Gerald Flood

Gerald Robert Flood (21 April 1927 – 12 April 1989) was a British actor of stage and television.[1][2]

Gerald Flood
Born
Gerald Robert Flood

21 April 1927
Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Died12 April 1989 (aged 61)
Farnham, Surrey, England
OccupationActor
Years active1948–1989

Early life

Flood was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, but lived for most of his life in Farnham, Surrey, where he regularly appeared on stage at the Castle Theatre. He served as a wireless operator in the RAF during World War II, and worked as a filing clerk before becoming an actor. He joined the Farnham Repertory Company after the war.[3]

Career

Gerald Flood's first television starring roles were in the popular ABC science-fiction television serials; Pathfinders in Space, Pathfinders to Mars and Pathfinders to Venus, 1960-61, as journalist Conway Henderson, which were follow up sequels to Target Luna.[4] This was followed in 1962-63 by the series City Beneath the Sea and its sequel, Secret Beneath the Sea, when he played the role of Mark Bannerman.[5]

He came to national prominence whilst starring alongside Patrick Allen and Sam Kydd in the Morocco-based police series, Crane, which ran from 1963 to 1965 on ITV. In this he played the character of police chief Colonel Sharif Mahmoud.[6]

Theatre

(1957) He performed in the pantomime, "Mother Goose," at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, Surrey, England with Douglas Byng, Eve Lister, Ann Lancaster, Rosalie Ashley, Reg Thompson, The Hedley Ward Trio, and Roland Curram in the cast. Guy Vaesen and Thurza Rogers were directors.

(1959) He acted in Graham Greene's play, "The Complaisant Lover," at the Globe Theatre in London, England with Ralph Richardson, Paul Scofield, Phyllis Calvert, Lockwood West, Helen Lowry, Polly Adams, Hugh Janes, and Oliver Burt in the cast. John Gielgud was director.

(1960) He acted in Graham Greene's play, "The Complaisant Lover," at the Globe Theatre in London, England with Ralph Richardson, Alan Dobie, Phyllis Calvert, Lockwood West, Helen Lowry, Polly Adams, Hugh Janes, and Ernst Ulman in the cast. John Gielgud was director.[7]

In June 1967 Flood took over from Donald Sinden the role of Robert Danvers in the hit comedy "There's A Girl In My Soup", at The Globe (now Gielgud) Theatre in London's West End, which he played until December 1968. He reprised the role during a UK tour of the play in 1972/3, including Wolverhampton, Leeds and Glasgow amongst other venues, and again at the Bristol Hippodome in June 1976.[8] In total he played the role of Robert Danvers more than 650 times.

(1971) He played the role of Tom Hillyer in the Lesley Storm comedy, "Look, No Hands!" at the Fortune Theatre in London's West End.

(1974) He acted in JB Priestley's play, "Dangerous Corner," at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, Surrey, England with Rachel Gurney, Barbara Jefford, and Christopher Good in the cast.

(1977) He acted in "She Stoops to Conquer" at the 7 Arts Theatre, Salisbury (now Harare), Rhodesia. Co-Producer and actor David Nicholas Wilkinson set this in a pioneer Rhodesia setting, and it was first time black actors performed in the theatre in that country. Most of their scenes were with Flood who encouraged them to improvise. During the run as a thank you Flood took these actors to a night club to see singer Kiki Dee perform. Although there was no apartheid in Rhodesia the management asked the black actors to leave. Flood would not tolerate this and persuaded the entire audience to leave until the actors were allowed back in. The management changed their mind.

(1981) He acted in David Storey's play, "Early Days," in a British National Theatre production at the Comedy Theatre in London, England with Ralph Richardson, Sheila Ballantine, and Marty Cruickshank in the cast. Lindsay Anderson was director.

(1983) He acted in the play "Underground" at the Theatre Royal, York.

(1985) He acted in the play, "The Cabinet Mole," at the Richmond Theatre in Richmond, Surrey, England with Amanda Barrie, Bruce Montague, and Derek Bond in the cast.

Doctor Who

Perhaps Flood's best known work was in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who as the voice of the robot companion Kamelion in two serials — The King's Demons and Planet of Fire as well as a brief scene in the regeneration serial The Caves of Androzani.[3] Originally, the character was to have been featured more heavily in other serials but his scenes were edited out both for timing reasons and for the difficulty in operating the Kamelion prop.[9]

Other work

Flood also appeared in a number of television roles over the years.[10] These included the ITC series The Champions, Strange Report and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and starred as spy Peregrine Smith in The Rat Catchers (1967). He portrayed Sir Richard Flashman in the BBC's popular 1971 television serial Tom Brown's Schooldays and was also in Bachelor Father. Flood also appeared in Steptoe and Son, Raffles, Two in Clover, The Madras House and Comedy Playhouse.[11]

Death

During his later years Flood was an alcoholic and because of the financial difficulties associated with this was reduced to living with his wife in a small flat in Aldershot. He later died from a heart attack[12] in 1989.

Family

Toby Flood, the English international rugby union player, is Flood's paternal grandson.

Train Crash

Gerald Flood was on the sleeper train which came off the rails at Morpeth on 24 June 1984. He was interviewed by the BBC News afterwards.[13]

Filmography

His film credits included Smokescreen (1964), Patton (1970), and Frightmare (1974).[2]

Year Title Role Notes
1959Captured
1961Plateau of FearMark BannermanTV series
1964SmokescreenGraham Turner
1970PattonAir Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder
1970Steptoe and SonEstate AgentEpisode: Without Prejudice
1974FrightmareMatthew Laurence
1981A Sharp Intake of BreathDoctorEpisode: "Rear Window", . Broadcast 15/2/'81.
gollark: Unless I see a 144Hz monitor and immediately become forced to use one forever.
gollark: I'm hoping iGPUs will get good enough in a few years for my GPU to become unnecessary.
gollark: Practically you need a GPU, if just a minimal one, but you don't need a graphics card. My CPU has no iGPU, you see.
gollark: GPU != graphics card.
gollark: You can play some text adventure over the serial port.

References
  1. "Gerald Flood – Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  2. "Gerald Flood".
  3. "Eye of Horus – Doctor Who – Editorial Contents – Interview – Gerald Flood". www.eyeofhorus.org.uk.
  4. Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin; Topping, Keith (30 July 2015). "The Classic British Telefantasy Guide". Orion – via Google Books.
  5. "myReviewer.com – Review for City/Secret Beneath the Sea – The Complete Series". www.myreviewer.com.
  6. "Patrick Allen". 7 August 2006 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  7. "Production of The Complaisant Lover – Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  8. "Production of There's a Girl in my Soup – Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  9. "Doctor Who companions" – via s.telegraph.co.uk.
  10. "Gerald Flood". www.aveleyman.com.
  11. Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 408. ISBN 1-84854-195-3.
  12. http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Gerald_Flood
  13. "Gerald Flood on being in a train crash · British Universities Film & Video Council". bufvc.ac.uk.

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