James Laurenson

James Laurenson (born 17 February 1940) is a New Zealand actor, who has performed many classical roles on stage and television.

Laurenson was born in Marton, New Zealand. He relocated to the UK in the 1960s and made his film debut in 1969 with a small part in Women in Love, although he also had an uncredited part (as an Oxford rower, playing alongside Graham Chapman) in The Magic Christian.

He has appeared in numerous British Shakespearean productions, notably Richard II, as Rosencrantz in Hamlet, and on radio in the marathon series, Vivat Rex. He also appeared as Piers Gaveston in the 1970 production of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II, opposite Ian McKellen who later recalled that kissing Laurenson "was a bonus throughout the run". Other costume roles included a French courtier in Elizabeth R and the Earl of Lincoln in Shadow of the Tower (1972). In the same year, he took on a more modern role starring as Det. Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte in the Australian TV drama series Boney, playing a half-Aboriginal detective, and this would be his most high-profile part, although the casting of a non-Aboriginal in the role was attacked by some Australian critics. In 1974 he took the lead role in the TV film The Prison, based on the novel by Georges Simenon, the first instalment in the Thames Television/Euston Films spin-off of Armchair Theatre, entitled Armchair Cinema. Laurenson starred as Pink's Father in the 1982 film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.

An accomplished singer, Laurenson took the lead role of Julian Marsh in Gower Champion's musical 42nd Street at Drury Lane Theatre, London, and appeared at Greenwich Theatre in Falling Over England with Charlotte Cornwell.

In later years, Laurenson has had supporting roles in numerous popular TV series such as Prime Suspect, Sharpe, A Touch of Frost, Cagney and Lacey, Heartbeat, Silent Witness, Taggart and State of Play. He was also cast in one of the major guest parts for the first episode of the Inspector Morse series, The Dead of Jericho. He played the Earl of Westmoreland in the 2012 BBC2 adaptations of Henry IV, Parts I and II.