 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2013) |
Maurice Denham | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | William Maurice Denham 23 December 1909 |
| Died | 24 July 2002 (aged 92) Denville Hall, London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1934–1997 |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Dunn (m. 1936;died 1971) |
| Children | 3 |
William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career.
Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son of Eleanor Winifred (née Lillico) and Norman Denham. [1] He was the third child of four: Norman Keith (1907), Winifred Joan (1908), and Charles (1915). He was educated at Tonbridge School and trained as a lift engineer. Like fellow actor James Robertson Justice, he played amateur rugby for Beckenham RFC. [2]
In 1936, he married Elizabeth Dunn, with whom he had two sons and a daughter: Christopher (born 1939), Timothy (born 1946) and Virginia (born 1948). Elizabeth died in 1971. [3]
He was awarded the OBE in 1992. He died on 24 July 2002, aged 92 at Denville Hall in north London. [3]
Denham became an actor in 1934, and appeared in live television broadcasts as early as 1938, continuing to perform in that medium until 1997.
Denham initially made his name in radio comedy series such as ITMA and Much Binding in the Marsh , which established him as a familiar radio character [4] (providing over sixty different voices, female as well as male, according to a radio interview in November 1988), and later provided all the voices for the animated version of Animal Farm (1954). British Pathé chose him to narrate the voiceover for their 1950's film, 'All in a Day'. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance as Blore in 1954's The Purple Plain . Other film credits include 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956), Night of the Demon (1957), Two-Way Stretch (1960), Sink the Bismarck! (1960), H.M.S. Defiant (1962), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), The Day of the Jackal (1973), Minder on the Orient Express (1985) and 84 Charing Cross Road (1987).
Among his television appearances were as the father in Talking to a Stranger (1966), The Lotus Eaters (1972–73), as Archbishop Lang in Edward & Mrs Simpson (1978), Gerrit Dou in Schalcken the Painter (1979), All Passion Spent with Dame Wendy Hiller (1986), as Mr Justice Gwent-Evans in an episode of Rumpole of the Bailey (1987), Behaving Badly (1989), Inspector Morse (1991) and as Sir Max Spence in an episode of Lovejoy ("Benin Bronze", 1992). He appeared in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Last Vampyre" (1993), with Jeremy Brett starring as Sherlock Holmes. He also appeared (heavily made-up) in another Sherlock Holmes episode, starring Douglas Wilmer as Holmes, "The Retired Colourman", first shown by the BBC in 1965.
He made a guest appearance in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who in the 1984 serial The Twin Dilemma , the first story to star Colin Baker in the title role as the sixth Doctor. He later appeared in the Doctor Who radio serial The Paradise of Death in 1993 alongside Jon Pertwee. As The Honourable Mr Justice Stephen Rawley in two episodes in 1977 of the BBC TV prison comedy Porridge , he ends up sharing a cell with Ronnie Barker's Fletcher, whom he had sentenced.
In further radio work, he starred in a BBC Radio 4 version of the Oldest Member , based on stories by P.G. Wodehouse, from 1994 to 1999, as Rumpole in Rumpole: The Splendours and Miseries of an Old Bailey Hack , as Dr. Alexandre Manette in A Tale of Two Cities , as 'Father' in Peter Tinniswood's Winston series, and also as Chief Inspector Jules Maigret in several series beginning in 1976. [5] He also portrayed Hercule Poirot in a BBC radio dramatisation of The Mystery of the Blue Train (1985).
In his book British Film Character Actors (1982), Terence Pettigrew noted that Denham "had one of the best-known bald heads in British films. His face was a minor work of art, a bright-eyed pixie face hand-painted on an egg. It could be kindly, sympathetic, gnomish and infinitely expressive. He also had one of the most listenable and controlled of English-speaking voices, a legacy from his many years in radio." [4]
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Clang in Help! (1965), Thomas Cromwell in A Man for All Seasons (1966), Tom Ryan in Ryan's Daughter (1970), Harry Bundage in Candleshoe (1977), Paddy Button in The Blue Lagoon (1980), Dr. Grogan in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Father Imperius in Ladyhawke (1985), and the role that made him a household name as an actor, Horace Rumpole, whom he played in the British television series Rumpole of the Bailey. He also portrayed Carl Bugenhagen in the first and second instalments of The Omen series and Number Two in the TV series The Prisoner.
Ronald Howard was an English actor and writer. He appeared as Sherlock Holmes in a weekly television series of the same name in 1954. He was the son of the actor Leslie Howard.
Valentine Dyall was an English character actor. He worked regularly as a voice actor, and was known for many years as "The Man in Black", the narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment with Fear.
Alan William Napier-Clavering, better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later on in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for portraying Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.
Frank Thornton Ball, professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was best known for playing Captain Peacock in the TV sitcom Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Herbert "Truly" Truelove in TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.
Wilfrid Hyde-White was an English actor. Described by Philip French as a "classic British film archetype," Hyde-White often portraying droll and urbane upper-class characters. He had an extensive stage and screen career in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and portrayed over 160 film and television roles between 1935 and 1987. He was twice nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, in 1957 for The Reluctant Debutante and in 1973 for The Jockey Club Stakes.
Benjamin Huntington Wright was an English actor. He was best known for playing Herr Zeller in The Sound of Music. He also played numerous roles in famous films and worked as voice actor, having roles in animated films by Disney Studios.
Brian Oulton was an English character actor.
Russell Waters was a Scottish film actor.
Geoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many films. He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the James Bond films.
John Reginald Owen was a British actor, known for his many roles in British and American films and television programs.
Barry Cuthbert Jones was an actor seen in British and American films, on American television and on the stage.
Howard Marion-Crawford, the grandson of writer F. Marion Crawford, was an English character actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the 1954 television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.
Cyril Leonard Shaps was an English actor of radio, television and film, with a career spanning over seven decades.
Noel Howlett was an English actor, principally remembered as the incompetent headmaster, Morris Cromwell, in the ITV 1970s cult television programme Please Sir! He was the subject of infatuation by Deputy Head Doris Ewell, played by Joan Sanderson.
Harry Lockwood West was a British actor. He was the father of actor Timothy West and the grandfather of actor Samuel West.
Thomas Foster "Jack" Raine was an English stage, television and film actor.
Gavin Muir was an American film, television, and theatre actor.
Robert Forbes Felton, known professionally as Felix Felton, was a British film, television, stage and voice actor as well as a radio director, composer and author.
Frederick Worlock was a British-American actor. He is known for his work in various films during the 1940s and 1950s, and as the voice of Horace in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
