John Ringham

John Henry Ringham (10 February 1928 – 20 October 2008)[2] was a British character actor of both television and stage who appeared in over a hundred screen appearances in a wide variety of roles. He is known for his role in the 1980s sitcom Just Good Friends as Norman Warrender.[3][1]

John Ringham
Born
John Henry Ringham

(1928-02-10)10 February 1928
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
Died20 October 2008(2008-10-20) (aged 80)
London, England
OccupationActor
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Shepherd (1959–1962)
Hedwig Felizitas Nowacki (1966–2008; his death)[1]
Children4[2]

Early life

Ringham was born in Cheltenham where his father was a travelling book salesman. He was educated at the Cheltenham Grammar School for Boys (now known as Pate's Grammar School). As a teenager he was a member of a drama group run by a retired professional actor. He was then called up for National Service and served from 1946 until 1948 as an officer in Egypt and Mandatory Palestine.

After leaving the army he spent four years as a member of a touring theatre company based in Gloucestershire called the Compass Players.[4]

Career

He appeared throughout BBC Television's Shakespeare adaptation An Age of Kings in 1960, most prominently as Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, the brother of Henry the Fifth.[5] Other appearances over the years include several parts in Z-Cars; Softly, Softly, and Barlow at Large; Flambards; Poldark; the War and Peace dramatisation in 1972; Birds of a Feather; The Bill; Bless Me Father; Taggart; Bergerac; The Tripods; Juliet Bravo; Minder; All Creatures Great and Small; Dixon of Dock Green; Are You Being Served?; Catweazle; Up Pompeii!; The Avengers; The Piglet Files, When the Boat Comes In, London's Burning and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.[6][7][8]

Ringham played Inspector Lanner in the 1985 Sherlock Holmes adaptation of The Resident Patient.[9] In Dad's Army he played two different characters – Private Bracewell in the pilot (he was set to become a major recurring character, but this was later dropped), then Captain Bailey in four later episodes.[10][11]

He appeared in the long-running show Doctor Who three times, first as the bloodthirsty priest Tlotoxl in the story The Aztecs (1964). He returned in the stories The Smugglers (1966) and Colony in Space (1971).[12]

Ringham also appeared as the by-the-book Commander Tri-S in the unsold pilot of The Solarnauts, created by Roberta Leigh (1967).

Playwright and author

He was also a playwright and the author of three books, including a biography of the composer George Frideric Handel.[4]

Death

Ringham died of cancer in 2008 aged 80.[4]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1959Ivy League KillersInspector
1961Very Important PersonP / O G S 'Plum' Pouding
1973The Zoo RobberySmythe's associateUncredited
2005V for VendettaOld Man
gollark: No.
gollark: <@!711227962401226793>
gollark: > 1003 Unsupported Data The connection is being terminated because the endpoint received data of a type it cannot accept (for example, a text-only endpoint received binary data).
gollark: It is a websocket error code.
gollark: Oh no.

References
  1. "John Ringham: Actor best known as Penny's father in 'Just Good". The Independent.
  2. "John Ringham". The Daily Telegraph. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2008.
  3. "BFI Screenonline: Just Good Friends (1983–86) Credits". screenonline.org.uk.
  4. Obituary in The Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2014
  5. "An Age of Kings Part 6 Uneasy Lies the Head (1960)". BFI.
  6. "John Ringham". BFI.
  7. "John Ringham – Movies and Filmography". AllMovie.
  8. "John Ringham". aveleyman.com.
  9. "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Resident Patient (1985) – David Carson – Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
  10. "The Man and the Hour (1968)". BFI.
  11. "Don't Fence Me In (1970)". BFI.
  12. "BBC One – Doctor Who, Season 8, Colony in Space – The Fourth Dimension". BBC.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.