Biography

Distinguished Irish character actor of stage and screen, one of two siblings born in Dublin to parents Eugene and Frances Norton. His parents were musically inclined, his father being a baritone, his mother a violinist. Jim first performed on radio at the age of ten. Having decided upon his career path after seeing Sur les quais... (1954) with Marlon Brando at a Dublin cinema, he made his professional acting debut aged twenty at the Gate Theatre in a production of A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O'Neill. Norton's career on the stage has since encompassed performances at the London Old Vic, the National Theatre and on Broadway, where he has starred In Finian's Rainbow (title character), The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Of Mice and Men and The Crucible. His collaborations with playwright Conor McPherson have included a Tony Award-winning performance in The Seafarer (his personal favorite role as the blind, cranky drunkard Richard Harkin).

On screen from 1965, Norton has often been cast as clerics, most notably in Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width (1967), Médecins de l'ordinaire (1993), and, as Bishop Brennan, in the popular sitcom Father Ted (1995). In his own right, he starred as a hardened veteran in People Like Us (1978), a 13-part drama series detailing the lives of a family in a fictional London suburb between the world wars. Norton has appeared in numerous TV shows and miniseries, including Colditz (1972) (Captain Porteous), La chute des aigles (1974) (Alexander Kerensky), Star Trek: La nouvelle génération (1987) (as a holographic Albert Einstein), Babylon 5 (1993) (Ombuds Wellington and Narn prophet G'Quan) and Elementary (2012) (SIS deputy chief Sir James Walter). Norton also portrayed an elderly Stan Laurel in a 2006 television biopic based on a radio play by Neil Brand. Other guest-starring roles have seen him in episodes of Van der Valk (1972), Minder (1979), Bizarre, bizarre (1979), La loi de Los Angeles (1986) and Inspecteur Barnaby (1997).

On the big screen, Norton essayed a rare villainous role as the giggling rat catcher Cawsey in Sam Peckinpah's violent thriller Les Chiens de paille (1971). He has played supporting roles in Alfred le Grand, vainqueur des Vikings (1969), Hidden Agenda - Secret défense (1990), Les Aventures d'un homme invisible (1992) (as an ill-fated scientist) and De l'eau pour les éléphants (2011) (as an alcoholic circus employee named 'Camel').

In 2004,, Norton made an unabridged recording of James Joyce's Ulysses (his personal favorite book) for Naxos Audio Books. Ten years later, he lent his voice to BBC 4 radio for the part of Death in Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Norton is married to a fellow Dubliner, the actress Mary Larkin.

- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis