Denys Blakelock

Denys Blakelock (22 June 1901 – 9 December 1970) was an English actor, teacher, writer and broadcaster.

Life and career Blakelock was born in London on 22 June 1901, son of the Rev Martin Blakelock, vicar of St Andrew's, Muswell Hill, and his wife, Constance, née Pike. According to The Times it was in "the showy part of an effeminate soclalite" in Basil Dean's production of Frederick Lonsdale's Spring Cleaning (1925) that Blakelock made his name.

In the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s Blakelock appeared in a succession of West End plays, many of them successful but undemanding. Feeling the need of a greater challenge he turned to the classics, and a long-running role in the television series Waggoners' Walk.

Blakelock died in London on 9 December 1970, aged 69. In its obituary The Times commented, "It seems sad that a man whose acting, especially in comedy, gave so much pleasure should himself have found so little satisfaction in it. At least, however, he enjoyed passing on his knowledge and his experience of the problems of the stage to student classes at RADA. and to pupils who worked with him privately".

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