmas

2017

Being Human poster
5.1

One man must learn the meaning of courage across four lifetimes centuries apart.

Being Human

1994

Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie poster
5.8

A squad of Ultramarines answer a distress call from an Imperial Shrine World. A full Company of Imperial Fists was stationed there, but there is no answer from them. The squad investigates to find out what has happened there.

Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie

2010

Richard III poster
6.8

Having helped his brother King Edward IV take the throne of England, the jealous hunchback Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plots to seize power for himself. Masterfully deceiving and plotting against nearly everyone in the royal court, including his eventual wife, Lady Anne, and his brother George, Duke of Clarence, Richard orchestrates a bloody rise to power before finding all his gains jeopardized by those he betrayed.

Richard III

1995

Into the Storm poster
6.4

This powerful follow-up to “The Gathering Storm” follows Churchill from 1940 to 1945 as he guided his beleaguered nation through the crucible of the war years--even as his marriage was encountering its own struggles.

Into the Storm

2009

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead poster
6.9

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, minor characters from the play 'Hamlet', find themselves on the road to Elsinore Castle at the behest of the King of Denmark. The duo encounter a band of players before arriving to find that they are needed to try to discern what troubles the prince Hamlet. Meanwhile, they ponder the meaning of their existence.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

1991

Einstein and Eddington poster
6.8

Brilliant physicist Albert Einstein, and English scientist Arthur Eddington form an unlikely friendship during World War I, which leads to the creation of the relativity theory.

Einstein and Eddington

2008

Sunday Bloody Sunday poster
6.5

Recently divorced career woman Alex Greville begins a romantic relationship with glamorous mod artist Bob Elkin, fully aware that he's also intimately involved with middle-aged doctor Daniel Hirsh. For both Alex and Daniel, the younger man represents a break with their repressive pasts, and though both know that Bob is seeing both of them, neither is willing to let go of the youth and vitality he brings to their otherwise stable lives.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

1971

Enigma poster
6.3

The story of the WWII project to crack the code behind the Enigma machine, used by the Germans to encrypt messages sent to their submarines.

Enigma

2001

Les Misérables poster
7.1

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

Les Misérables

1978

Limonov: The Ballad poster
6.4

A revolutionary militant, a thug, an underground writer, a butler to a millionaire in Manhattan. But also a switchblade-waving poet, a lover of beautiful women, a warmonger, a political agitator, and a novelist who wrote of his greatness. Eduard Limonov’s life story is a journey through Russia, America, and Europe during the second half of the 20th century.

Limonov: The Ballad

2024

Time Trouble poster
NR

A child chess prodigy from Liverpool plays the Russian world champion, at a time of crisis in both their lives.

Time Trouble

1985

The Walking Stick poster
7.0

A young woman's highly ordered and structured life is turned upside-down when she meets a handsome stranger at a party. Friendship soon develops into romance and for the first time in her life she is truly happy. This happiness is short lived, however, as little by little she discovers her partner has been lying to her about his past. It is soon revealed that he and his friends have been planning to rob the auction house that she works for and they require her inside knowledge in order to pull off the crime.

The Walking Stick

1970

Hardcore poster
3.8

Aka Hardcore, aka Frankly Fiona. The heavily fictionalised fantastical autobiography of the fantastic 70s sex superstar Fiona Richmond, played by Fiona herself!

Hardcore

1977

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby poster
7.6

A young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-hearted, grasping uncle.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

2001

The Murder at Road Hill House poster
6.2

In 1860, Inspector Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard is sent to rural Wiltshire to investigate the murder of the three-year-old boy Saville Kent, who was snatched from his bed at night and murdered.

The Murder at Road Hill House

2011