Terence Alexander | |
---|---|
Born | Terence Joseph Alexander 11 March 1923 |
Died | 28 May 2009 86) London, England | (aged
Other names | Terry Alexander |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1947–1999 |
Spouses |
Terence Joseph Alexander (11 March 1923 – 28 May 2009) was an English film and television actor, best known for his role as Charlie Hungerford in the British TV drama Bergerac , which ran for nine series on BBC1 between 1981 and 1991.
Alexander was born in London, the son of a doctor, and grew up in Yorkshire. [1] He was educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, and Norwood College, Harrogate, and started acting in the theatre at the age of 16. [2] During the Second World War he served in the British Army as a lieutenant with the 27th Lancers, and was seriously wounded when his armoured car was hit by artillery fire in Italy. [2] In 1956, Alexander appeared on stage in Ring For Catty at the Lyric Theatre in London. [3] He is probably best remembered as Charlie Hungerford from the detective series Bergerac , though he was also very prominent in the 1967 BBC adaptation of The Forsyte Saga . [4] [5] One of his early roles was in the children's series Garry Halliday . [2] In 1970, he appeared in an episode of Please Sir in 1970 as the headmaster of a rival school, [6] and as Lord Uxbridge in Sergei Bondarchuk's war epic Waterloo . [7]
Alexander appeared in many other film and television roles including three appearances in different roles in The Champions , The Avengers , The Persuaders! (Powerswitch), Terry and June (1979–1980), Behind the Screen (1981–1982), the 1985 Doctor Who serial The Mark of the Rani , and The New Statesman (1987). [8] On radio he starred as The Toff in the BBC radio adaptation of the John Creasey novels. [9] He appeared in all but two episodes of Bergerac from 1981 to 1991. [4] He also played Commander Duffield in the 1985 pilot episode of Dempsey and Makepeace , Armed and Extremely Dangerous. [10]
Alexander appeared on the West End in comedies and farces, and his credits included Move Over Mrs Markham (1971), Two and Two Make Sex (1973), There Goes The Bride (1974–75) and Fringe Benefits (1976). [11]
By the time of Bergerac Alexander was blind in one eye due to a condition of the retina, which seriously threatened his sight in the other eye. [12] He retired from acting in 1999, suffering from Parkinson's disease. [2] He lived in Fulham, London, with his second wife, the actress Jane Downs. [13] He died on 28 May 2009 aged 86. [14]
Anne Gwendolyn "Wendy" Craig is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms Not in Front of the Children, ...And Mother Makes Three, ...And Mother Makes Five and Butterflies. She played the role of Matron in the TV series The Royal (2003–2011).
John Welsh was an Irish actor.
Bergerac is a British crime drama television series. Set in Jersey, it ran from 18 October 1981 to 26 December 1991. Produced by the BBC in association with the Australian Seven Network, and first screened on BBC1, it stars John Nettles as the title character Jim Bergerac, who is initially a detective sergeant in Le Bureau des Étrangers, within the States of Jersey Police, but later leaves the force and becomes a private investigator.
John Creasey was an English author known mostly for detective and crime novels but who also wrote science fiction, romance and westerns. He wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms.
Richard Evelyn Vernon was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles. Prematurely balding and greying, Vernon settled into playing archetypal middle-aged lords and military types while still in his 30s. He is perhaps best known for originating the role of Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Other notable roles included the lead role of Edwin Oldenshaw in The Man in Room 17 (1965–67), Sir James Greenley alias "C" in The Sandbaggers (1978–80), and Sir Desmond Glazebrook in Yes Minister (1980–81) and its sequel series Yes, Prime Minister (1987).
Eric Richard Porter was an English actor of stage, film and television.
John David Bennett was an English actor.
Kenneth Griffith was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker. His outspoken views made him a controversial figure, especially when presenting documentaries which have been called "among the most brilliant, and controversial, ever made in Britain".
Peter Ewart Ohm, known professionally as Peter Vaughan, was an English character actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on stage.
Cyril Alexander Garland Luckham was an English film, television and theatre actor. He was the husband of stage and screen actress Violet Lamb.
John Barry Foster was an English actor who had an extensive career in film, radio, stage and television over almost 50 years. He was best known for portraying the title character in the British crime series Van der Valk (1972–1992) and Bob Rusk in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972).
In the series of adventure novels by John Creasey, the Toff is the nickname of the Honourable Richard Rollison, an upper-class crime sleuth. Creasey published almost 60 Toff adventures, beginning with Introducing the Toff in 1938 and continuing through The Toff and the Crooked Copper, published in 1977, four years after the author's death.
Lee Montague is an English actor noted for his roles in film and television, usually playing tough guys.
Ralph Michael was an English actor. He was born as Ralph Champion Shotter in London. His film appearances included Dead of Night, A Night to Remember, Children of the Damned, Grand Prix, The Assassination Bureau and Empire of the Sun.
Robert Dorning was an English musician, dance band vocalist, ballet dancer and stage, film and television actor. He is known to have performed in at least 77 television and film productions between 1940 and 1988.
William John Phillips MC was an English actor. He is known for the role of Chief Superintendent Robins in the television series Z-Cars and for his work as a Shakespearean stage actor.
Ian Fleming was an Australian character actor with credits in over 100 British films. One of his best known roles was playing Dr Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes films of the 1930s opposite Arthur Wontner's Holmes.
The Forsyte Saga is a 1967 BBC television adaptation of John Galsworthy's series of The Forsyte Saga novels, and its sequel trilogy A Modern Comedy. The series follows the fortunes of the upper middle class Forsyte family, and stars Eric Porter as Soames, Kenneth More as Young Jolyon and Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene.
Joseph O'Conor was an Irish actor and playwright.
Alan James Gwynne Cellan Jones was a British television and film director. From 1963, he directed over 50 television series and films, specialising in dramas.