David Horovitch

David Horovitch

A very dependable British actor with a look somewhere between Bob Hope and Droopy, He's possibly best known as eternally on-the-wrong-track Inspector Slack in 'Agatha Christie's Miss Marple', but his lugubriously expressive style has found a place in 'The New Avengers', 'Bulman', 'Boon', 'A Touch of Frost', 'Just William', 'Drop the Dead Donkey', 'Peak Practice', 'Foyle's War' and dozens of others.

The results of sneaking up on Steed at the billiard table in 'The New Avengers'

Listening to Miss Marple explain where he went wrong yet again.

On the silver screen, he's been much less ubiquitous, but can be spotted in the Disney sequel '102 Dalmatians' (2000) as Cruella DeVile's shrink, and in the odd British-set Woody Allen movie 'Cassandra's Dream' (2007) with Ewan MacGregor and Colin Farrell.

Something a bit different in the star-studded 1983 series
'The Cleopatras' as Chickpea, one of the many Ptolemys

In a long and distinguished theatre career, including work with the RSC and Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre, he's covered much of the canon, from 'Charley's Aunt', 'An Inspector Calls' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest' to Ibsen, Sheridan, and of course Shakespeare.

David Horovitch-imdb

Douglas Wilmer

Douglas Wilmer: 

† Jan 8th 1920 – Mar 31st 2016

With his powerful, craggy features, just a fraction too exaggerated for romantic leads, Douglas Wilmer, now 92, has enjoyed a fantastic career as a character actor without ever quite becoming a household name. The list of classic films he appeared in is pretty impressive and includes sword and sandal favourites 'El Cid' (1961), 'Cleopatra' (1963), Jason and the Argonauts' (1963), and 'Fall of the Roman Empire' (1964).    It was about this time that he was chosen to play Sherlock Holmes in a TV adaptation of 'The Speckled Band' which led to a further 12 stories screened in 1965, briefly making him a popular television celebrity. He was seen in a number of quality shows of the '60s and early '70s, such as 'The Avengers', The Saint', 'The Baron', 'Mogul', 'UFO', 'Space: 1999' and, cleverly, as Professor Von Dusen in 'The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'.         
 

As Sherlock Holmes in the popular mid-'60s TV adaptation

As King Pelias who sends Jason on his mission in the
Ray Harryhausen epic 'Jason and the Argonauts' (1963) 

There was still plenty of movie work on offer: see for example his turn as Baron Hartog in the fabulous Hammer negligee-ripper 'The Vampire Lovers' (1970) with Peter Cushing, George Cole and a bevy of fanged females including Ingrid Pitt and Madeline Smith.


 

'The Vampire Lovers' (1970) 

Douglas Wilmer - imdb