Phil Davis

Daniel Day-Lewis stated him as one of his biggest acting inspirations, along with Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep and Marlon Brando.
He is a big fan of Jodie Whittaker and - as a big fan of Doctor Who (2005) (he has even appeared in the series) - he tweeted to express his delight at her casting as the first woman Doctor. He also said anyone who questioned it was talking "claptrap".
A 2013 article in The Guardian described him as "the unsung hero of British character acting" and "a British acting great" because "he can play men so gentle you'd like to keep them as pets... Or he might bite your hand off".
He regularly works with the director Mike Leigh.
He has appeared in two films set in Brighton in 1964: Quadrophenia (1979) and Brighton Rock (2010).

[on playing Wilfrid Brambell in The Curse of Steptoe (2008)] Yes, we know he liked a drink and we know he was homosexual, but he still remains a terribly, terribly private man. All I had to go on was a couple of interviews - one after Corbett (Harry H. Corbett) died - and Brambell's autobiography. Unfortunately, the book doesn't really tell you anything. Off-stage, he was a bit of a dandy. Always immaculately turned out. Overcoat, hat, cane, clean-shaven, cut-glass English accent ... he even had a different set of teeth.
[on acting] I've never been able to talk properly about it. I just do it. It's like asking a painter about painting. They dip the brush and put it on the canvas. All I know is that if something isn't brilliant, there's no reason that you can't deliver it to the best of your ability. You can make those four lines great.
[on Barrie Keeffe] Barrie was a very important playwright. What he was articulating was actual anger. His plays were the equivalent of punk. Loud, aggressive, "What-about-me?" pieces of theatre.
I struggled for a while. It was feast or famine. I remember we did Quadrophenia (1979) in 1978 and that was quite good. I had a few bob after that and then I spent it. Then I was just working in the theatre and living hand to mouth. It never bothered me, though.