Caroline Blakiston

 

Caroline Blakiston: 

For someone who can lay claim to a named character in the Star Wars franchise - Mon Mothma in 'Return Of The Jedi' (1983) - as well as a royal flush of the classic cult TV adventure shows of the '60s - including 'The Saint', 'The Baron', 'The Champions', 'Department S' and no fewer than three episodes of 'The Avengers' - it's surprising that you might be forgiven for not immediately knowing the name of Caroline Blakiston.

In 'Return Of The Jedi' (1983) briefing on the attack on Endor.
In later films, and the upcoming TV spin-off 'Andor', the role of
Mon Mothma was taken over by Australian actress Genevieve O'Reilly.   

Amazingly assured and accomplished from an early age, she has commanded substantial roles since the very beginning of the '60s, including two of the biggest successes of that decade in 'Emergency Ward 10' and 'The Forsyte Saga'. Radiating upper-class style and authority, she excelled as professional and aristocratic characters. She is, in fact, related to several titled families, although by no means a snob, having been married to fellow character actor, the great Russell Hunter - who came to the profession via the Glasgow shipyards.     

In the enormously popular television melodrama
'The Forsyte Saga', here with John Phillips 

 
In the dramas and period melodramas of the '60s and '70s, she cuts an impressive swathe of lady magistrates, doctors, high-ranking civil servants and landed gentry. Spot her in 'Wives & Daughters', 'The Mallens', 'Charters & Caldicott' and 'Raffles'. She was a regular as a barrister in 'Crown Court', and can be seen in 'The Sweeney', 'Nanny' and many more. 

In the stylishly-shot 'Public Eye'

Caroline Blakiston's movie credits beyond 'Jedi' are surprisingly slim. She's in 'The Magic Christian' (1969) with Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, and a couple of other biggish films like 'Yanks' (1979), 'Fourth Protocol (1987), and Woody Allen's 'Scoop' (2006), but it's more likely that you've spotted her on the small screen.  

As a programmed super agent in an episode of
'The Champions', entitled 'The Experiment

In an episode of 'The Saint' with Roger Moore

The '80s and '90s saw her  pop up in 'Shoestring', 'Chancer', 'Mulberry' and the counter-espionage drama 'Mr Palfrey Of Westminster' with Alec McCowan, in which she plays Palfrey's M-like boss, the Coordinator.  On the comedy front, she's in 'Murder Most Horrid' and the mill melodrama pastiche 'Brass'.    

As the mysterious Coordinator in the understated  
spy drama series, 'Mr Palfrey Of Westminster'

More recently there have been medical machinations of the 'Casualty', Holby City' and 'Doctors' variety, and some detective and period pieces such as 'Poirot', 'Midsomer Murders', 'Father Brown', and 'Poldark. All quite in order for the latter stages of a long and distinguished career stretching back to the early '60s.  

Caroline Blakiston-imdb   

Christopher Sandford

Christopher Sandford:  

 The '60s were remarkable years, fizzing with possibilites, of sudden opportunities and lingering disappointments. Christopher Sandford's story is fascinating in the way it touches obliquely on some pivotal pop-culture moments. Without knowing it, I'd watched him in a number of my favourite films and television programmes, without a glimmer of recognition or connection.

'Coronation Street' Oct 1963, as would-be beat sensation Walter Potts   

Early roles as a teenager included a few TV shows, mostly now lost, and typical light comedies such as the inevitable cruise-ship romp 'Next To No Time' (1958) with Kenneth More and Sid James, and the equally inevitable schoolboy hi jinks of 'A French Mistress' (1960), with James Robertson Justice. But it was his role as Walter Potts, the gormless window cleaner of 'Coronation Street' that brought him to the public's attention. In 1963, as Beatlemania was gathering momentum, the primetime soap's storyline saw Walter transformed into "Brett Falcon" by would-be impresario Dennis Tanner. This neat TV-pop crossover even resulted in a flurry of real-life singles on Decca and Fontana. 

         

His solo album on Transatlantic from the mid-'60s. 

Demonstrating a radio tracking device to
Patrick McGoohan in 'Danger Man'  

He appears in several episodes of 'Danger Man', notably as a Arthur the departmental boffin and as a DJ/agent on a pirate radio station in 'Not So Jolly Roger'. He seems to have been ticking along nicely with the odd part in popular shows of the time, including 'Z-Cars', 'No Hiding Place', 'Public Eye' and 'The Saint'. He also appears in 'Half A Sixpence' (1967) as Tommy Steele's mate Sid, and the BBC adaptation of Dickens's 'Dombey & Son' from 1969.   

Flash bang wallop what a picture.  In 'Half A Sixpence' (1967)
with Tommy Steele (and the late great Julian Orchard). 

As Brett Sinclair's tuneless cousin Onslow, about to get electrocuted in a
'Kind Hearts & Coronets'-influenced episode of 'The Persuaders'    

The '70s presented a new landscape. Sandford's swinging London pop-persona was in demand, but looking increasingly outré in the new decade. He appears in full comedy-mode in 'The Persuaders' Ealing-esque episode 'A Death In The Family' as Roger Moore's groovy duffer of a cousin. On the darker side, he turns up as the brilliantly-named depraved pornographer David Thing  in "Cool It Carol' (1970) a rather grimy, if moralistic, sexploiter with Robin Askwith.        

Great character name. With a curious mix of guest stars in the
Robin Askwith sexploitation movie 'Cool It Carol' (1970)  

Darker still is his slightly chilly turn as Sue's fiancé in the marvellous 'Deep End' (1971), and another rather grim gooseberry role in the obscure Giallo-style 'Die Screaming Marianne' (1971).       

As the fiancé of Sue (Jane Asher) in 'Deep End' (1971)

'Die Screaming Marianne' (1971)

The remainder of the '70s saw relatively few highlights, and in fact there are only six entries on imdb covering the period from 1975 to 2006. He also returned to music with a couple of pastiche comedy records. A modest claim to fame comes from his appearance in the 'Dad's Army' episode 'Time On My Hands' as the German airman dangling from the Walmington-on-Sea town hall clock.  
  

A mixed bag, but some real gems, some terrific oddball stuff and a fascinating story.   

Christopher Sandford-imdb

Edward Kelsey

Edward Kelsey:

† Jun 4 1930 – Apr 23 2019

The voice of the rascally Joe Grundy on the BBC Radio 4 serial 'The Archers', Edward Kelsey is a stalwart actor with a list of TV and film credits stretching back to the late '50s. He appeared in several of those timeless series which we now like to call 'cult', including both 'The Avengers' and its '70s rehash 'The New Avengers', as well as 'Colditz', 'Doomwatch', 'The Saint', 'The Tripods' and three different Dr Who stories; the Hartnell-era 'Slave Traders', 'The Power Of The Daleks' with Patrick Troughton, and alongside Tom Baker in 'The Creature From The Pit'.         

 Colonel K in 'Danger Mouse'

A popular voice actor, he is also known for providing the bluster of Danger Mouse's boss Colonel K and his arch enemy Baron Greenback, and creating a pastiche of his own Joe Grundy role as Mr Growbag in the Wallace & Gromit film, 'The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit'. Other animations to benefit from his low growl include 'The Wind In The Willows', 'The Reluctant Dragon' and the Terry Pratchett-penned 'Truckers'.      

In an early (1962) episode of 'The Avengers'

In an episode of the Peter Davison cosy crime
favourite, 'Campion' from 1990

Not very much comedy, save for a spot in 'The Vicar Of Dibley' and 'Minder', but lots of mainstream TV drama over the past four decades. Highlights include 'The Plane Makers', 'Cranford' and 'Anna Of The Five Towns', with more everyday stuff like 'The Cedar Tree', 'Softly Softly', 'Penmarric', 'Z-Cars', 'Angels' and the ever-present 'Casualty'.  

It's not how I'd pictured Joe Grundy really, but that's him.

Edward Kelsey-imdb

Barry Stanton

Barry Stanton:

A classical actor who knows his way around his 'King Lear' and his 'Hamlet' (he plays Claudius in the bizarre Quentin Crisp 1976 version), but also an archetypal 1970s 'big bloke', often playing a plain clothes copper who's a bit handy in a scrap, or the sort of hefty hard-nut who gets up slowly in a pub to show his size, before getting an unlikely duffing-up from a leading man. Barry Stanton appears in a fair bit of TV drama from the late-'60s on, such as 'The Saint', 'Z Cars', 'The Baron', 'Manhunt', 'Survivors',  'The Protectors', 'The Sweeney', 'Minder', and 'The Professionals'. He also turns up in the sadly-lost supernatural drama serial 'Witch Hunt' from 1967, high on many TV collector's list of BBC holy grails.   

As Noma in the 'Doctor Who' story 'The Twin Dilemma'

As Jim Hacker's press officer in 'Yes, Prime Minister'

In more recent years, he has been given less generic TV roles, such as his turns as a Jacondan alien in the first Colin Baker story for Doctor Who', 1984's 'The Twin Dilemma', and as Tory press officer Malcolm Warren in 'Yes, Prime Minister'. There was also the Shakespeare play cycle 'The Wars of the Roses' televised in 1990. 

   

As Claudius in the adventurous 'Hamlet' (1976) which featured Helen
Mirren as both Gertrude and Ophelia, and Quentin Crisp as Polonius 

'Demons Of The Mind (1972)

Film roles are also more varied: aside from 'Sweeney 2' (1978), there was Hammer horror 'Demons Of The Mind' (1972), 'Leon the Pig Farmer' (1993) and 'Robin Hood' (1991) - not the Kevin Costner 'Prince of Thieves' one from that year, another one starring Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman. He's in the Jackie Chan kung-fu in Victorian England romp, Shanghai Knights (2003), and portrays the playwright/MP Sheridan in 'The Madness of King George' (1994).

As the Lord Chancellor in, 'Shanghai Knights' (2003)

A rare leading role came in the Roy Clarke sitcom 'Mann's Best Friends' in which he appeared with the likes of Fulton McKay, Patricia Brake, and Bernard Bresslaw. Sadly, it seems to have disappeared without a trace. He's also the splendidly over-acting postman who delivers the vampire Alexei Sayle in the 'Young Ones' episode 'Nasty'. 

As miserly boss Mr Grayson in 'Tucker's Luck' 

Barry Stanton-imdb

Benjamin Whitrow

Benjamin Whitrow:

† Feb 17 1937 – Sep 28 2017*

A very well respected character actor, probably best known for his portrayal of the peaceable Mr Bennett in the much admired 1995 BBC version of 'Pride & Prejudice', though he has had a quite slow-building TV career. After serving in the Army, he secured a few roles through the '60s before finding his feet in the popular period dramas of the early '70s, such as 'The Pallisers', 'The Bronte's of Haworth', and 'Clayhanger'.

Losing his patience with his cheeky mod employees in 'Quadrophenia' (1979)     

His officer experience made him highly convincing in roles requiring gravitas and authority, either in actual military dramas like 'Wings' and 'Danger UXB', or as a string of headmasters, politicians and politicians. He played Amundsen in 'Shackleton', Superintendent Braithwaite in 'The Sweeney' and aristocratic socialist Paddy O'Rourke in 'The New Statesman' as well as one-offs in the likes of 'Minder', 'Boon', 'Bergerac', 'Perfect Scoundrels' and 'Rumpole'.  

In 'The New Statesman' with the late Rik Mayall

He has done a fair number of classic dramas and serials, from 'A Man For All Seasons' to 'The Merchant of Venice', and after the mega-success of the Colin Firth-powered 'Pride & Prejudice', there were others in the same vein, including Squire Allworthy in 'The History of Tom Jones'. And lots more primetime drama and comedy throught the '90s and '00s, like 'Jonathan Creek', 'Monarch of the Glen', 'New Tricks', 'Doc Martin' and recently, 'Toast of London'.

As Julie Walters's accountant and client in 'Personal Services' (1987)

In the cinema, you can see him as Jimmy's boss in 'Quadrophenia' (1979), in the John Cleese vehicle 'Clockwise' (1986), and in 'Personal Services' (1987), Louis Malle's 'Damage' (1992), and the Val Kilmer movie of 'The Saint' (1997). He also voices Mr Fowler in the hit Ardman animation 'Chicken Run' (2000). 

*(Edit: Oct 2, 2017. Very sad to hear that Benjamin Whitrow has died. One of those actors who seems like he would be the ideal next-door neighbour. Which I mean as no faint praise.)   

Benjamin Whitrow-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

Barbara Murray

Barbara Murray:

† Sep 27 1929 – May 20 2014

Sultry, heavy-lidded, but frightfully British actress who appeared in a few popular films in the '50s and '60s, but never quite attained full-blown stardom. She's in the Ealing classics 'Passport to Pimlico' (1948) and 'Meet Mr Lucifer (1953), both with Stanley Holloway, she was James Robertson Justice's unlikely love interest in 'Doctor in Distress' (1963), and she's in the portmanteau horror 'Tales From The Crypt' (1972). 

As the Brit B-movie studios closed and TV took over in the '60s, she won parts in kitsch favourites like 'Danger Man', 'The Saint', 'Department S' and 'Jason King', but was more at home in period melodramas and serious TV plays. Big successes were the modern political intriguer 'The Power Game' and the Anthony Trollope adaptation 'The Pallisers', in which Murray played major roles. But she was also able to play comedy, as in the Frankie Howerd entendre-fest 'Up Pompeii' (1971).    

In 'The Power Game'

In 'The Pallisers'

By the later '70s she was an occasional sighting on British screens, with a rather mixed bag including 'Doctor Who' (Peter Davison era story, 'The Black Orchid'), 'Robin's Nest', and the rarely-recalled 1987-89 serial 'The Bretts' - a sort of 'Upstairs Downstairs' of theatre folk set in the '20s. 

Barbara Murray - imdb

Kervork Malikyan

Kervork Malikyan:

I'm stretching the definition of British a little here, but this versatile Armenian-born actor has been London-based since coming to study drama in England in the late '60s, and his face is certainly most familiar to British TV audiences. He played Greek student Max in 'Mind Your Language' wearing a succession of generously open-necked shirts, and has popped up in a bewildering array of assumed ethnicities and roles, equally at home with sinister, silly, sympathetic sleazy or sophisticated characterisations.   

 

Kazim chases Indy around the seedy side of Venice in
'Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade' (1989)  

Much in demand for the movies, he played Roger Moore's manservant Luigi in 'The Man Who Haunted Himself' (1970) and, more significantly, the memorable Kazim in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (1989). Other big movies that you might spot him in include: 'Midnight Express' (1978), 'Pascali's Island' (1988), the remake of 'Flight of The Phoenix' (2004), and the Liam Neeson thriller 'Taken 2' (2012).
        
 

In 'The Man Who Haunted Himself' (1970)

As Max in 'Mind Your Language'

Menawhile, British TV viewers became accustomed to his presence in the likes of 'Doctor Who' (in the Troughton-era Cyberman story 'The Wheel in Space'), 'The Saint', The Avengers', 'Jason King', 'The Professionals', 'Minder', 'Auf Wiedersehn Pet' and 'Silent Witness'. 

'The Bill' and 'Casualty' are presumably more or less a formality if you have an agent who can pick up a phone.

Still going strong at 70 and lending a hand to the Turkish film industry after 50 years away in England. Hokay.   

Kervork Malikyan - imdb
 

Lance Percival

Lance Percival: 

† 26 July 1933 – 6 January 2015

The unmistakable, agile and angular features of John Lancelot Blades Percival - that long crooked nose and the teeth seemingly trying to escape from under his jutting upper lip - combined with his quickfire delivery and timing to make him a comedy star of the '60s. He featured in a string of middling movies as a sure pair of hands for dimwit and klutz roles. He's in 'Carry On Cruising' (1962) of course, as the bilious ship's cook (Charles Hawtrey pulled out with only a few days until filming), and there was a solid run of jokey parts through the early part of  the decade. 

'The Big Job' (1965)

The lucky break with the 'Carry On…' team probably helped his profile, but possibly not as much as his regular appearances on television's 'That Was The Week That Was', where he was a natural fit for the satirical skits and he became a household name for his topical calypso numbers. One of these, 'Shame and Scandal in the Family', was a Top 40 hit in 1965. As the decade wore on, his combination of wacky charm and anti-establishment credentials saw him in demand for pop-music tie-ins, like voice-over work on the Beatles animated adventures (he was Paul and Ringo) which led to him voicing Old Fred in 'Yellow Submarine' (1968). Less memorably, he also featured in Herman's Hermits 'Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter' the same year. 


An interesting aside is the Italian thriller 'The Weekend Murders' (1970) which saw him in a leading role, albeit stylised and semi-comic. Shame and scandal was to follow however, when the Kent-born actor was involved in a road accident on the A20 in which his Jaguar XJ6 was alleged to be racing with another similar car. An unfortunate Rainham man was killed in the resulting smash.        

'The Weekend Murders' (1970)

Whether or not the accident had anything to do with it, work post '70 was a bit less fun. There were movie roles in 'Up Pompeii' (1971) and its follow-ups, and similar British smutty comedies of the period: 'Our Miss Fred' (1972), leading to 'Confessions from a Holiday Camp' (1977) and 'Rosie Dixon: Night Nurse' (1978). All rather poor. 

With Danny LaRue in 'Our Miss Fred' (1972)

TV work kept coming, though rather intermittently by the '80s, and these days he makes a living on the after-dinner speaking circuit.  

Update 9/1/15: Sorry to hear that Lance Percival died on January 6 after a long illness.   

Lance Percival - imdb

Gerald Sim

Gerald Sim:

† Jun 4 1925 – Dec 11 2014

Delighted to find that this distinguished gent is still around, having made his film debut in 1947's 'Fame Is The Spur'. Sixty years is a long time, so it's likely that you'll have seen his knitted brows in 'The Wrong Box', 'Ryan's Daughter', 'Dr Jeckyll & Sister Hyde', 'Oh What A Lovely War!', 'Dr Phibes Rises Again' or 'A Bridge Too Far' on the big screen. 

His TV career stretches from 'Man In A Suitcase' and 'The Avengers' to 'Cribb', 'Ripping Yarns', 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin' and the unavoidable 'Bergerac'. A full house.

Gerald Sim - imdb profile