Oliver Tobias

Oliver Tobias (born 6 August 1947) is a UK-based film, stage, and television actor and director

Born Oliver Tobias Freitag in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of Austrian-Swiss actor Robert Freitag and German actress Maria Becker. He came to the United Kingdom at the age of eight and trained at East 15 Acting School, London. In 1968 he appeared in the original London production of Hair, playing the prime rebel role of Berger. The following year he starred in, directed, and choreographed the rock opera in Amsterdam and again directed a production in 1970 in Tel Aviv.

Tobias's first role was in the feature film Romance of a Horsethief, co-starring with Yul Brynner, Serge Gainsbourg and Eli Wallach. He then co-starred with Charlotte Rampling in the Jacobean tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, a film directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi. He became popular as King Arthur in the TV series Arthur of the Britons (1972). Peter Weir then directed him in the TV series Luke's Kingdom. Tobias also starred in Smuggler (1981) a children's drama series, set in Cornwall in 1801. Many other successful films followed including The Stud in 1978 in which he co-starred with Joan Collins, helping her to re-start her career. Oliver also appeared in the pop promo video for pop group Ultravox's 1982 hit "Hymn".

In 1997 Tobias played Rebecque, an aide to the Prince of Orange (Paul Bettany), in Sharpe's Waterloo. In 2000, he starred in the West End musical La Cava. Three years later he portrayed Percival Brown in the 50th anniversary production of The Boyfriend and the next year toured in the rock musical Footloose. In 2005 he finished shooting the film An Airfield in England. He has been acting in a variety of roles for German and Swiss TV and has recently played the role of Bassa Selim again in Mozart's Seraglio at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Italy.

Tobias is divorced from Camilla Ravenshear, with whom he has two daughters, Angelika and Celeste. In 2001 he married Polish-born Arabella Zamoyska, with whom he has a child. They live in London.