“Games of Thrones” actor Clive Mantle was brutally attacked and had the top part of his right ear bitten off during a dispute at a Newcastle, England hotel.
A spokesman for Mantle’s agency told the BBC that he believes that the six-foot, five-inch actor was pinned on the floor and attacked after asking other guests at the Newcastle Travelodge to keep the noise down.
“He is very shaken and shocked by what has happened, you don’t expect this kind of thing to happen in a hotel,” the spokesman said. He adds that surgeons at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary have sewn the 55-year-old English actor’s ear back on.
Mantle’s agent Bryn Newton added to the UK Mirror, “Right now he wants to get his ear back to normal. He’s got to have about three operations on it. It’s a dreadful thing. The ear will have to be rebuilt to save it.”
“He’s gutted about not being able to go back on stage, he’s gutted it happened at all. It’s just a rotten, upsetting thing.”
Recalling the incident, Newton told the publication, “On the first occasion, he’d said ‘can you keep the noise down please?’ He was very polite. It was 4:30 in the morning and he was very tired. He returned to bed but when he went back outside there were two drunken Scotsmen.
“He said to them ‘If you don’t keep the noise down I am going to call security.’ That’s when they set about him. Even though he is a big guy they got him on the ground.
“One of them bit the top part of his right ear off. It was savage. Fortunately, someone heard the commotion down the corridor and came out to help him and called hotel management.”
Mantle is best known for his role as Lord Greatjon Umber on the first season of the HBO series. Coincidentally, his character also has a part of his body bitten off in the series. In a moment of defiance, Robb Stark’s direwolf bit off two of Greatjon’s fingers in the first book/season.
A 32-year-old man has been charged with wounding with intent and is set to appear in a UK court next month. Two other men were reportedly involved the attack. One has been released on bail, while the other was not charged.
A police investigation is currently under way.