Denys Hawthorne

Denys Vernon Hawthorne was born on 9 August 1932 into an upper‑middle‑class Protestant family in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. His father ran a linen business, and the young Denys initially pursued a law degree at Queen's University Belfast before turning to the stage. He joined the Ulster Group Theatre, where he worked alongside future luminaries such as Patrick Magee, James Ellis, Stephen Boyd and Colin Blakely, performing modern classics and pioneering new Irish works by playwrights like Joseph Tomelty and Brian Friel. A move to London proved decisive; in 1957 he captured critical attention as the Old Man in Eugène Ionesco’s The Chairs at the Royal Court, and three years later he embodied Stephen Dedalus in the daring Unity Theatre production Bloomsday, a dramatization of James Joyce’s Ulysses. These early triumphs launched a versatile career that would span theatre, radio, television and film, cementing his reputation as a consummate character actor.

From the 1960s onward Hawthorne became a fixture of the BBC radio drama repertory, celebrated for his resonant voice and his poetic readings—notably the works of Louis MacNeice after the poet’s death. In 1972 he briefly served as producer of BBC Northern Ireland radio drama, overseeing an eighteen‑month tenure. His television resume includes a memorable turn as Mr Starling, the inaugural headteacher of Grange Hill (1978), a role in the Doctor Who saga Trial of a Time Lord (1986), and appearances in series such as Within These Walls (46 episodes), Capital City, Dangerfield and a cameo in the cult classic Father Ted episode “Tentacles of Doom”. Film credits feature The Russia House (1990), In the Name of the Father (1993) and the role of Mr Woodhouse in Emma (1996). Awarded a Society of Authors prize for his dramatization of Jennifer Johnston’s How Many Miles to Babylon?, he married Rita Christina in 1970, becoming stepfather to her three children. A stroke later curtailed his work; he died at his home in Hove, East Sussex on 16 October 2009, leaving behind his wife and step‑children.