Brian Cox Popular Books

Brian Cox Biography & Facts

Brian Denis Cox (born 1 June 1946) is a Scottish actor. A classically trained Shakespearean actor, he is known for leading performances on stage and television, as well as supporting roles in film. His numerous accolades include two Laurence Olivier Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award as well as a nomination for a British Academy Television Award. In 2003, he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire at the rank of Commander. Empire magazine awarded him the Empire Icon Award in 2006, and the UK Film Council named him one of the top 10 powerful British film stars in Hollywood in 2007.Cox trained at the Dundee Repertory Theatre before becoming a founding member of Royal Lyceum Theatre. He went on to train as a Shakespearean actor, starring in numerous productions with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. Cox received two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor for his roles in Rat in the Skull (1984) for the Royal Court and Titus Andronicus (1988). He received two more Olivier Award nominations for Misalliance (1986) and Fashion (1988). Known as a character actor in film, he played Robert McKee in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002) and William Stryker in X2 (2003). For his starring role in L.I.E. (2001), he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His other notable films include Manhunter (1986), Rob Roy (1995), Braveheart (1995), Rushmore (1998), Super Troopers (2001), The Ring (2002), The Bourne Identity (2002), 25th Hour (2002), Troy (2004), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Red Eye (2005), Zodiac (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), and Churchill (2017). Cox won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in the television film Nuremberg (2001). The following year he guest starred on the NBC sitcom Frasier earning his second Emmy nomination in 2002. He portrayed Jack Langrishe in the HBO series Deadwood. He starred as Logan Roy on the HBO series Succession (2018–2023), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Early life and education Cox was born on 1 June 1946 in Dundee, Scotland as the youngest of five children. He is from a working-class Roman Catholic family of Irish and Scottish descent. His mother, Mary Ann Guillerline (née McCann), was a spinner who worked in the jute mills and suffered several nervous breakdowns during Cox's childhood. His father, Charles McArdle Campbell Cox, was a police officer and later a shopkeeper, and died of pancreatic cancer when Cox was eight years old. Cox was brought up by his three elder sisters, including Betty, with whom Cox has remained close.In Dundee, Cox attended St Mary's Forebank Primary School and St Michael's Junior Secondary School, which he left at the age of 15. After working at Dundee Repertory Theatre for a few years, he began his training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art at age 17, graduating in 1965. Acting career Theatre 1961–1979: Early work Brian Cox began his acting career at age 14 at Dundee Repertory Theatre in 1961 and then as one of the founding members of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, performing in its first show, The Servant O' Twa Maisters, in October 1965. From 1966, he worked at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre for two years, where he played the title role in Peer Gynt (1967) and made his West End debut in June 1967 as Orlando in As You Like It at the Vaudeville Theatre. 1980s: Royal National Theatre Cox is an accomplished Shakespearean actor, spending seasons with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1983, he portrayed the Duke of Burgundy opposite Laurence Olivier who played title role of King Lear. In 1984, he played the Royal Ulster Constabulary officer Inspector Nelson in the Royal Court's production of Rat in the Skull. He was subsequently awarded that year's Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a New Play. He made his Broadway debut in February 1985 as Edmund Darrell in Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude at the Nederlander Theatre for which he received his first British Theatre Association Drama Award for Best Actor. In May that year, he made his off-Broadway debut, reprising his role as Inspector Nelson, in Rat in the Skull at the Public Theater. He received two additional Laurence Olivier nominations for Misalliance (1984) and for Fashion (1988).He won his second Laurence Olivier Award, this time as Best Actor in a Revival, for his performance as the title character in Titus Andronicus (1988). Cox later said that he considers his performance in Titus Andronicus the greatest he has ever given on stage. His performance as Petruchio in The Taming of The Shrew (1987) also garnered positive reviews and won him another British Theatre Association Drama Award for Best Actor. 1990s: King Lear and St. Nicholas Cox returned from some years teaching and directing at the Moscow Arts Theatre School to tour with the Royal National Theatre worldwide, delivering a highly acclaimed performance as the title role in King Lear (1990–1991). His account of the emotional and physical difficulties that came with playing King Lear's all-consuming role was detailed in The Lear Diaries (1995) which he authored. King Lear is one of Shakespeare's most difficult roles, and Cox's portrayal broke new ground in the understanding of this most enigmatic figure.In 1995, he directed Open Air Theatre's chilling adaptation of Richard III which was well received by critics. During the same season, he also appeared in one of the theatre's productions, The Music Man, as Professor Harold Hill.In 1997, he starred in Conor McPherson's St. Nicholas at the Bush Theatre in London, and in 1998 returned to the off-Broadway stage reprising his role for Primary Stages, where he won a Lucille Lortel Award and earned a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle nomination for his New York performance. In the same year, he played Marc in the Broadway production of Art. 2000–2019: Return to Broadway In 2000, Cox reunited with award-winning playwright Conor McPherson on The Royal Court Theatre's production of Dublin Carol in which he starred as grim alcoholic undertaker John Plunkett. In 2004, he played the title character in Uncle Varick for the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. In 2005, he starred in The Ride Down Mt. Morgan in Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Theatre Works.From 2006 to 2007, he starred as Max at London's West End production of Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n Roll, a role he reprised on Broadway until 2008. In 2011, Cox appeared on Broadway opposite in a revival of Jason Miller's That Championship Season. His portrayal of Jack in The Weir at the Donmar Theatre in April 2013 is reprised at Wyndham's Theatre in January 2014. In Fall 20.... Discover the Brian Cox popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Brian Cox books.

Best Seller Brian Cox Books of 2024

  • On Painting synopsis, comments

    On Painting

    Leon Alberti & Cecil Grayson

    Artist, architect, poet and philosopher, Leon Battista Alberti revolutionized the history of art with his theories of perspective in On Painting (1435). Inspired by the order and b...

  • The Ascent Of Man synopsis, comments

    The Ascent Of Man

    Jacob Bronowski

    Dr Jacob Bronowksi's The Ascent of Man traces the development of human society through our understanding of science.First published in 1973 to accompany the groundbreaking BBC tele...

  • Nor Will He Sleep synopsis, comments

    Nor Will He Sleep

    David Ashton

    BASED ON THE LONGRUNNING BBC RADIO 4 McLEVY DRAMA SERIES...WHILE THE STREETS OF LONDON HAD SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE DARK ALLEYS OF EDINBURGH HAD INSPECTOR JAMES McLEVYELEGANT AND CONVI...

  • Beyond Human Nature synopsis, comments

    Beyond Human Nature

    Jesse J. Prinz

    In this provocative, revelatory tour de force, Jesse Prinz reveals how the cultures we live in not biology determine how we think and feel. He examines all aspects of our behavio...

  • Blueprint synopsis, comments

    Blueprint

    Lucy Maddox

    'The best book I've read this year ... It's written in such a beautiful way' Dr Suzi Gage, Book ShamblespodcastThis is an excellent book for anyone who wants to understand the psy...

  • The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being synopsis, comments

    The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being

    Alice Roberts

    'From your brain to your fingertips, you emerge from her book entertained and with a deeper understanding of yourself' Richard Dawkins'A masterful account of why our bodies are the...

  • Dynasties synopsis, comments

    Dynasties

    Stephen Moss

    Family isn't just important. It's everything. From lions hunting as a pride to penguins huddling together to keep from freezing in the bitter Antarctic winter, many animals are dep...

  • The Magicians synopsis, comments

    The Magicians

    Marcus Chown

    The spellbinding stories of the scientists whose eureka! breakthroughs in modern physics reveal science's astonishing predictive power.'An excellent popular science book.'DARA Ó BR...

  • A Down to Earth Guide to the Cosmos synopsis, comments

    A Down to Earth Guide to the Cosmos

    Mark Thompson

    To the beginner, the starfilled night sky can seem mysterious and unfathomable. But with this book as a guide the awesome nature of the Cosmos is brought down to Earth. Over the co...

  • Columbus in Space synopsis, comments

    Columbus in Space

    The European Space Agency

    In 2008, Europe’s first space laboratory was launched to the International Space Station. Ten years later, the Columbus laboratory is still circling 400 km above our heads at 28,80...

  • Dombey and Son synopsis, comments

    Dombey and Son

    Charles Dickens & Andrew Sanders

    'There's no writing against such power as this one has no chance' William Makepeace ThackerayA compelling depiction of a man imprisoned by his own pride, Dombey and Son explores t...

  • Fall From Grace synopsis, comments

    Fall From Grace

    David Ashton

    BASED ON THE LONGRUNNING BBC RADIO 4 McLEVY DRAMA SERIES...WHILE THE STREETS OF LONDON HAD SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE DARK ALLEYS OF EDINBURGH HAD INSPECTOR JAMES McLEVYELEGANT AND CONVI...

  • Shadow of the Serpent synopsis, comments

    Shadow of the Serpent

    David Ashton

    ...WHILE THE STREETS OF LONDON HAD SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE DARK ALLEYS OF EDINBURGH HAD INSPECTOR JAMES McLEVY| 'ASHTON IS THE DIRECT HEIR TO ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON' actor Brian Cox |...

  • Cracking the Elements synopsis, comments

    Cracking the Elements

    Rebecca Mileham

    From the earliestknown elements to those named in 2016, this book takes a comprehensive look at the development of the periodic table and reveals untold stories, unsung pioneers a...

  • The Invisible Universe synopsis, comments

    The Invisible Universe

    Matthew Bothwell

    From the discovery of entirely new kinds of galaxies to a window into cosmic ‘prehistory’, Bothwell shows us the Universe as we’ve never seen it before – literally.Since the dawn o...

  • The Hair of the Dog synopsis, comments

    The Hair of the Dog

    Karl Sabbagh

    Science is full of surprises: the peculiar peepshow beginnings of baby incubators; the unexpected positive fallout from the Hbomb; the dinosaurs that caused sonic booms; the irrati...

  • The Basis of Everything synopsis, comments

    The Basis of Everything

    Andrew Ramsey

    Before the Manhattan Project, before nuclear warfare and the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was the twentieth century's great scientific quest to fathom the secrets of th...

  • Science Hacks synopsis, comments

    Science Hacks

    Colin Barras

    With Science Hacks, you no longer need a PhD to understand the fascinating ideas behind science's greatest theories and discoveries. This latest addition to the ingenious new Hacks...

  • The Periodic Table synopsis, comments

    The Periodic Table

    Paul Parsons & Gail Dixon

    The Periodic Table is one of the most recognizable images in science and in our culture. Its 118 elements make up everything on our planet and in the entire universe. But how many...

  • Maths Hacks synopsis, comments

    Maths Hacks

    Richard Cochrane

    Everything you need to know about 100 key mathematical concepts condensed into easytounderstand sound bites designed to stick in your memory and give you an instant grasp of the co...

  • The Physics Behind... synopsis, comments

    The Physics Behind...

    Russ Swan

    Can you really lose weight by consuming nothing but ice cream and beer? How does the latest blockbuster movie get squeezed onto a disk, and how do they make the pictures seem 3D? H...

  • The Wonder Of Brian Cox - The Unauthorised Biography Of The Man Who Brought Science To The Nation synopsis, comments

    The Wonder Of Brian Cox - The Unauthorised Biography Of The Man Who Brought Science To The Nation

    Ben Falk

    Professor Brian Cox is probably the bestknown physicist in the world today. As presenter of the hit television series Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe, his a...

  • The Fall synopsis, comments

    The Fall

    Michael Wolff

    New York Times Bestseller“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina“Michael Wolff’s books were my foundation and port ...

  • The Lost Daughter synopsis, comments

    The Lost Daughter

    David Ashton

    For fans of Elementary, Ripper Street and Sherlock Holmes meet Jean Brash, a feisty, selfmade woman turned sleuth in murky Victorian Edinburgh where crime and high society meet.Je...

  • Cracking Quantum Physics synopsis, comments

    Cracking Quantum Physics

    Brian Clegg

    Enter the invisible world of subatomic physics and discover the very core of existence. Cracking Quantum Physics takes you through every area of particle physics to clearly explain...

  • Unseen Universe synopsis, comments

    Unseen Universe

    Caroline Harper

    This is the universe as you've never seen it before. Discover how the aweinspiring images from Webb are rapidly changing our understanding of our solar system and beyond.From the t...

  • Moongazing synopsis, comments

    Moongazing

    Royal Observatory Greenwich & Tom Kerss

    An indepth guide for aspiring astronomers and Moon observers. Includes detailed Moon maps and covers the history of lunar observation and exploration, the properties of the Moon, i...

  • A Trick of the Light synopsis, comments

    A Trick of the Light

    David Ashton

    BASED ON THE LONGRUNNING BBC RADIO 4 McLEVY DRAMA SERIES...WHILE THE STREETS OF LONDON HAD SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE DARK ALLEYS OF EDINBURGH HAD INSPECTOR JAMES McLEVYELEGANT AND CONVI...

  • The Quantum World synopsis, comments

    The Quantum World

    New Scientist

    Forget everything you thought you knew about reality.The world is a seriously bizarre place. Things can exist in two places at once and travel backwards and forwards in time. Waves...

  • Genetics synopsis, comments

    Genetics

    Adam Rutherford

    Part of the ALLNEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES.Who discovered genetics?How does gene inheritance work?Is DNA common to all living things?We inherit CODES from our parents. And these cod...

  • The Science of Fate synopsis, comments

    The Science of Fate

    Hannah Critchlow

    THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'A truly fascinating if unnerving read'DAILY TELEGRAPH'Acute, mindopening, highly accessible this book doesn't just explain how our lives might pan ou...

  • The Universe synopsis, comments

    The Universe

    Andrew Cohen

    Every night, above our heads, a drama of epic proportions is playing out. Diamond planets, zombie stars, black holes heavier than a billion Suns. The cast of characters is extraord...

  • Time synopsis, comments

    Time

    Colin Stuart

    'A gripping exploration of one of the most fundamental, but also perplexing aspects of existence.' PROF. LEWIS DARTNELL, author of Origins'Such an enjoyable read...full of delightf...

  • The Descent of Man synopsis, comments

    The Descent of Man

    Adrian Desmond, Charles Darwin & James Moore

    Applying his controversial theory of evolution to the origins of the human species, Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man was the culmination of his life's work. This Penguin Classic...