James Ottaway

William Cecil James Ottaway (25 July 1908 – 16 June 1999) was a British film, television and stage actor whose career spanned seven decades.

Family background Born in 1908 in Chertsey in Surrey, Ottaway was the son of William Henry Ottaway, an enthusiastic amateur actor with the St Pancras People's Theatre and the Superintendent of the School of Handicrafts for Poor Boys in Chertsey, and his wife Mary Ellen, the School's Matron. Their oldest son was Andrew Kenneth Cosway Ottaway (1905-1980), a lecturer in Education at the University of Leeds. A younger son was Christopher Wyndham Ottaway (1910-1978), Research Professor of Veterinary Science at the University of Bristol from 1973 to 1975.

Early career and first theatre roles James Ottaway graduated from Imperial College London in 1929 and became a teacher. However, having become interested in acting while appearing in amateur dramatics, he left teaching to train at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Leaving in 1937, he made his stage debut in The Island at the Q Theatre. Also in 1937 he appeared in an early television production, Capital Punishment, broadcast by the BBC from Alexandra Palace.

Film appearances included Johnson in In the Wake of a Stranger (1959); Grandad in That'll Be the Day (1973); Father Matthews in Absolution 1978) and Commissionaire in The Long Good Friday (1980), as well as appearing in Room 43 (1958), The Man Who Liked Funerals (1959) and Rahn in The Man Who Finally Died (1962).

Personal life Ottaway first met his wife Anne Pichon when they were both members of the St Pancras People's Theatre, but they did not marry until 1965 after meeting again later in life. One nephew, Sir Richard Ottaway, was the Conservative MP for Croydon South, while another, Mark Ottaway, was chief travel writer on The Sunday Times.

James Ottaway died on 16 June 1999 in London at the age of 90.

Filmography