Paul Frederick Daneman (29 October 1925 – 28 April 2001) was an English film, television, and theatre actor. He was successful for more than 40 years on stage, film and television.

Early life

Paul Daneman was born in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He attended the Haberdashers' Aske's School in

Elstree Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of t ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

, and Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Marlow,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

, and studied

stage design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trai ...

at Reading University where he joined the dramatic society. His passion for the stage ignited during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

when entertaining troops in the RAF, in which he served with Bomber Command from 1943 until 1947. After the war he abandoned a career as a painter in order to go to

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the S ...

Career

After training at RADA he joined Bristol Old Vic, Birmingham Rep, and the Old Vic for four years. At the British premiere in August 1955 he created the role of Vladimir in '' Waiting For Godot'', at the

Arts Theatre The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. History It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamber ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. His film credits included '' Time Without Pity'' (1957), '' Zulu'' (1964), '' How I Won the War'' (1967) and ''

Oh! What a Lovely War ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' is a 1969 British comedy musical war film directed by Richard Attenborough (in his directorial debut), with an ensemble cast, including Maggie Smith, Dirk Bogarde, John Gielgud, John Mills, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivie ...

'' (1969). Daneman's TV credits include: '' The Adventures of Robin Hood'', '' The Four Just Men'', '' Persuasion'', '' Danger Man'', ''

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science fi ...

'', '' The Saint'', '' Spy Trap'', '' Blake's 7'', '' The Professionals'' and '' Rumpole of the Bailey''. The BBC's 1960 landmark production '' An Age of Kings'', a fifteen-part drama that combined

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's histories of the kings of England and presented them in chronological order, featured Daneman as

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Bat ...

. In the early 60s he toured West Africa and Australia. Daneman played the husband of

Wendy Craig Anne Gwendolyn "Wendy" Craig (born 20 June 1934) is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms '' Not in Front of the Children'', '' ...And Mother Makes Three'', '' ...And Mother Makes Five'' and ''Butterflies''. ...

in the original series of the popular BBC

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

Not in Front of the Children ''Not in Front of the Children: "Indecency," Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth'' is a non-fiction book by attorney and civil libertarian, Marjorie Heins about freedom of speech and the relationship between censorship and the "think of the ...

'' before being replaced by Ronald Hines. He also played Bilbo Baggins in the 1968 BBC Radio dramatisation of J. R. R. Tolkien's '' The Hobbit''. In that same year he appeared in the

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

detective series episode "The Sign of Four" as two brothers with Peter Cushing as Sherlock. While recovering from a heart attack, he wrote the sitcom '' Affairs of the Heart''. In 1995 Daneman published ''If I Only Had Wings'', a novel inspired by his experiences in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

during

Personal life

Daneman was married twice. He married his first wife Susan Courtney in 1952, and they adopted a daughter, but divorced. He and his second wife, Meredith Kinmont (whom he married in 1965), had two daughters.Obituary, ''The Guardian''
/ref> Meredith, a former student of the Royal Ballet School, was an author and biographer of Dame Margot Fonteyn.

Death

Aged 75, Daneman died in 2001. His body was buried at

East Sheen East Sheen, also known as Sheen, is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its long high street has shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, pubs and suburban supermarkets and is also the economic hub for Mortl ...

Cemetery in South-West London.

Filmography

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Daneman, Paul 1925 births 2001 deaths 20th-century English male actors English male film actors English male television actors English television writers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II People from Islington (district) People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School People educated at Sir William Borlase's Grammar School Alumni of the University of Reading Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Male actors from London 20th-century English screenwriters