| Peter Arne | |
|---|---|
| Born | Peter Arne Albrecht 29 September 1920 Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya |
| Died | 1 August 1983 (aged 62) Knightsbridge, London, England |
| Occupation | Character actor |
| Years active | 1944–1983 |
Peter Arne (born Peter Arne Albrecht, 29 September 1920 – 1 August 1983) was a British character actor best known for various performances in British film and television, including supporting roles in the television series The Avengers, Danger Man, as well as villains in Blake Edwards' Pink Panther series, in a career that spanned 40 years.
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Arne was born in Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya, to a Swiss-French mother and an American father, and gained his early acting experience in British provincial repertory. In 1953, the New Lindsey Theatre Club performed his play No Stranger.[1] From the mid-1950s onwards, he developed a successful career playing a broad range of supporting roles in both film and television often with a specialisation in playing unsmiling villains such as German officers. In addition to acting, he ran his own antiques business.[2]
In 1968, he played the dual roles of The Duke and Dr. Sanson Carrasco in the London stage production of Man of La Mancha.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Arne was a busy character actor on television. He appeared in several ITC adventure series including four episodes of The Avengers as different characters each time. He appeared in the last two episodes of Secret Army (1979) as a German Colonel, and as a regular in series two of Triangle in 1982.
At the age of twenty-six, Peter and his partner at the time, Jack Corke, befriended acclaimed novelist Mary Renault and her partner, Julie Mullard, on the SS Cairo, a steamer bound from England to South Africa. Peter and Jack persuaded Mary that they could get rich quick by building housing for recent immigrants like themselves. The four of them established a company called CAM Construction, which Mary financed using her £25,000 MGM award, hiring labourers and craftsmen to begin construction of several houses. Peter and Jack, an alcoholic, squandered funds on high living, leaving bills unpaid, and the company failed to generate revenue. After Peter and Jack stole Ms. Renault's Studebaker, her lawyer obtained their resignations from the firm and persuaded them to leave the house the four had formerly shared. Peter and Jack then disappeared from Mary's life for good, Peter returning to England.[3]
On 1 August 1983, Arne attended a costume fitting in Clerkenwell intended for his character Range in the BBC Doctor Who television serial Frontios (a role which would eventually be played by William Lucas).
Shortly after Arne returned to his Knightsbridge home, neighbours reported hearing a violent argument coming from his home. Arne's body was found inside his flat, beaten to death with a stool and a log from his fireplace, which was found in the communal hall.
Police issued an image after eyewitnesses reported seeing a young man loitering nearby eating a jar of honey. Four days later, a body matching this description was found in the Thames at Wandsworth. Bloodstained clothes were later found upstream at Putney.[4] Police identified the body as that of Giuseppi Perusi, a schoolteacher from Verona, who had been living rough in a local park. Inquiries revealed Arne had been giving food to the Italian man.
An inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court in October 1983 recorded a verdict of unlawful killing for Arne and suicide for Perusi. Police concluded that Perusi had beaten the actor to death then killed himself rather than enduring the ensuing publicity (the blood found on his clothing matched Arne's). The hearing was also told that Arne habitually solicited vagrant men for sex. However, the reason for the violent argument remains unknown.[5]