Edward Hardwicke, sometimes credited as Edward Hardwick, (born August 7, 1932), the son of Sir Cedric Hardwicke and actress Helena Pickard, is an English actor.
Hardwicke was born in London, England. He began his film career in Hollywood at the age of 10, in Victor Fleming’s film A Guy Named Joe, with Spencer Tracy. He returned to England, attended Stowe School, and did his military service as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force. He joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and trained as an actor.
He played at the Bristol Old Vic, The Oxford Playhouse and the Nottingham Playhouse, before joining Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre in 1964. He performed regularly there for seven years. He appeared with Olivier in Shakespeare’s Othello and Ibsen’s The Master Builder. He also appeared in Peter Shaffer’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun (with Robert Stephens), Charley's Aunt, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Congreve's The Way of the World, Feydeau’s A Flea In Her Ear (directed by Jacques Charon of the Comédie Française), The Crucible, Pirandello's The Rules Of The Game, Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession. He returned to the National in 1977 for a production of Feydeau's The Lady from Maxim's.
In 1973, he played Dr Astrov in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at the Bristol Old Vic, and had an uncredited role as Charles Calthrop in the motion picture The Day of the Jackal. In 1975, he appeared in Frederick Lonsdale's On Approval at the Haymarket Theatre, and in 1976, he played Sir Robert Chiltern in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, a production with which he toured Canada.
In 2001, he played Arthur Winslow in The Winslow Boy at the Chichester Festival Theatre, a role played by his father in the 1948 film.
Hardwicke became familiar to television audiences in the 1970s drama series, Colditz, in which he played Pat Grant, a character based on the real-life war hero, Pat Reid. He then played Arthur in the sitcom My Old Man. In 1978, Hardwicke appeared in the last filmed episode of The Sweeney called "Hearts and Minds" as Bellcourt. David Burke suggested Hardwicke as his successor in the role of the Dr Watson in the Granada Television adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, alongside Jeremy Brett. Hardwicke played the role for eight years from 1986 to 1994 as a very calm and attentive Watson and became permanently associated with it, also playing it on the West End stage with Brett in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes in 1989.
His other television appearances have been numerous, and have included Holocaust (1978), Lovejoy (1992), The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1997), David Copperfield (2000), and Agatha Christie's Poirot (2004).
He has appeared in various films, including The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Black Windmill (1974), Richard Loncraine's 1995 version of Richard III, The Scarlet Letter (1995), Shadowlands (1993), Elizabeth (1998), Enigma (2001), The Gathering Storm (2002), Love Actually (2003) and Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist (2005).
Edward Hardwicke has two daughters, Kate and Emma, and a stepdaughter Claire. He lives with his wife, on their farm, in Normandy, France.
