Dominic Guard

Guard was born in London on 18 June 1956. His father, Philip Guard, was an English stage actor, his mother, Charlotte Mitchell, an actress and poet. His older brother Christopher, also an actor, was born in 1953. His parents separated when he was twelve. As a 14-year-old, in The Go-Between (1971), Guard played Leo Colston, the title character who runs messages between two secret lovers and has a momentous 13th birthday.^[1] For his performance he won a BAFTA Award in 1971 as Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. The film won the Palme d'Or, the main prize at the Cannes film festival.

Guard later appeared as Huw Morgan in How Green Was My Valley (1975 TV series), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), The Count of Monte Cristo (1975) with Richard Chamberlain, Absolution (1978) alongside Richard Burton and Billy Connolly,^[2] Gandhi (1982), and in P. D. James's An Unsuitable Job for a Woman alongside his cousin Pippa Guard.^[3]

In 1978 Guard voiced the role of Pippin in an animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. His brother Christopher Guard starred alongside him in the film, voicing Frodo Baggins. On stage he played Christopher in a 1982 production of The Jeweller's Shop by Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II, at the Westminster Theatre, and appeared in a guest role in the 1983 Doctor Who story Terminus. He continued acting regularly until 2000.

Guard is now a fully accredited child psychotherapist living in London and has written more than ten books for children,^[4] including "Little Box of Mermaid Treasures", "Pirate Fun", "The Dragon Master's Tale", and "Secrets of the Fairy Ring".

Guard is the father of two children with the actress Sharon Duce, with whom he appeared in Absolution (1978).^[5]