Peter Charles Hammond Hill (15 November 1923 – 12 October 2011)
''The Daily Telegraph'', 19 October 2011 was an English actor and television director. Peter Charles Hammond Hill was born in Victoria,

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. His father, Charles, was an art restorer and his mother, Ada, a nurse. After attending Harrow School of Art, he started work as a scenic artist at Sheffield Repertory Theatre. Following this, he turned to acting to "earn some cash", where he adopted the stage name of Peter Hammond. He first appeared in a West End production at the age of 17. Hammond made his film début in '' Waterloo Road'' (1945) and carved a career playing handsome boy-next-door types throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, especially in the role of Peter Hawtrey in The Huggetts Trilogy – '' Here Come the Huggetts'' (1948), '' Vote for Huggett'' and '' The Huggetts Abroad'' (both 1949). Hammond's other films include ''

Holiday Camp A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation, primarily in the United Kingdom, that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term ...

'' (1947), '' Helter Skelter'' (1949), '' Morning Departure'' (1950), '' The Adventurers'' (1951) and ''

X the Unknown ''X the Unknown'' is a 1956 British science fiction horror film directed by Leslie Norman and starring Dean Jagger, Leo McKern and Edward Chapman. It was made by the Hammer Film Productions company and written by Jimmy Sangster, at the sug ...

'' (1956). In 1950, Hammond was reunited with his Huggetts co-star

Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...

and played her leading man in Ealing's ''

Dance Hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing, but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards the end of the century. The palais de danse was a term ap ...

''. In this film he gave Clark her first screen kiss. Hammond’s television roles include Hofmanstahl in '' The Adventures of William Tell'' and Lt. Edward Beamish in ''

The Buccaneers ''The Buccaneers'' is the last novel written by Edith Wharton. The story is set in the 1870s, around the time Wharton was a young girl. It was unfinished work, unfinished at the time of her death in 1937 and published in that form in 1938. Whar ...

''. In the 1960s, he turned to directing television programmes, including episodes of '' The Avengers'', ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Ca ...

'', ''

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction and horror 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 dramatisations of s ...

'', and the BBC serial ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...

'' (1966). His work on ''The Avengers'' gave Hammond a free hand to explore many stylistic opportunities. The producer Leonard White and series creator

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (; April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian producer and screenwriter who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, he was app ...

both congratulated him on giving the early episodes their distinctive visual style, and

Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British-American actor best known for his breakthrough role as secret agent John Steed in the television series ''The Avengers (TV series), The Avengers'' (1961–1969). Starting out ...

credited him as a major influence in the shaping of the character of John Steed. It was through Hammond's work on ''The Avengers'' and ''Armchair Theatre'' (also produced by Leonard White) that he would be awarded a Director's

Bafta Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

in 1965. Hammond's work on ''The Avengers'' was entirely on the videotape seasons (1961–64). Although

Brian Clemens Brian Horace Clemens (30 July 1931 – 10 January 2015) was an English screenwriter and television producer. He worked on the British TV series '' The Avengers'' and created '' The New Avengers'' and '' The Professionals''. Early life Clemen ...

, producer of the filmed episodes of the show (1965–69), approached him a few times about directing further episodes, Hammond wasn't interested: "I told them to get lost – there was nothing I could love about the Avengers being made on film". Hammond’s one foray into film as a director saw him directing

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning once) and two ...

in '' Spring and Port Wine'' (1970), based on the play of the same name by Bill Naughton and set in the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

town of

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

. Hammond continued to direct many television series of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including '' King of the Castle'', a production of ''

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'' for

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

in 1978, ''The Dark Angel'' for BBC2, ''

Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, ...

'', ''

Follyfoot ''Follyfoot'' is a children's television series co-produced by the majority-partner British television company Yorkshire Television (for transmission on ITV) and the independent West German company ''TV München'' (for transmission on the ZD ...

'', ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic ...

'', '' Cold Comfort Farm'' in 1968, '' Tales of the Unexpected'', '' The Little World of Don Camillo'', '' The Return of Sherlock Holmes'', ''

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

'' and many more. Peter Neill, a colleague who worked with Hammond on various productions of the time, remembers him as "very efficient, yet creative, with a friendly manner and sense of humour". He is said also to have had a good rapport with actors, perhaps due to his own background in that area. He retired from directing in the mid-1990s due to illness and to look after his wife, Maureen Glynne, whom he married in 1948, until her death in 2005. They had three sons and two daughters, including the actress Juliet Hammond-Hill.

Selected filmography

* '' They Knew Mr. Knight'' (1946) * '' Fly Away Peter'' (1948) * '' The Huggetts Abroad'' (1949) * '' Helter Skelter'' (1949) * '' The Reluctant Widow'' (1950) * ''

'' (1950) * '' Father's Doing Fine'' (1952) * '' Come Back Peter'' (1952) * ''

Flannelfoot ''Flannelfoot'' is a 1953 British second feature ('B') crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Ronald Howard, Mary Germaine and Jack Watling. It was written by Carl Heck and Jack Henry, and made at Walton Studios. The film's sets ...

'' (1953) * '' Alf's Baby'' (1953) * ''

Confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...

'' (1955) * '' It's Never Too Late'' (1956) * '' Soho Incident'' (aka ''Spin a Dark Web'') (1956) * ''

'' (1956) * ''

Model for Murder ''Model for Murder'' is a 1959 British second feature ('B') crime film directed by Terry Bishop and starring Keith Andes, Hazel Court and Jean Aubrey. It was written by Bishop and Robert Dunbar from a story by Peter Fraser. Plot American s ...

'' (1959)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, Peter 1923 births 2011 deaths English male film actors English male television actors English television directors Actors from the City of Westminster Male actors from London