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Jim Dale — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Stage

At the age of 17 Dale toured variety music halls. In 1970 Laurence Olivier invited Dale to join the National Theatre Company in London, then based at the Old Vic. At the Young Vic Theatre, he created the title role in Scapino (ca. 1970), which he co-adapted with Frank Dunlop, and played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. His other UK credits include The Card (1973), and The Wayward Way in London. He appeared in The Winter's Tale as Autolycus and A Midsummer Night's Dream as Bottom at the Edinburgh Festivals in 1966 and 1967 for Frank Dunlop's Pop Theatre. He took over the part of Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver! at the London Palladium in September 1995.

For his Broadway performances, Dale has been nominated for five Tony Awards, winning one for Barnum (1980) for which the New York Times described him as "The Toast of Broadway", also winning the second of five Drama Desk Awards, and the second of five Outer Critics Awards. Other work includes Scapino (1974) (Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Award, Tony Award Nomination), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1985) (Outer Critics Award, Tony Award Nomination), Me and My Girl (1986) Candide (1997) (Tony Award Nomination) and The Threepenny Opera (2006) for the Roundabout Theatre Company. Dale played Mister Peacham and won a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics' Award, The Richard Seff Award and a Tony Award nomination.

Dale's credits Off-Broadway include Travels with My Aunt (1995) (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Award), Privates On Parade (1989), Comedians (2003) (Drama Desk Award nomination and a Lucille Lortel Award nomination) and Address Unknown (2004). In 1988, he performed as Oscar in Sweet Charity at Avery Fisher Hall.

Dale's other stage work includes The Taming of the Shrew as Petruchio with the Young Vic, London (1970) and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York (1974); The Music Man U.S. tour (1984), and The Invisible Man at the Cleveland Play House (1998). He played the part of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, from 28 November to 27 December 2003.

In 2006 Dale starred as Charlie Baxter in a one-night only concert version of the Sherman brothers musical Busker Alley alongside Glenn Close. This was a benefit for the York Theatre Company, and was held at Hunter College in New York City. He wrote and appeared in his one-man show, Just Jim Dale, looking back over nearly sixty years in show business. It opened on 15 May 2014 at the Roundabout Theatre Company Laura Pels Theatre, winning Dale his fifth Outer Critics Circle Award, and his fifth Drama Desk Award. It opened at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End in May 2015.

Voice work

In the United States, Dale is known as the voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks, narrating the U.S. versions of all seven novels in the series. Dale's Harry Potter narrations are universally acclaimed. He won two Grammy Awards (in 2001 and 2008) and received seven Grammy nominations and a record ten Audie Awards including "Audio Book of the Year 2004" for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, "Best Children's Narrator 2001/2005/2007/2008," "Best Children's Audio Book 2005," two Benjamin Franklin Awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association (one of these was in 2001 for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and 23 AudioFile Earphone Awards. The audio short series Dirty Potter uses sound editing of Dale's past voice work to narrate the series. The series is a parody narrated by a "re-imagined" version of Dale, and its content was created without Dale's input.

Dale narrates the Harry Potter video games and many of the interactive "extras" on the Harry Potter DVD releases. He also holds one current and two former Guinness World Records. He holds one current record for occupying the first six places in the Top Ten Audio Books of America and Canada 2005. Previously, he held records for creating the most character voices for an audiobook (134 for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2003, followed by 146 voices for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007), though the record was later awarded to Roy Dotrice for his 2004 recording of A Game of Thrones. Dale opened every episode of the ABC drama Pushing Daisies as the unseen narrator.

In the mid-1960s, Dale presented Children's Favourites on BBC Radio for a year.

In 2018, Dale narrated SPIN: The Rumpelstiltskin Musical by Edelman and Fishman, noted as being the first audiobook musical of its kind. SPIN was released by Harper Audio on 9 January 2018. The following year, Dale narrated Puss In Boots a Musical by Edelman and Fishman, adapted for the audiobook by Edelman, Fishman, and Khristine Hvam. It was released by Harper Audio on 27 August 2019. Dale narrated the Peter and the Starcatchers (2004) audio book, and its three sequels. Most recently, Dale voiced all the characters in Duckville, a Bill Plympton animated short film that had its premiere in September 2025.

Awards and honours

Sources: allmusic.com; Playbillvault; Audio Publisher

1966 International Laurel Award – Best Song – Georgy Girl

1974 Drama Desk Award – Outstanding Performance – Scapino

1974 Outer Critics Circle Award – Outstanding Actor – Scapino

1980 Drama Desk Award – Outstanding Actor in a Musical – Barnum

1980 Tony Award – Best Actor in a Musical – Barnum

1984 Outer Critics Circle Award – Outstanding Actor – Joe Egg

1995 Drama Desk Award – Unique Theatrical Ensemble Experience – Travels with My Aunt

1995 Outer Critics Circle Award – Outstanding Actor – Travels with My Aunt

2001 Grammy Award – Best Spoken Word Album for Children – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

2001 Audie Award – Best Male Narrator – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

2003 MBE, as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours List, for his work in promoting children's English literature.

2004 Audie Award – Audiobook of the Year – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2004 Audie Award – Children's Title – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2005 Audie Award – Classics – A Christmas Carol

2005 Audie Award – Best Male Narrator – Peter and the Star Catchers

2005 Audie Award – Children's Title – Peter and the Starcatchers

2006 Thespian Award – Friars Club, New York.

2006 Drama Desk Award – Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical – The Threepenny Opera

2006 Outer Critics Circle Award – Outstanding Actor – The Threepenny Opera

2006 The Richard Seff Award – The Threepenny Opera

2006 The Order of St. George's Society, New York

2006 Audie Award – Classics – Around the World in Eighty Days

2006 Audie Award – Hall of Fame - Harry Potter series

2007 Audie Award – Best Male Narrator – Peter and the Shadow Thieves

2008 Audie Award – Best Male Narrator – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2008 Grammy Award – Best Spoken Word Album for Children – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2009 Audie Award – Young Listeners' Title – James Herriot's Treasury For Children

Twenty-three Audiofile Headphone Awards

2009 – Inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

2018 – Urban Stages' 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award

2019 Audie Award – Original Work – SPIN: The Rumpelstiltskin Musical

2019 SOVAS Awards - Audiobook Narration (Infant to 12) - Puss in Boots: A Musical