After performing on stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968).

His blond, blue-eyed boyish looks and English upper-class demeanour saw him play leading roles in several major British and Hollywood films of the 1970s.

York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire,[2] son of Florence Edith May Chown,[2] a musician, and Joseph Gwynne Johnson,[2] a Llandovery-born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer [1] and businessman.

[1] Following his role on British TV as Jolyon (Jolly) in The Forsyte Saga (1967), York made his film debut as Lucentio in Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967).

In the 1971 film Zeppelin,[2] he portrayed a World War I soldier with conflicted family loyalties who pretends to side with the Germans.

[2] In 1975, he portrayed a British soldier in 19th century colonial India in Conduct Unbecoming,[2] the first of three films he did with director Michael Anderson.

[2] York starred as D'Artagnan in the 1973 adaptation of The Three Musketeers[2] and he made his Broadway début in the original production of Tennessee Williams's Out Cry.

[2] His Broadway theatre credits include Bent (1980),[2] The Crucible (1992), Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (1993) and the ill-fated musical The Little Prince and the Aviator (1982), which closed during previews.

In 2006, York played the character Bernard Fremont (inspired by real life serial killer Charles Sobhraj) in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Slither".

[9] York again played King Arthur in a revival of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot, which began its run at the La Mirada Theatre in Southern California, and toured nationally in 2006 and 2007.

In September 2013, York played Albany in the Gala Performance of William Shakespeare's King Lear at the Old Vic in London.