Byrne was born in London, England. He has sometimes been cast inNazimilitary roles such asColonel VogelinIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Major Schroeder inForce 10 from Navarone, Reinhard Beck inThe Scarlet and the Black, General Olbricht inThe Plot to Kill HitlerandObergruppenführerOdilo Globocnikin the BBC radio dramatisation of the novelFatherlandbyRobert Harris. Also seen as the aged but fanatical SS General Neurath in "Outpost 2 - Black Sun", former concentration camp commandant and involved in the Nazis's sinister reality-shifting experiments. Byrne appeared as a Jewish concentration camp survivor who is instrumental in the capture of a Nazi war criminal (played byIan McKellen) in the filmApt Pupil. He is also familiar to audiences as Smythe, a soldier who attempts to rape William Wallace's wife and first inspires Wallace to seek independence from England in the filmBraveheart. His other film credits includeThe Eagle Has Landed,A Bridge Too Far,The Medusa Touch,The Saint,Tomorrow Never Dies,The Good Father,The Sum of All Fears,Gangs of New YorkandHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. On television, he has appeared inZ-Cars,Secret Army,Tales of the Unexpected,The Professionals,The Devil's Crown,Smiley's People,Yes, Prime Minister,Lord Mountbatten - the Last Viceroy,Between The Lines,Sharpe,The Mists of Avalon,Waking the Dead,The Body Farm,Honest,Hamish Macbeth, andCasualty. From April 2008 to January 2010, Michael starred inCoronation Street, asTed Page,Gail Platt's long lost father and the ex-lover of Audrey Roberts. It is not known whether he will return to the show. Byrne appeared inState of Playat theEdinburgh Festivalwritten by Zia Trench. He played Romeo toSiân Phillips' Juliet at theBristol Old Vic. Father of actressAllie Byrne.
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