Jack Watling

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Jack Watling
Publicity still for The Winslow Boy (1948)
Born
Jack Stanley Watling

(1923-01-13)13 January 1923
Chingford, Essex, England
Died22 May 2001(2001-05-22) (aged 78)
Chelmsford, Essex, England
Alma materItalia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
OccupationActor
Spouse
Patricia Hicks
​
(m. 1947)​
Children4, including Deborah and Giles
RelativesDilys Watling (stepdaughter)

Jack Stanley Watling (13 January 1923 – 22 May 2001) was an

English actor.[1][2]

Life and career

Watling was born 13 January 1923 in Chingford, east London, England.[3] The son of a travelling scrap metal dealer, Watling trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts as a child; and made his stage debut in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire in 1936.[4] He made his first film appearances (all uncredited) in Sixty Glorious Years, Housemaster (both 1938) and Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939).[5]

In 1941, he played Bill Hopkins in Once a Crook in his

Flight Lieutenant Teddy Graham in the original 1942 production of Terence Rattigan's Flare Path.[5]

Watling had a long career in low-key British films, originally in easy-going boyish roles.

sinking of the Titanic, the film A Night To Remember (1958), he played Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall and in Sink the Bismarck! (1960) as the Signals officer who reports "HMS Hood...has blown up!"[8]

Television

His reputation as an effective and reliable television actor took root in the early 1960s. He appeared in

science-fiction television series Doctor Who in the serials The Abominable Snowmen (1967) and The Web of Fear (1968), both of which also featuring his daughter Deborah Watling as the Second Doctor's companion Victoria Waterfield.[10] He reprised the role decades later in the independent Doctor Who spin-off video Downtime (1995).[11] He also took over the role of Arthur Bourne in the final series of The Cedar Tree
in 1979

His final roles were all on television, in series including Bergerac, four episodes 1989–1991, as Frank Blakemore and Heartbeat as The Colonel 1994 in "Lost and Found".[12][13]

Personal life

Watling was married to former actress Patricia Hicks. He was the father of actress Deborah Watling, actor/politician Giles Watling, sculptor Nicky Matthews, and a fourth child, Adam, who died in infancy. Watling was also the stepfather of actress Dilys Watling, Hicks's daughter from a previous marriage. The Watlings were long-term residents at Alderton Hall, Loughton.[14][15]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ a b "Jack Watling". BFI. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Jack Watling - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  3. ^ Shorter, Eric (24 May 2001). "Jack Watling". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  4. ^ "Jack Watling". 25 May 2001 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  5. ^ a b Anthony Hayward Obituary: Jack Watling[dead link], The Independent, 24 May 2001.
  6. ISBN 9780810893061
    – via Google Books.
  7. ^ a b Shorter, Eric (25 May 2001). "Obituary: Jack Watling". The Guardian.
  8. ^ "Sink the Bismarck! (1960) - Lewis Gilbert - Cast and Crew - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  9. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Plane Makers/Power Game, The (1963-69)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  10. ^ "BBC - Doctor Who - Classic Series - Photonovels - The Abominable Snowmen". www.bbc.co.uk.
  11. ISBN 9781476604541
    – via Google Books.
  12. ^ "Jack Watling". www.aveleyman.com.
  13. ISBN 9780786452064
    – via Google Books.
  14. ^ Hadoke, Toby (24 July 2017). "Deborah Watling obituary". The Guardian.
  15. ^ "Jack Watling". www.nndb.com.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jack_Watling&oldid=1227079787"