Robin Ellis

Anthony Robin Ellis (born 8 January 1942) is a British actor and cookery book writer best known for his role as Captain Ross Poldark in the 29 episodes of the 1975 BBC classic series Poldark, adapted from a series of books by the British author Winston Graham. He also appeared in Fawlty Towers, Cluedo, The Good Soldier (an adaptation of the Ford Madox Ford novel), Elizabeth R (playing Essex), The Moonstone, Bel Ami, Sense and Sensibility (which also featured Clive Francis), The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, She Loves Me (in which he sings) and Blue Remembered Hills (written by Dennis Potter). In 2015–17 and 2019 he appeared in the Poldark series remake as Reverend Halse. Life and career Ellis was born in Ipswich, Suffolk. He was educated at the independent Highgate School in Highgate in north London, and at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge where he read history and appeared in over 20 plays. His first West End performance was in Sheridan's The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, as Captain Jack Absolute. He went on to play in The Real Inspector Hound at the Criterion Theatre and Widowers' Houses at the Royal Court. He was part of the innovative Actors' Company, founded in 1972 by Ian McKellen and Edward Petherbridge, organised and run democratically by the actors themselves. In that repertory company he appeared in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ruling the Roost, The Way of the World, The Wood Demon, The Bacchae, Tartuffe, King Lear and Knots (based on the R. D. Laing book). Ellis's big break came in 1975 with his first major role in a popular television series. He played the heart throb Ross Poldark in the BBC 1 series, Poldark. In 1969, he played Ames in the film Arthur? Arthur!. Ellis co-starred with Lee Remick in the Merchant Ivory film The Europeans (1979), based on the novel by Henry James, playing the role of John Acton. Ellis appeared in the CBS mini-series The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (playing Howard Carter, the Englishman who discovered the tomb of King Tut), in the British TV drama Heartbeat and in a BBC adaptation of A Dark-Adapted Eye (1994) a psychological thriller written by Ruth Rendell.