Roger Daltrey (Actor)

Roger Daltrey of the Who sitting on a leather sofa, circa 1985. (Photo: Dave Hoga / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Handsome, curly-haired Brit Roger Daltrey established himself as singer and front man for the rock'n'roll band The Who before launching an acting career as an outlet for his leading man good looks. When Ken Russell brought The Who's rock opera "Tommy" to the screen in 1975, there was no question that Daltrey would take the title role he'd sung in concerts beginning in 1969. In its aftermath, he immediately reteamed with Russell to play Franz Liszt in the outlandishly extravagant "Lisztomania" (1975). Since then, Daltrey has appeared in numerous features, including starring turns as England's Public Enemy No 1 in "McVicar" (1980) and as Terry Clark in "Buddy's Song" (1991). His portrayal of the Street Singer for Menahem Golan's "Mack the Knife" (1989) was his second time exploring the terrain, having played MacHeath in a 1984 BBC-TV version of John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera", on which Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill based their "The Threepenny Opera" (Golan's source material). He also appeared in "If Looks Could Kill" and "Cold Justice" (both 1991) and "Lightning Jack" (1994), among other films.

Daltrey released his first solo album "Daltrey" in 1975, and though he has not experienced the kind of success as a solo artist that attends his famous band's output, he has continued to make recordings alone as well as the occasional The Who disc. Too old to play "Tommy" when it finally reached Broadway in 1993, he did sing the role in the 1989 tour celebrating its 20th anniversary and the band's 25th, culminating in Fox's September broadcast of a concert taped the previous month in Los Angeles. The 90s have seen Daltrey frequently on the small screen in such vehicles as the 1993 "Forever Ambergris" episode of HBO's "Tales From the Crypt", "The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True" (TNT, 1995), as the Tin Man, "Vampirella" (Showtime, 1996), as Vlad to Talisa Soto's title character, and TNT's "Pirate Tales" (1997), portraying William Dampier--the Pirate Storyteller. He also provided the voice of Barnaby the Stableboy for the HBO animated special "Happy Birthday to You" (1992).