Thomas Heathcote (9 September 1917 – 5 January 1986) was a British

character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...

, a former protégé of

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

. He was educated at

Bradfield College Bradfield College is a coeducational public school (independent boarding and day school) for pupils aged 13–18, in the village of Bradfield, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It is noted for its open-air Greek theatre and its trien ...

in Bradfield, near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, England. His films included '' A Night to Remember'' (1958), '' Village of the Damned'' (1960), ''

Billy Budd ''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'', also known as ''Billy Budd, Foretopman'', is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed vers ...

'' (1962), '' A Man for All Seasons'' (1966), '' Night of the Big Heat'' (1967) and '' Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967). On

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

he had notable guest roles in ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...

'', ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...

'', ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...

'' and ''

The Onedin Line ''The Onedin Line'' is a BBC television drama series that ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and covers the rise of a fictional shipping company, the Onedin Line, nam ...

'', and several years as farmer Ed Lawton in the teatime soap '' Crossroads''. Heathcote was also a regular actor in

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

drama, notably in several series of Paul Temple.

Selected filmography

* ''

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 ...

'' (1950) - Fred * '' Cloudburst'' (1951) - Jackie * '' Malta Story'' (1953) - Soldier (uncredited) * ''

The Sword and the Rose ''The Sword and the Rose'' is a family/adventure film produced by Perce Pearce and Walt Disney and directed by Ken Annakin. The film features the story of Mary Tudor, a younger sister of Henry VIII of England. Based on the 1898 novel '' When ...

'' (1953) - Wrestling Second * '' The Red Beret'' (1953) - Alf * ''

Blood Orange The blood orange is a variety of orange (fruit), orange with crimson, near blood-colored flesh. It is one of the sweet orange varieties (Citrus × sinensis, ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis''). It is also known as the raspberry orange. The dark flesh ...

'' (1953) - Detective Sgt. Jessup * ''

The Large Rope ''The Large Rope'' (also known as ''The Long Rope'') is a 1953 British second feature ('B') crime film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Donald Houston, Susan Shaw and Robert Brown. It was written by Ted Willis. Plot Tom Penney returns to ...

'' (1953) - James Gore * ''

The Seekers The Seekers were an Australian folk music, folk-influenced pop music, pop group originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the Unit ...

'' (1954) - Sgt. Paul * '' Betrayed'' (1954) - Paratropper Corporal (uncredited) * '' Above Us the Waves'' (1955) - Hutchins * '' Doctor at Sea'' (1955) - Wilson * '' The Last Man to Hang'' (1956) - Bracket * '' Eyewitness'' (1956) - Tom - Barman (uncredited) * '' Tiger in the Smoke'' (1956) - Rolly Gripper * '' Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst'' (1957) - Mr. Monaghan RN * '' A Night to Remember'' (1958) - Steward * ''

Tread Softly Stranger ''Tread Softly Stranger'' is a 1958 British crime drama film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Diana Dors, George Baker and Terence Morgan. The screenplay was written by George Minter adapted from the stage play ''Blind Alley'' (1953) by ...

'' (1958) - Sergeant Lamb * '' Dial 999 (TV series)'' ('Commando Crook', episode) (1958)- Sgt. Quigley *'' The Square Ring'' (1959) * '' Village of the Damned'' (1960) - James Pawle * '' On the Fiddle'' (1961) - Sergeant * ''

'' (1962) - Alan Payne - Maintopman * '' A Man for All Seasons'' (1966) - Boatman * '' Night of the Big Heat'' (1967) - Bob Hayward * '' Quatermass and the Pit'' (1967) - Vicar * '' The Fixer'' (1968) - Proshko * ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

'' (1970) - Flavius * '' The Abominable Dr. Phibes'' (1971) .- 2nd Policeman * '' Burke & Hare'' (1972) - Paterson * '' Demons of the Mind'' (1972) - Coachman * '' Luther'' (1974) - Lucas * ''

Trial by Combat Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the ...

'' (1976) - Tramp * '' The Jigsaw Man'' (1983) - Gamekeeper * '' Sword of the Valiant'' (1984) - Armourer * '' The Shooting Party'' (1985) - Ogden

References

External links

* 1917 births 1986 deaths English male stage actors English male film actors English male television actors 20th-century English male actors People educated at Bradfield College {{UK-film-actor-stub