Harold Franklin England (October 2, 1932 – November 6, 2003) was an American actor.

Personal life

He was born on October 2, 1932 to W. F. England and Della Irene England in

Kings Mountain, North Carolina Kings Mountain is a small suburban city within the Charlotte metropolitan area in Cleveland and Gaston counties, North Carolina, United States. Most of the city is in Cleveland County, with a small eastern portion in Gaston County. The popul ...

. He attended Kings Mountain High School and graduated with honors. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at

Mars Hill Junior College Mars Hill University is a private Christian university in Mars Hill, North Carolina. The university offers 35 undergraduate majors and includes a school of nursing and graduate schools in education, criminal justice, and management. From 1859 to ...

to study for the ministry, but left a year later to study pre-law at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which r ...

. After a year of pre-law, he switched to dramatics and joined the campus theater group Carolina Playmakers. He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in dramatic arts. He died on November 6, 2003 of heart failure at

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center is a Catholic hospital in Burbank, California. The hospital has 446 beds, and is part of Providence Health & Services. Its address is 501 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California 91505. On the opp ...

. Fred W. Bennett, a producer, was his life partner for forty years.

Career

After graduating from university, England went to New York and starred in a number of

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

productions, including ''Candide'' and ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises ...

''. He understudied

Robert Morse Robert Alan Morse (May 18, 1931 – April 20, 2022) was an American actor, who starred in '' How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', both the 1961 original Broadway production, for which he won a Tony Award, and its 1967 film adapta ...

for two years in the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

production '' How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', and then starred in several Broadway productions including ''Love Me Little'', '' Say Darling'', and ''

The Beggars Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

''. He was a life member of the

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founde ...

. England also had over 100 guest starring roles in television, and appeared in over 200 TV commercials. He once had a lawsuit brought against him for $25,000 by

Kentucky Fried Chicken KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with ...

, which he had completed a commercial for, for breach of contract, because he had also completed a commercial for their rival

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

; it was later settled out of court. On November 5, 1970, he played the character warlock, Waldo, in the Bewitched episode, Samantha's Bad Day in Salem.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:England, Hal 1932 births 2003 deaths People from Kings Mountain, North Carolina 20th-century American male actors