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Brian Denis Cox, CBE (born 1 June 1946) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. He has also appeared in many Hollywood productions playing parts such as Dr. Guggenheim in Rushmore and William Stryker in X2: X-Men United. He was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lecter on film in the 1986 production Manhunter. Cox was born to a working class Roman Catholic family in Dundee, Scotland, the youngest of five children. His great-grandfather was an Irish immigrant to Scotland. His mother, Mary... MORE

Brian Denis Cox, CBE (born 1 June 1946) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. He has also appeared in many Hollywood productions playing parts such as Dr. Guggenheim in Rushmore and William Stryker in X2: X-Men United. He was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lecter on film in the 1986 production Manhunter. Cox was born to a working class Roman Catholic family in Dundee, Scotland, the youngest of five children. His great-grandfather was an Irish immigrant to Scotland. His mother, Mary Ann Guillerline (née McCann), was a spinner who worked in the jute mills and suffered several nervous breakdowns during Cox's childhood. His father, Charles McArdle Campbell Cox, was a butcher and later a shopkeeper, and died when Cox was eight years old. Cox was subsequently brought up by his elder sisters. He joined the Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of fourteen. Cox was trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, leaving in 1965 when he joined the Lyceum company in Edinburgh, followed in 1966 by two years with the Birmingham Rep, where his parts included the title role in Peer LESS