Before Downton Abbey, Jim Carter had a long resume in movies and TV, including plenty of historical costume roles. He’s played serious and silly, good guys and bad guys, he has quite a range. Carter dropped out of university to join a theater group and never looked back — the only job he’s ever had has been as an actor. In 1982, Jim Carter met Imelda Staunton when they were both cast in Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre, and a year later, they married. Their daughter Bessie Carter is also an actor, currently playing Prudence Featherington in Bridgerton. Let’s take a look through Jim Carter’s frock flick history!
Senator in the front row of the Roman Senate (uncredited) in I, Claudius (1976)
Agamemnon in Aeschylus’ Oresteia (Tony Harrison Adaptation), the National Theatre (1983)
Inspector Noble in A Private Function (1984)
Blackie in Rustlers’ Rhapsody (1985)
Montego, the Magician, in Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
Inspector Crabb in Lost Empires (1986)
Mr. Marlow in The Singing Detective (1986)
Ellerbeck in A Month in the Country (1987)
Spencer in The Monocled Mutineer (1986)
Arthur Hughes in The First Kangaroos (1988)
Mr. Harby in The Rainbow (1989)
Sarn in Precious Bane (1989)
Colonel Mefisto Palomarez in Zorro (1990)
Sergo Ordzhonikidze in Stalin (1992)
Mathieu in The Advocate (1993)
John Manly in Black Beauty (1994)
Charles James Fox, Leader of the Opposition, in The Madness of King George (1994)
Albert Knox in “Sophie’s World,” The Late Show (1995)
Lord William Hastings in Richard III (1995)
George Lecky in Gentlemen Don’t Eat Poets (1995)
Lucien Galgani in Legionnaire (1998)
Ralph Bashford in Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Mr. Brehgert in The Way We Live Now (2001)
Etheridge in Hornblower: Duty (2003)
Pirithous in Helen of Troy (2003)
Polybius in Pompeii: The Last Day (2003)
Henry Dorling in The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton (2006)
Parslow in Creation (2009)
Captain Brown in Cranford (2007-10)
Barry in My Week With Marilyn (2011)
Charles Carson in Downton Abbey (2010-15)
Pope Boniface VIII in Knightfall (2017-19)
Charles Carson in Downton Abbey (2019)
Charles Carson in Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
Abacus Crunch in Wonka (2023)
What’s your favorite frock flick role by Jim Carter? Is it Mr. Carson or something else?
How fun that Jim and Imelda BOTH played ‘Nurse’ in ‘Shakespeare in Love’!
Cough cough cough…..
There’s a very narrow edging of gold Russia braid on that coat and waistcoat, and a gold lace binding on the brim of his tricorne hat: but 90% of the gold on those Zorro uniforms is embroidery. Very different!
FINE BRITISH GLARE –
I will concede Mr Carson the honour of ‘Top Butler’, but only because the peerless Mr Reginald Jeeves is technically a valet and the gallant Mr Alfred Pennyworth is more properly Mr Wayne’s major-domo,
That is all.
But what about Bunter?
And of course, Mr. Hudson (Gordon Jackson) in Upstairs Downstairs! (And he WAS a butler)
A ‘gentleman’s gentleman’, in other words a valet.
A great British character-actor face (and talent).
Modern movie, but he has a small part in The Good Liar, which is a great movie. He’s a grifter.
The first role I remember for Jim Carter is that of Déjà Vu in Top Secret! (1984). It’s a frock flick, kinda sorta maybe!
For those who have never seen the movie, Val Kilmer is a rock star, one of the first Americans to perform in East Germany. It begins as a somewhat contemporary flick (East Germany still existed!), but then he falls in love with a German woman and ends up fighting with the French Resistance, with everyone dressed in WWII era clothing. Déjà Vu, Chocolate Mousse, and Latrine are the most prominent members of the Resistance. As I said, it’s kinda sorta maybe a frock flick!
Brassed Off is post frock flicks but it’s pretty good.
Love him as Mr Carter, and I adore his eyebrows in that pic from Wonka!