Colin Blakely

Colin George Edward Blakely (23 September 1930 – 7 May 1987) was a prolific Northern Irish stage and screen actor whose career spanned three decades of British theatre, film and television. Born in Bangor, County Down to Victor and Dorothy Blakely, his mother sang with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company while his father ran a sports‑goods shop, giving him a modest upbringing that later informed the every‑man quality of his performances. After leaving Sedbergh School, he briefly worked in the family shop and as a timber‑loader before joining the Bangor Drama Club, a step that led to his professional debut with the Group Theatre in Belfast in 1957. Over the next thirty years he became a distinguished member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre at the Old Vic and the West End, earning an Olivier nomination for his role in Just Between Ourselves in 1977. Blakely’s film work is equally notable, ranging from gritty social realism in This Sporting Life (1963) to classic literary adaptations such as A Man for All Seasons (1966) and the iconic role of Dr. Watson opposite Robert Stephens in Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970). His performance as Frank Strang in Sidney Lumet’s Equus (1977) earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and he later portrayed historical figures like Joseph Stalin in Red Monarch (1983). On television he achieved critical acclaim for the controversial title role in Dennis Potter’s Son of Man (1969) and continued to appear in high‑profile productions including the BBC’s Shakespeare series, Antony and Cleopatra (1981) and King Lear (1983). Married to actress Margaret Whiting in 1961, Colin Blakely was a devoted father of three sons before his untimely death from leukaemia at age 56 in London.