Donald Gray

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the actor. For the priest, see Donald Gray (priest).

Donald Gray
Born
Eldred Owermann Tidbury

(1914-03-03)3 March 1914
Tidburys Toll, Fort Beaufort, Cape Province, South Africa
Died7 April 1978(1978-04-07) (aged 64)
Eastern Cape, South Africa
Other namesDon Tidbury (stage name)
Alma materMarist College Uitenhage, Christian Brothers' College, Kimberley
OccupationActor
Years active1933–1975
Employer(s)Paramount Pictures (1933–35)
BBC
TelevisionMark Saber (1955–61)
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967–68)
Spouse
Sheila Green
​
(m. 1955)​
Children2

Donald Gray (born Eldred Owermann Tidbury, 3 March 1914 – 7 April 1978) was a South African actor, well known for his starring role in the British TV series

Mark Saber,[1]: 920  for providing the voices of Colonel White, Captain Black and the Mysterons in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons,[1] and for being the reason that Donald Marshall Gray changed his name to Charles Gray
when he became an actor. Perhaps not coincidentally, in some spin-off media Colonel White's real name is stated to be Charles Grey.

Life and career

Early years

Gray was born on an ostrich farm in Cape Province, South Africa.[2]

Early life

In 1933, film company

Second World War
.

All the winners appeared in the 1933 film

British & Dominions Film Corporation. In 1936, he encountered director Albert Parker and was given the leading role in Strange Experiment after James Mason quit the production. In 1938, he was chosen for a supporting role in Alexander Korda's film The Four Feathers, and appeared in other films before returning to repertory theatre in Aberdeen, Scotland
in 1939 and 1940.

Military service

Initially turned down for military service owing to a

duodenal ulcer, Gray later managed to enlist in the Gordon Highlanders, who had their barracks in Aberdeen, and succeeded in becoming what he called an "ordinary Jock" (having claimed some Scottish ancestry). In 1941, he was commissioned into the King's Own Scottish Borderers, becoming battalion education officer at Llanberis in North Wales. Gray left the Army briefly to appear with Dame Vera Lynn in the film We'll Meet Again (1943). In 1944, he was injured by a German anti-tank shell in Caen, France
, and his left arm was amputated.

Later life

After the war, Gray toured South Africa with his own repertory company, appeared in other films, and was contracted by the

Emmerdale Farm. In his later years, his voice, based on that of fellow South African actor Basil Rathbone, brought him work in voice-overs, advertisements and the TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
.

He died of a coronary in South Africa in 1978.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7
    .
  2. ^ Fryer, Ian (2017). The Worlds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson: The Story Behind International Rescue. Fonthill Media. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  3. ISBN 9780307483201
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donald_Gray&oldid=1202453702"