David Hattersley Warner was an English actor, who, for Disney, was best known for his multiple voice roles in the 1982 sci-fi film Tron, including businessman Ed Dillinger, second-in-command Sark, and the Master Control Program, the overall main antagonist of the movie. He was also the narrator in Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin. Additionally, he voiced the Archmage in Gargoyles, the Spirit of the Tree in the Dinosaurs episode "If I Were a Tree", Lord Angstrom in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and portrayed Admiral Boom in Mary Poppins Returns (his final film role before his death).
Warner was born on July 29, 1941 in Manchester, Lancashire and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his professional stage debut at the Royal Court Theatre in January 1962, playing Snout, a minor role in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Tony Richardson. He later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where he appeared in productions of The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Richard II, Henry VI, and Hamlet.
After making a film debut in Tom Jones, Warner appeared in other films, such as The Omen, Time After Time, The Sea Gull, Man on Horseback, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Straw Dogs, The Concorde ... Airport '79, The Island, Time Bandits, Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment, Hostile Takeover, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny, Titanic, Scream 2, and Planet of the Apes (2001). He also appeared in various media of the Star Trek franchise, including the films Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, as well as the show Star Trek: The Next Generation.
His other television credits included Twin Peaks, Nancy Astor, Doctor Who, Remington Steele, Hart to Hart, Murder, She Wrote, Perry Mason, Tales from the Crypt, The Larry Sanders Show, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Babylon 5, The Outer Limits, Agatha Christie's Marple, Wallander, Penny Dreadful, and Ripper Street.
Additionally, he appeared in various TV films and miniseries, such as The Wars of the Roses, Holocaust, Marco Polo, A Christmas Carol (1984), Love's Labour's Lost, In the Beginning, and Masada, where he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special.
Warner was also a prolific voice actor, who participated in various audio drama and, by the 1990s, contributed animated to shows, including Captain Planet and the Planeteers, The Legend of Prince Valiant, Spider-Man, Freakazoid!, Men in Black: The Series, Toonsylvania, What's New, Scooby-Doo?, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The Amazing World of Gumball, Teen Titans Go!, and as the voice of Ra's al Ghul for much of the DC Animated Universe.
He had been diagnosed with lung cancer 18 months prior to his death on July 24, 2022, but chose to keep his diagnosis private.
Roles[]
(Tron)
(Tron)
