Tony Beckley

Tony Beckley
Born (1929-10-07)7 October 1929
Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK
Died 19 April 1980(1980-04-19) (aged 50)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death Cancer[1] (possibly AIDS)
Resting place Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Occupation Actor
Years active 1958[2]–1979

Derek Anthony "Tony" Beckley[3] (7 October 1929[4] – 19 April 1980) was an English character actor. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Beckley went on to carve out a career on film and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s often playing villainous roles, as well as being a veteran of numerous stage productions.

Early life

Beckley was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England. He was a child out of wedlock and never met his father. His mother, Beatrice Mitchell, was a stewardess who worked on ocean liners such as the RMS Mauretania and the RMS Aquitania. Due to work commitments, she was often away, and Beckley was brought up mainly by another lady whom he referred to as his aunt.[3]

When he was five years old Beckley and his mother moved to Portsmouth and when World War II broke out he was sent to Winchester where he attended boarding school at Winton House. As a school boy he enjoyed reading, English and painting and it was in Winchester where he first became interested in acting. While his mother wanted him to do "something nice and safe", i.e. working in the civil service, Beckley felt he had discovered that acting was what was going to make him happy when he saw a performance of Emlyn Williams' "The Corn is Green" by the Portsmouth local repertory company the Court Players.[3]

Beckley left school at the age of 16 in pursuit of his acting career. He worked as a stage sweeper and tea maker for two or three months before moving to London. As he could not get work in the theatre he did odd jobs as a waiter and in an ice cream factory while spending his spare time watching actors like Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Alec Guinness and the Old Vic productions at the New Theatre.[3]

Shortly before turning 18, he joined the Royal Navy. Beckley spent two years as a seaman aboard the destroyer HMS Scorpion where he found the time to prepare for admission to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).[3] He joined RADA on an ex-Navy grant and during his two-year training befriended people such as actress Sheila Hancock and playwright Charles Laurence.[5]

Career

After graduating from RADA, Beckley started working for various provincial repertory companies, eventually settling with a company near London (Bromley Repertory[6]) which opened up opportunities for television work.[3] After guest roles in popular TV series such as Sergeant Cork, The Saint, Z-Cars and the then revolutionary[7] comedy programme Dig This Rhubarb[8] Beckley made his film debut in 1965 as Ned Poins in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight.

Beckley appeared in a number of films for director Peter Collinson: The Penthouse (1967); The Long Day's Dying (1968); and most memorably as Camp Freddie in The Italian Job (1969). His only starring role was as the psychotic Kenny Wemys in The Fiend (1972), and he made his last film appearance in 1979 playing another psychopath in When a Stranger Calls. Other films include The Lost Continent (1968), Get Carter (1971), Assault (1971), Sitting Target (1972), Gold (1974), and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).

On television he guested on shows such as Manhunt, Callan, Jason King, Special Branch, and perhaps most notably as the villainous Harrison Chase in the popular six-part Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Doom.[2]

He also remained active in the theatre, appearing in the West End in Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings with Elaine Stritch and in Snap with Maggie Smith.[3]

Death

Beckley died shortly after principal photography was completed for When a Stranger Calls. Just before his death he had been signed for further work in the U.S. He was supposed to costar with Elizabeth Montgomery in a television movie called My Fat Friend and appear in a film (American Dreamer).[9] He was also to appear in the NBC miniseries Beulah Land alongside Lesley Ann Warren, Don Johnson and others.[10]

The cause of his death was given as cancer (brain tumour[11] ) but appeared "mysterious".[5] According to his friend Sheila Hancock it could have been AIDS, a disease then almost unknown.[5] Beckley died at the Medical Center of the University of California at Los Angeles[1] and is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.[12]

Personal life

In an interview in 1979 Beckley stated that there was nothing in his background to explain why he became an actor except for possibly "a desire for some attention, which I really didn't get much as a kid."[3]

While often playing villains and psychopaths on screen his personal self seemed far removed from it. Beckley is described as friendly and funny by people who met him and as someone who could tell a good story.[13] Beckley remarked to himself that he would be surprised if people could find anything psychotic in his behaviour.[3]

For more than 15 years Beckley was in a relationship with film producer Barry Krost. When Krost opened up his own management company Beckley became his first client.[14] Krost also produced Beckley's last film When A Stranger Calls and was a production associate on The Penthouse.[2]

Shortly before his death, Beckley moved to California where he lived in a flat in West Hollywood.[3]

Filmography

Stage

Films

Television

Radio

References

  1. 1 2 "Tony Beckley, Starred In 'Stranger Calls 'Film", in: The New York Times Biographical Service, Volume 11, Apr 1980, p. 495.
  2. 1 2 3 Tony Beckley (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0065777/) last accessed: 01/03/13
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 van Gelder, Lawrence. 1979. "New Face: Tony Beckley - Genial Film Maniac With English Roots." in New York Times, 19 Oct 1979, Section The Weekend, Page C3
  4. ↑ California Death Records – Beckley, Derek Anthony (http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi?surname=Beckley&given=Derek) last accessed: 27/02/13)
  5. 1 2 3 Hancock, Sheila. 2004. The Two of Us – My Life with John Thaw. London: Bloomsbury.
  6. ↑ "Obituaries: Mr Tony Beckley" in The Times, 10 Jun 1980, p. 16.
  7. ↑ Byford, Timothy. "Autobiography. Chapter 6 – Television: the BBC." (http://www.timothybyford.com/work_Chapter-6---Television:-the-BBC_1484) last accessed: 01/03/13
  8. ↑ Outsider. 1963. "Digging it up" in The Observer Weekend Review, 22 Sep 1963, p. 23. (http://www.solearabiantree.net/namingofparts/pdf/observer/wideningradioshorizons22september1963.pdf)
  9. ↑ "Deaths Elsewhere -Tony Beckley" in The Blade: Toledo, Ohio, 28 Apr 1980, p. 15. (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ah1PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jwIEAAAAIBAJ&dq=tony-beckley&pg=7197%2C3831633)
  10. ↑ "Stars added to cast" in The Free Lance-Star Town & County Magazine, 12 Jan 1980, p. 15. (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hv5NAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1IsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=tony-beckley&pg=2668%2C1631981)
  11. 1 2 Osborne, Charles. 1986. Giving it away: the memoirs of an uncivil servant.London: Secker & Warburg. p. 75.
  12. ↑ Tony Beckley – Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6343), last accessed: 01/04/13.
  13. ↑ Philip Hinchcliffe and John Challis on Doctor Who - The Seeds of Doom DVD Extra "Podshock", 2010
  14. ↑ Koffler, Kevin. 1994. Out. Volume 3, Issues 1-5, p. 88.
  15. ↑ "Limelight - Tony Beckley". In The Stage, 12 Jan 1961, p. 8
  16. ↑ "Bromley Players Excel In 'The Caine Mutiny'". In The Stage, 22 Nov 1956, p. 11
  17. ↑ "Bromley Celebrates Second Birthday". In The Stage, 7 Mar 1957, p. 11
  18. ↑ "Another Successful Season At Bromley". In The Stage, 27 Dec 1957, p. 7.
  19. ↑ Plays and Players, Volume 4, Issue 10, Hansom Books, 1957.
  20. ↑ "Incident in Adelaide". In The Stage, 20 Jun 1957, p. 10.
  21. ↑ "Documentary Of Legal Life". In The Stage, 7 Feb 1957, p. 10.
  22. ↑ "Bromley - 'Jack And The Beanstalk". In The Stage, 2 Jan 1959, p. 7.
  23. ↑ Hobson, Harold. 1959. International Theatre Annual, Issue 4, Citadel Press, p. 271.
  24. ↑ "'Entertainer' not for the Round". In The Stage, 22 Oct 1959, p. 37
  25. ↑ https://archive.thestage.co.uk/Default/Skins/TheStage/Client.asp?Skin=TheStage&enter=true&AppName=2&AW=1365542842117
  26. 1 2 "Actor - Director". In The Stage, 3 Mar 1960, p. 18.
  27. ↑ "A lively and versatile 'Shrew' at Oxford". In The Stage, 28 Apr 1960, p. 21.
  28. ↑ "Miss Jenkins' fine diction". In The Stage, 20 Oct 1960, p. 17.
  29. ↑ Plays and Players, Volume 8, Hansom Books, 1960
  30. ↑ "Return of Sonia Dresdel". In The Stage, 9 Feb 1961, p. 13
  31. ↑ Shakespeare Quarterly, Volume 11, Folger Shakespeare Library 1960, p. 108.
  32. ↑ "Drama With Too Much Doctrine" in The Times, 16 May 1961, p. 17
  33. ↑ Mermaid Theatre: The Bed Bug. 1962 (http://www.infotextmanuscripts.org/webb/webb_bed_bug.pdf)
  34. ↑ "Balloons of Dialogue" in The Times, 26 Apr. 1962, p. 8
  35. ↑ Time & Tide, Volume 43, Time and Tide Publishing Company, 1962
  36. ↑ Theatricalia.com (http://theatricalia.com/play/4y/infanticide-in-the-house-of-fred-ginger/production/10g)
  37. ↑ "Playwright makes Lorca a lay figure" in The Times, 7 Sep. 1966, p. 16
  38. ↑ "Fenella Fielding as Hedda Gabler" in The Times, 20 Mar 1969, p. 16
  39. ↑ http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/sta/search/detaile.cfm?EID=10932
  40. ↑ "Entertainments - Theatres" in The Times, 5 Aug 1974, p. 6
  41. ↑ The Times, 30 Jul 1977
  42. ↑ British Film Institute - Tony Beckley (http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba123ba84) last accessed: 08/03/13
  43. ↑ BBC Genome (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/349df5df9a6d4036b3d0e5c97ea5e8fc)
  44. ↑ "East Lynne". In The Stage, 5 Nov 1964, p. 14.
  45. ↑ British Universities Film & Video Council (http://bufvc.ac.uk/shakespeare/index.php/title/av37329)
  46. ↑ British Universities Film & Video Council (http://bufvc.ac.uk/shakespeare/index.php/title/av37270)
  47. ↑ TV Times, Scottish Edition, Friday 28 Oct 1966, p. 51.
  48. ↑ TV Times, Scottish Edition, Sunday 18 Dec 1966, p. 23.
  49. ↑ TV Times, Scottish Edition, Tuesday 6 Jan 1966, p. 35.
  50. ↑ TV Times, Scottish Edition, Tuesday 17 Feb 1970, p. 37.
  51. ↑ BBC Genome (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/083434b8cb464699bfba448ed647d405)
  52. ↑ TV Times, Scottish Edition, Sunday 23 Oct 1977, p. 47.
  53. ↑ BBC Genome (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/e6abfe6ee0174cf7882ffee9e743326d)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.