Michael Kitchen (born 31 October 1948 in Leicester) is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as DCS Foyle in the British TV series Foyle's War.
Kitchen was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. He worked with the National Youth Theatre and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry before attending RADA. Before he left the academy in 1969 he won the "Emile Littler Award" for 'outstanding talent and aptitude for the professional theatre'.
Since the early 1970s, Kitchen has been a fixture of UK television. His early appearances include roles in Play for Today (Hell's Angels by David Agnew, 1971), Thriller and Beasts. He then played the role of Martin in the original production of Dennis Potter's Brimstone and Treacle; Peter in Stephen Poliakoff's Caught on a Train; Edmund in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of King Lear; the Antipholi in the same series' production of The Comedy of Errors; Rochus Misch in The Bunker; Berkeley Cole in Out of Africa; the King in To Play the King (a character based in part on Prince Charles); and a recurring role as Bill Tanner in the Pierce Brosnan Bond movies GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough. Other films include Enchanted April (1992), The Hanging Gale (1995), and The Railway Children (1999).
From 2002 to 2008, Kitchen produced and appeared in the title role of DCS Christopher Foyle in the ITV mystery drama Foyle's War. Other noted appearances include A Royal Scandal (1996), Paul Abbott's Alibi in 2003, Andrew Davies' dramatisation of Falling in 2005, and ITV's three-part drama series Mobile. He has guest-starred in roles in other popular British television shows such as Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Between The Lines and Dalziel and Pascoe.
Kitchen is also a noted actor in English theatre. His roles have ranged from Ptolemy in Caesar and Cleopatra at the Belgrade in 1966 to William Hogarth in Nick Dear's The Art of Success in 1986/87.
