Colin Blakely

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Colin Blakely
Colin Blakely as Dr. John H. Watson (left) and Sir Robert Stephens as Sherlock Holmes in Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Born	Colin George Blakely 23 September 1930(1930-09-23) Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland
Died	7 May 1987 (aged 56) London, England
Spouse(s)	Margaret Whiting

Colin George Blakely (23 September 1930 - 7 May 1987) was a British character actor. He was considered an actor of great power and presence, working chiefly in the theatre but also in television and films.

He was born in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland and attended Sedbergh School, in Yorkshire. He started work at 18 in a sports goods store then went on to work as a timber-loader on the railways. In 1957, after a spell of amateur dramatics with the Bangor Operatic Society, he turned professional with the Group Theatre, Belfast. From 1957 to 1959 he was at the Royal Court Theatre, appearing in Cock-A-Doodle Dandy, Serjeant Musgrave's Dance and, to critical approval, The Taming of Murderers Rock. In 1961, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon and from 1963 to 1968 was with the National Theatre at the Old Vic.

In 1969, his controversial role as Jesus Christ in Dennis Potter's Son of Man gained him wide recognition. From that time onwards, he was a regular on British television, and in the same year played the leading role in a BBC adaptation of Trollope's The Way We Live Now.

Among the many stage plays in which he appeared were The Recruiting Officer, Saint Joan, Royal Hunt of the Sun, Volpone and Oedipus. He returned to the Royal Shakespeare in 1972 in Harold Pinter's Old Times and was subsequently in many West End plays.

Among his most celebrated film roles were as Maurice Braithwaite in This Sporting Life (1963) and as Dr. Watson to Robert Stephens's Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). In the 1975 British film, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet, he played the eccentric Siegfried Farnon. Other film appearances included Nijinsky, The National Health, A Man for All Seasons, Young Winston, Murder on the Orient Express, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet and Equus.

A noted Shakespearean actor, he appeared on television as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, and as Kent in the 1984 TV version of King Lear which starred Laurence Olivier. Other television appearances included Loophole, Operation Julie and Paradise Postponed

Colin Blakely was married to actress Margaret Whiting for 26 years and had three sons (including twins).

He died of leukemia at the peak of his career, aged 56.