| Patrick Wymark | |
|---|---|
| Born | Patrick Carl Cheeseman 11 July 1926 Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 20 October 1970 (aged 44) Melbourne, Australia |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1959–1970 |
| Spouse | Olwen Wymark (1953–1970) (his death) |
| Children | 4 (including Jane Wymark) |
Patrick Wymark (11 July 1926 – 20 October 1970), was a British, stage, film and television actor.[1]
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Born Patrick Carl Cheeseman in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England. He was brought up in neighbouring Grimsby and frequently re-visited the area during the height of his career.
He attended University College, London, before training at the Old Vic Theatre School and making his first stage appearance in a walk-on part in Othello in 1951. He toured South Africa the following year and then directed plays for the drama department at Stanford University, California.
Moving to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Wymark played a wide range of traditional roles, including Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing and Stephano in The Tempest. He also played the parts of Marullus in Julius Caesar and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other stage parts included the title role in Danton's Death and, with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Ephihodov in The Cherry Orchard. His theatre roles also included playing the part of Bosola in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi in 1960. His film roles included: Children of the Damned (1964), Operation Crossbow (1965), Battle of Britain (1969), Where Eagles Dare (1968), Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and Cromwell (1970).
On television, where at one point he was considered as a replacement for William Hartnell on Doctor Who.,[2] he was best known for his role as the machiavellian businessman John Wilder in the drama series The Plane Makers/The Power Game, a role which led to offers of company directorships. Wymark, however, was a gentle man in real life, self-confessedly ignorant of business matters, who considered the Wilder character to be a "bastard" and was described by his wife as "the most inefficient, dreamy muddler in the world."[3]
Wymark, who was married to Olwen Wymark, an American writer of numerous plays, took his acting name from his grandfather-in-law, writer William Wymark Jacobs. They lived in Parliament Hill, Hampstead, and had four children, one being the actress Jane Wymark. He had a brother called John Cheeseman.
He died suddenly in Melbourne, Australia on 20 October 1970 of a heart attack three days before he was due to star in Sleuth at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. He was aged 44 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery. Wymark View in the town of Grimsby is named after him.
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