Alexander Morton

Alexander "Sandy" Morton (born 24 March 1945 in Glasgow) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for his roles as Andy Semple in Take The High Road, Golly MacKenzie in Monarch of the Glen and Billy Kennedy in River City.

This article is about the actor. For the footballer, see Alexander Morten.

Alexander Morton
Born (1945-03-24) 24 March 1945
Glasgow, Scotland
NationalityScottish
OccupationActor
Spouse(s)Jane Morton

Acting career

Morton trained in London at the Central School of Speech and Drama from 1965–68 and is well known for his roles in several leading drama series, such as Taggart, Second Sight, Between the Lines, Minder, and Casualty; movies such as Croupier and London to Brighton; and single dramas The One That Got Away (1996), Looking After Jo Jo (1998), and The Man-Eating Wolves of Gysinge (2005).

He is best known for playing the ghillie Golly Mackenzie in the BBC TV series Monarch of the Glen (2000–2005, appearing in all 64 episodes), and before that made regular appearances over the 1980s and 1990s as the evil Andy Semple in Scottish soap Take the High Road.

Highlights of his stage career include a Scots rendition of Shakespeare's Macbeth and R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, both directed by Robert Carlyle, who was a founder member, with Morton, of the Raindog Theatre Company in the 1990s. Morton also worked regularly with theatre companies 7:84 and Borderline, and has appeared at the Traverse, the Lyceum, the Bush, the Royal Court, in repertory all over the UK, as well as regular appearances in pantomime, notably at Glasgow's King's Theatre.

In 2006, Morton played the Prince of Darkness in the BBC radio adaptation of Dracula (Voyage of the Demeter, 2006). He was also the first actor to play Detective Inspector John Rebus in the first adaptation of Ian Rankin's Rebus series of books. He regularly provides voices for video games, including Heavenly Sword, The Witcher series (as Zoltan Chivay) and Viking: Battle for Asgard. From 2012–2015, Morton played Criminal Billy Kennedy in Scottish soap opera River City. The character of Billy Kennedy was briefly reprised in January 2016. Fellow Scottish actor Jon Morrison took over the role from Morton.

He has been involved in numerous albums by the Swiss Celtic / Melodic Death Metal band Eluveitie

Personal life

Morton has been married three times, and has a child – Kerry (b. 1970) and Jamie (b. 1980) – from each of his first two marriages. His first wife was Pam Scotcher;[1] his second was Denise; and his third is Jane, whom he met before filming for Monarch of the Glen got underway. She was his landlady while he was doing television work in London, where they now live with her children.[2][3]

Film and television credits
  • 1971: Get Carter - Hubert
  • 1979: Play for Today (TV): Ploughman's Share - Dave
  • 1980-1994: Take the High Road (TV soap) - Andy Semple
  • 1981: Play for Today (TV): The Good Time Girls - Alec Park
  • 1984: Minder (TV series): Windows - Alex
  • 1985: Taggart (TV series): Dead Ringer - David Balfour
  • 1986: Dramarama – Waiting for Elvis (1986)
  • 1987: First Sight (TV series) - Frank Riley
  • 1987: Bookie (TV series) - Ross
  • 1989: Winners and Losers
  • 1990: Silent Scream - Don Winters
  • 1992: Rab C. Nesbitt (TV series) - Police Inspector Mccrae
  • 1992-1994: Firm Friends (TV sitcom) - D.I. Hogg
  • 1993: Between the Lines (TV series) - Superintendent Tyrell
  • 1993: Taggart (TV series): Death Benefits - John Fraser
  • 1994: Screen Two: Men of the Month (TV play) - James
  • 1994: Jolly a Man for All Seasons - Police Sergeant Watson
  • 1994: Crime Story - John McVicar
  • 1994: The Tales of Para Handy - John Cruickshank
  • 1996: Bad Boys - Dick
  • 1996: The One that Got Away - Big Bob (credited as Sandy Morton)
  • 1996: Nightlife (TV movie) - D.C.Dave
  • 1997: Looking After Jo Jo - DS Alistair Wright
  • 1997: Bombay Blue - Jack Grey
  • 1997: Love Me Tender (TV movie) - Tommy
  • 1998: Croupier - David Reynolds
  • 1999-2000: Second Sight (TV series) - DS Julian
  • 1999: Life Support - Alan Carswell
  • 2000-2005: Monarch of the Glen - Golly Mackenzie (in every episode)
  • 2003: Dead Simple - Victor
  • 2005: The Man-Eating Wolves of Gysinge (TV movie) - Malmberg Nilsson
  • 2006-2008: Casualty (TV series)
  • 2006: London to Brighton - Duncan Allen
  • 2007: Kitchen (TV movie) - Mr. Glasgow
  • 2009: Valhalla Rising - Chieftain Barde
  • 2010: Taggart: The Rapture - James Hardie
  • 2010: Luther (TV series) - Bill Winingham
  • 2012-2015: River City (Soap opera) - Billy Kennedy
  • 2013: Shetland (TV series) - Joseph Wilson

Selected theatre credits
Selected stage productions
Year Play Role Notes
1976 An Me Wi a Bad Leg Tae Peter Original production of Billy Connolly's first play, directed by Stuart Mungall
1979 Slab Boys Trilogy Mr. Curry/Workman John Byrne's critically acclaimed series of stage plays
1984 William Wallace William Wallace Borderline Theatre Company, Directed by Stuart Mungall.
1985 The Bruce Robert the Bruce Edinburgh Festival
1986 Robert Burns Robert Burns By Joe Corrie, Scottish Theatre Company; Directed by David Hayman
1986 The Gorbals Story Peter O'Reilly By Robert Mcleish. 7:84 Theatre Co. Directed by David Hayman
1989 The Sash William MacWilliam By Hector MacMillan. 7:84 Theatre Co. Directed by Gerard Kelly
1991 Red Riding Hood: The Sequel Wolverine Directed by Andy Gray.
1991 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest R.P.McMurphy Raindog Theatre Company. Directed by Robert Carlyle
1992 Macbeth: In the Scots Tongue Macbeth Raindog Theatre Company. Best Director Award: Robert Carlyle
1994 Dick Wittington King Rat With Christopher Biggins. King's Theatre, Glasgow
1995 Follow Follow: The Rangers Story Max Factor King's Theatre Glasgow/Glasgow Rangers FC; Directed by Ron Bain
1996 The Architect Leo Black Directed by Philip Howard, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
1998 Buried Treasure Frank McCoig Directed by Robin Lefevre, Lyric Theatre, London

Radio credits
Selected BBC Radio plays
Year Title Role Notes
1982 The Thirty Nine Steps Franklin P. Scudder Considered the most faithful adaptation of John Buchan's book.
1988 Death of a Fly Alec Bodine Murder mystery told from the perspective of a fly.
1995 The Serpent's Back Cully First adaptation of Ian Rankin's Cully series
1998 Tunes of Glory Basil Barrow
1999 Let It Bleed DI John Rebus First adaptation of Ian Rankin's Rebus books
2004 Dr Korczak's Example Dr. Janusz Korczak BBC Radio 4 Saturday Play directed by Lu Kemp
2005 The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch[4] Swatchell BBC Radio 3 The Wire directed by Lu Kemp
2007 Voyage of the Demeter Count Dracula Morton offers a terrifying rendition of the Prince of Darkness
2008 They Have Oak Trees in North Carolina[5] Ray BBC Radio 4 Friday Play directed by Gaynor Macfarlane
2011 Occupation[6] Kenny Gall BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play directed by Gaynor Macfarlane
gollark: You can get these "M-disc" blu-rays which are claimed to be able to survive a thousand years, but this is kind of impossible to test.
gollark: 10000 or so.
gollark: It would be hard to kill *everyone*.
gollark: Humans have weathered ridiculous population bottlenecks before.
gollark: Probably the best thing is certain kinds of optical storage, or just chiselling it into big stone tablets.

References
  1. Pam Scotcher IMDb
  2. "BBC - Press Office - Monarch of the Glen Press Pack", 30 October 2005
  3. "Times change, the struggle continues", The Guardian, 9 April 2003
  4. BBC – The Wire – The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch
  5. BBC – Friday Play – They Have Oak Trees in North Carolina
  6. BBC – Afternoon Play – Occupation
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