Adrian Schiller, who was known for his roles in the British television period dramas The Last Kingdom and Victoria, has died, his family and agency confirmed Thursday. He was 60 years old.
“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 by Scott Marshall Partners, which represented the actor for more than three decades, reads. “He has died far too soon and we, his family and close friends are devastated by the loss.”
The agency added that Schiller’s passing was “sudden and unexpected.” A cause of death was not yet available.
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Schiller had recently returned from Sydney, Australia, where he had been starring in The Lehman Trilogy with the National Theatre. According to his agency, Schiller had plans to continue appearing in the show’s international tour in San Francisco.
The National Theatre posted a tribute to the late actor by director Rufus Norris on X Thursday morning.
“We are deeply saddened and shocked to have lost our company member and friend,” Norris said in the statement. “Adrian was a wonderful actor, and the National Theatre had the pleasure of working with him throughout the breadth of his career.”
Schiller began acting in 1992 and his career spanned more than 30 years between stage and screen. The London-born performer was mainly known for his work in historical pieces, and his IMDB page boasts more than 80 credits.
His most notable roles were in the British royal dramas Victoria and The Last Kingdom. Schiller starred alongside Jenna Coleman for three seasons in Victoria, playing Penge, an elderly footman who took on a fatherly role to the young Queen Victoria. In The Last Kingdom, Schiller played the wealthy nobleman Aethelhelm, who schemes to get his descendants on the medieval Wessex throne.
