Biography: Charles Shaughnessy

Charles George Patrick Shaughnessy, 5th Baron Shaughnessy (born February 9, 1955) is an English television, theatre and film actor best known for his roles on American television, as Shane Donovan on the soap opera Days of our Lives and as Maxwell Sheffield on the popular television series The Nanny.

Biography

Early life

Shaughnessy was born in London, the son of Alfred Shaughnessy, a television writer who was the scriptwriter for Upstairs, Downstairs, and the actress Jean Lodge. His brother, David Shaughnessy, is also an actor and a television producer & director. He is of Irish and English descent.^[1] Having been born into a show-business family, he started appearing in plays during primary school. After attending Eton College, he read for a law degree at the University of Cambridge.

While at Cambridge, he joined the Footlights club. After graduating, he decided to return to acting and enrolled in a London drama school, which led to him touring in a repertory company. He moved to the United States to follow actress Susan Fallender, whom he would eventually marry.

Career

Shaughnessy is known for playing Shane Donovan on NBC's Days of our Lives from 1984 to 1992. His character’s romance with Patsy Pease's character, Kimberly Brady, made the duo into a soap supercouple and revived interest in Days among teenage viewers in the 1980s. Shaughnessy is also well known for his portrayal of Maxwell Sheffield opposite Fran Drescher on CBS's The Nanny from 1993 to 1999. He and Drescher resumed acting together on Drescher's latest sitcom, Living with Fran, wherein Shaughnessy appeared fairly frequently as her philandering but needy ex-husband, Ted. Living with Fran was canceled on May 17, 2006, after two seasons. Neither Living with Fran nor The Nanny has ever been shown on British terrestrial television and as a result, despite his "very British" persona, Shaughnessy is virtually unknown in the UK itself.

Shaughnessy also appeared in the Disney Channel 2002 made-for-TV movie Get a Clue. He was also seen in the Halloween 2000 made-for-TV movie Mom's Got A Date With A Vampire starring opposite Caroline Rhea (she guest-starred on The Nanny in 1998 as part of a cross-over with Hollywood Squares). That same year, Shaughnessy made two appearances on The WB's Sabrina (this show stars Rhea, Melissa Joan Hart, and Beth Broderick) playing two different characters. He played Alec Colson in the 8th-season episode "Covenant" of Stargate SG-1. He also voiced Dr Quintaine in the PC game Freelancer.

He has recently appeared on an episode of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and is also the voice of Dennis the Goldfish on the Disney Channel cartoon series Stanley. On May 11, 2002, Shaughnessy won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his portrayal of Dennis the Goldfish on Stanley.

Shaughnessy makes a guest appearance in season two and three of Mad Men. In the episode “Meditations in an Emergency,” (October 19, 2008), he plays Saint John Powell, one of the partners of the London advertising firm Putnam, Powell, and Lowe. They are buying out Sterling Cooper and he announces that Herman “Duck” Phillips will be the new President. There are later appearances in season three.

On August 8, 2008, he portrayed the murder victim (Samuel, Guru) in Murder 101: The Locked Room Mystery. As of September 2008, his voice can be heard in a few television commercials for Range Rover cars. In December 2008, he did the voice of Pietro in The Tale of Despereaux. He also portrayed the Cockney-English accent for The Boss in the game Saints Row 2, and more recently has voiced commercials for Land Rover.

On May 5, 2009, he made a guest appearance in the series The Mentalist episode “Miss Red” as the manager of a private club.

As of 2009, his voice has been featured in commercials for Land Rover.

He also appeared on the tv show Hannah Montana as the judge in the episode "Judge Me Tender".

Shaughnessy is active on the internet. He maintains his own blog on myspace and in the midst of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election he started a video blog on YouTube uploading a video in support of Barack Obama.

Peerage

He became the fifth Baron Shaughnessy in December 2007 upon the death of his second cousin. The heir presumptive to the title is his brother David. The first baron was his great-grandfather, Thomas George Shaughnessy, the president of Canadian Pacific Railway.

Filmography

• "'CSI:NY (2010) Mr. Christensen
• The Suite Life on Deck (2010) - Constable
• White Knight Chronicles (2009) Video Game - Eldore
• Hannah Montana (2009) - Byron
• The Tale of Despereaux (2008) - Pietro
• Mad Men (2008) - Saint John Powell
• Polar Opposites (2008) - David
• Saints & Sinners (2007) – August Martin
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Episode 164-Recall)(2006)
• Veronica Mars (2006) – Budd Rose
  • Lord of the Pi's (2006) – Budd Rose
• National Lampoon's Dorm Daze 2 (2006) – Professor Rex Cavendish
• Living With Fran (2005–2006) (TV series) - Ted Reeves
• Kids in America (2005) – Sergeant Carmichael
• Get A Clue (2002) – Detective Meany / Falco
• Stanley (2001–2004) - Dennis the Goldfish
• Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire (2000) – Dimitri Denatos
• Second Chances (1998) – Dr. Hugh Olson
• The Nanny (1993–1999) (TV series) – Maxwell Beverly Sheffield
• Everything to Gain (1996) (made-for-TV) – Andrew Keswick
• A Kiss So Deadly (1996) (made-for-TV) – Tom Deese
• Til We Meet Again (1989) (mini-series) – Armand Sadowski
• Days of our Lives (1984–1992) (TV series) – Shane Donovan

Awards and nominations

• Soap Opera Digest Awards
  • Won, 1985, for Outstanding New Actor in a Daytime Serials
  • Won, 1986, for Favorite Daytime Super Couple on a Daytime Serial (shared with Patsy Pease)
  • Won, 1988, for Outstanding Super Couple: Daytime (shared with Patsy Pease)
  • Nominated, 1990, for Outstanding Super Couple: Daytime (shared with Patsy Pease)
  • Nominated, 1991, for Outstanding Hero: Daytime
  • Nominated, 1992, for Outstanding Lead Actor: Daytime

• Daytime Emmy Awards
  • Won, 2002, for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program

Trivia

On Episode 8, Season 8 of the hit show Stargate SG-1 (Covenant), the last name of the Major at the off-world site where his character, Alec Colson, was taken was Sheffield; a reference to the show The Nanny.

See also

• Shane Donovan and Kimberly Brady

References

^[2]

1. ^ Charles Shaughnessy in My Fair Lady
2. ^ The Barons Shaughnessy

External links

• Charles Shaughnessy at the Internet Movie Database
• Charles Shaughnessy Official Blog on MySpace
• Charles Shaughnessy Official Fan Page on Facebook
• Charles Shaughnessy Official YouTube page
• Official Personal Twitter Page for Charles Shaughnessy
• Official Charles Shaughnessy Blogger (Blogspot) blog page for ONLY CONNECT!
• Official Twitter page for the Charles Shaughnessy Blog Only Connect
• Official Facebook FRIEND page for Charles Shaughnessy
• Official Charles Shaughnessy Website

Charles Shaughnessy main page.