Biography

English stage and screen character actor, born in Coventry, the son of Charles Beckingham Piff and his wife Frances (née Petty). He was educated at Warwick School and Birmingham University and first studied dental surgery before joining RADA. He graduated in 1957 and made his stage debut the following year with the Belgrade Theatre Company in Coventry. In 1963, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where his key portrayals included Octavius in Julius Caesar, the Duke of Clarence in Richard III, Shylock's comical servant Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice and Pyotr Dobchinsky in The Government Inspector. From 1967 to 1970, Kay was engaged at the National Theatre and later also appeared frequently on the West End stage and at Birmingham Rep. He declared his favorite theatrical role (in 1975) to have been that of playboy Lord Fancourt 'Babbs' Babberly in the farce Charley's Aunt. In 1986, Kay won a Clarence Derwent Award as Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Tory MP Sir Charles Canteloupe in Waste.

On screen from 1958, Kay has essayed a long gallery of academics, judges and barristers, lords and princes, senior police officers, high ranking clergy, diplomats and politicians. As perhaps befitting a classically-trained thespian, he has tended to gravitate towards period drama. In addition to recreating his stage role as the Duke of Clarence for the mini-series The Wars of the Roses (1965), he appeared as Prince of Aragon in The Merchant of Venice (1973), Tsar Nicholas II in the excellent Fall of Eagles (1974), the parliamentarian general Sir Thomas Fairfax in the anthology series Churchill's People (1974), Roman senator Gaius Asinius Gallus in I, Claudius (1976), French King Louis VII in The Devil's Crown (1978), Count Franz Orsini-Rosenberg in Amadeus (1984) and the Archbishop of Canterbury in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V (1989) .

Diverse other roles of note have been in mainstream TV dramas like Bergerac (1981), Crown Court (1972), Minder (1979) , Rumpole of the Bailey (1978), The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1991), The Darling Buds of May (1991), The Bill (1984), Midsomer Murders (1997) and Agatha Christie's Marple (2004).

Kay retired from acting in 2013.
- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis