Ben Cross - Early Work

Early Work

Cross initially worked in various jobs including work as a window cleaner, waiter and joiner. He was master carpenter for the Welsh National Opera and property master at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.

In 1970 at the age of 22, he was accepted into London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) - the alma mater of actors such as John Gielgud, Glenda Jackson and Anthony Hopkins, but later expressed little interest in pursuing the classical route.

After graduation from RADA, Cross performed in several stage plays at Duke's Playhouse where he was seen in Macbeth, The Importance of Being Earnest and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He then joined the Prospect Theatre Company and played roles in Pericles, Twelfth Night, and Royal Hunt of the Sun. Cross also joined the cast in the immensely popular musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and played leading roles in Sir Peter Shaffer's Equus, Mind Your Head and the musical Irma La Douce – all at Leicester's Haymarket Theatre.

Cross's first big screen film appearance came in 1976 when he went on location to Deventer, Netherlands, to play Trooper Binns in Joseph E. Levine's World War II epic A Bridge Too Far which starred an international cast, including Dirk Bogarde, Sean Connery, Michael Caine and James Caan.

In 1977, Cross became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and performed in the premier of Privates on Parade as "Kevin Cartwright" and played Rover in a revival of a Restoration play titled Wild Oats.

Cross's path to international stardom began in 1978 with his performance in the play Chicago in which he played Billy Flynn, the slick lawyer of murderess Roxie Hart.