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Robert Lindsay (born December 13th, 1949) is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles in Citizen Smith, My Family, and Hornblower.

Lindsay was born Robert Lindsay Stevenson in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, the son of Norman and Joyce Stevenson. After leaving school, Lindsay enrolled in the drama departement of a technical college in Nottingham, and intended to become a drama teacher. However, friends at Nottingham Playhouse encouraged him to apply to Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and in 1968 he was accepted there with the aid of a government grant. After he graduated, he took a job as a dialect coach for a repertory company in Essex, and then joined a regional theatre group.
Lindsay first came to prominence as the cockney layabout Jackey Smith in ITV comedy series Get Some In!, and he appeared in the fourth series on the BBC sitcom The Good Life. He was then given the starring role as incompetent revolutionary Wolfie Smith in the BBC sitcom Citizen Smith. He followed this with roles in a number of the BBC Television Shakespeare productions, including Benedickt in Much Ado About Nothing, and as Edmund in King Lear opposite Lord Olivier in 1984. Also, it should be noted that he took part in an obscure, Radio 4 show, What Are You Talking About?, in the early 1980s between Television Shapespeare productions, in an attempt to establish a comedu career.

Lindsay enjoyed a successful stage career, especially during the 1980s, including lead roles in several significant Shakespearean productions. He starred in the 1984 revival of Me and My Girl in London and on Broadway, netting a Laurence Olivier Award and a Tony Award in the category of Best Actor in a Musical (against competition that included Colm Wilkinson and Terrence Mann in Les Mis in both cases). He won another Olivier Award in the same category in 1997, for his portrayal of Fagin in the revival of Olivier!. He starred in a production of The Entertainer and the Old Vic in 2007.

Lindsay became famous in the UK in his role as incompetent revolutionary Wolfie Smith in the BBC sitcom Citizen Smith. Earlier, a young Lindsay appeared on The Good Life in the 1977 series 4 episode entitled Our Speaker Today. Lindsay`s success on Broadway and in the West End led to the starring role in the film Bert Rigby, You`re a Fool, although it was not a commercial success. Robert then took the role as tom in the low budget adult comedy adventures of a taxi driver, this was a big success. However, he continued to enjoy success on television, and in 1991 he played the leading role in Alan Bleasdale`s dark comedy serial G.B.H., for which he won a BAFTA for his performance. He also starred in the surreal Channel 4 sitcom Nightingales, and appeared in the films Fierce Creatures and Divorcing Jack. In 1998 he was cast in the recurring role of Captain Pellew in the ITV mini-series Hornblower, based on the novels of C.S. Forester. He was also the original choice for the lead role in the drama Cracker, but turned the part down as he didn`t want to become too associated with heavyweight, darker drama characters. He later appeared as Fagin in the 1999 ITV Oliver Twist miniseries.

Lindsay has become familiar to a new generation of viewers as Ben Harper in the popular BBC sitcome My Family since 2000.
In October 2005 he starred in a ITV drama series Jericho, about a Scotland Yard detective investigating murder and kidnapping in London`s Soho in t