Adrian Schiller, a British actor who appeared in The Last Kingdom and the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, has died. He was 60.
Schiller’s longtime talent agency Scott Marshall Partners confirmed the sad news in a statement to The Independent.
“It is with the heaviest and saddest hearts that we announce the death of our beloved client, Adrian Schiller, on Wednesday 3 April,” the statement said. “He has died far too soon, and we, his family and close friends are devastated by the loss. His death was sudden and unexpected and no further details around its cause are yet available.”
The agency described Schiller as a “prodigiously talented actor,” adding, “He had just returned from Sydney, where he had been appearing in The Lehman Trilogy and was looking forward to continuing the international tour in San Francisco.”
The star’s sister, Ginny, also wrote about her brother’s death on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“Dear all. This is Ginny. I’m so sorry to let you all know that our beloved brother Adrian died suddenly at home yesterday,” she said. “He had so many very dear friends – sorry to those of you who are learning about this here. We will say more about funeral and/or memorial plans in due course.”
Born in 1964, Schiller started his acting career in a 1992 episode of Prime Suspect. He went on to appear in episodes of television shows like Ghosts, A Touch of Frost and Doctor Who, as well as films like RKO 281 (1999), Fields of Gold (2002), A Little Chaos (2014) and Son of God (2014). He also starred in the 2017 live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast as Monsieur D’Arque, the asylum warden that Gaston (Luke Evans) bribes into institutionalizing Belle’s (Emma Watson) father Maurice (Kevin Kline).
However, the actor is arguably most recognized for playing Aethelhelm — the wealthiest and most powerful man in Wessex — in The Last Kingdom. Between 2018 and 2022, he appeared in 25 episodes of the British drama series, according to his IMDb.
Moreover, Schiller famously starred as Mr. Cornelius Penge, the royal family’s footman, in three seasons of Victoria between 2016 and 2019. His most recent acting credits include episodes of the British detective drama Father Brown and the Apple TV+ series The New Look.