Mark Wing-Davey (born 30 November 1948) is a British actor and director. He portrayed

Zaphod Beeblebrox Zaphod Beeblebrox () is a fictional character in the comic science fiction series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams. He is from a planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, and is a "semi-half-cousin" of Ford Prefect, wi ...

in the radio and television versions of ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC ...

''.

Early life

The son of actor Peter Davey and actress

Anna Wing Anna Wing (30 October 1914 – 7 July 2013) was a British actress who had a long career in television and theatre, known for portraying the role of Beale family matriarch Lou Beale in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Early life Wing was bor ...

, Wing-Davey attended Woolverstone Hall School in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

before studying English at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

, where he was a member of the

Footlights The Cambridge Footlights, commonly referred to simply as Footlights, is a student sketch comedy troupe located in Cambridge, England. Footlights was founded in 1883, and is one of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupes. The comedy so ...

between 1967 and 1970. In February 1968, he performed with

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...

at Lady Mitchell Hall,

University Of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Wing-Davey played violin in the string section accompanying Drake on orchestral arrangements of his songs by Robert Kirby.

Career

He had a featured role in the 1976 miniseries '' The Glittering Prizes''. This role was later cited by

Geoffrey Perkins Geoffrey Howard Perkins (22 February 1953 – 29 August 2008) was a British comedy producer, writer and performer. He was BBC head of comedy between 1995 and 2001, and produced the first two radio series of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ...

as the likely reason for his being cast in arguably his most memorable role, that of the two-headed Galactic President,

, in the radio and TV versions of ''

'', written by

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

. He played a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in some episodes of the ITV television series ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

'',

King Henry V Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in Episode 3 of James Burke's '' Connections'', a record company executive in the film '' Breaking Glass'' (1980) and an accountant in ''

Absolutely Fabulous ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (often shortened to ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom created and written by Jennifer Saunders, which premiered in 1992. It is based on the 1990 '' French and Saunders'' sketch " Modern Mother and Daughter", cr ...

''. In the 1983 television production of

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...

's '' An Englishman Abroad'', Wing-Davey played

Prince Hamlet Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew of the usurping King Claudius, Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, the previous King of Denmark. At ...

in the re-enactment of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre's 1958 tour of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' to Moscow. His theatre credits include James Stock's ''Star-Gazy Pie and Sauerkraut'' (

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

, 1995) and

Caryl Churchill Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

's '' Mad Forest'', for which he won an

Obie award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

. He was the first Artistic Director of The Actors Centre, London. In 2003, he returned to the role of Zaphod Beeblebrox for the Above the Title production of the Hitchhiker's Guide Tertiary to Quintessential Phase

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

s for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. More recently he has provided the voice of Judge Ghis in the English version of ''

Final Fantasy XII is a 2006 role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. The twelfth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was first released for the PlayStation 2 in March 2006. It introduced several innovations to the series ...

''. Wing-Davey directed the off-Broadway production of ''Unconditional'' by Brett C. Leonard at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: ...

. It was put up by

Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character actor, character roles—eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical productio ...

's theater group, LAByrinth Theater Company, of which he is a member. It opened in February 2008. In May 2008,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

announced that Wing-Davey had been named Chairman of, and arts professor in, the School's Graduate Acting Program. He reprised the role of Zaphod Beeblebrox in 2012 for a live tour of ''

''. Also in 2012, Wing-Davey directed the world premiere of Brett C. Leonard's "Ninth and Joanie" in a LAByrinth Theater Company production. In 2013, he directed

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 ''

Pericles, Prince of Tyre ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. It was p ...

'' at

Berkeley Repertory Theatre Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a Regional theater in the United States, regional theater company located in Berkeley, California. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in Downtown Berkeley, California, Downtown Berkeley. Histor ...

Personal life

In 1973, while working as a theatre company member in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, he met actress Anita Carey. The two began living together the following year after they appeared in a production together. They got married in 2002. The pair had two children together. Carey died in 2023.

References

External links

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Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wing-Davey, Mark 1948 births Living people English male film actors English male comedians English male radio actors English male stage actors English male television actors English male voice actors British expatriate male actors in the United States Male actors from London Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Tisch School of the Arts faculty Comedians from London