Patrick Newell

Patrick David Newell (27 March 1932 – 22 July 1988) was a British actor perhaps best known for playing Mother in The Avengers.

Early life and education The second son of Eric Llewellyn Newell, of High Lodge, Hadleigh, Suffolk, an Oxford-educated physician who served as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Newell was educated at Taunton School and completed his National Service, where a fellow recruit was Michael Caine, before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, alongside Albert Finney and Peter O'Toole.

Career Newell began to be seen frequently on TV, usually cast as a fat villain or in comic roles. Given his rotund appearance and ability for playing slightly stuffy types, he was a natural stooge in several comedy shows, first for Arthur Askey, in Arthur's Treasured Volumes (ATV, 1960), then for Jimmy Edwards in Faces of Jim (BBC, 1962), with Ronnie Barker also supporting.

He was originally cast as one of the inept recruits in the first of the Carry On films, 1958's Carry On Sergeant but, according to producer Peter Rogers, Newell turned up on the first day of filming, only to recognise the real-life sergeant hired to drill the cast as the one who'd made his life hell in the Army. He then, so Rogers claims, got into his Rolls-Royce, drove off and was never seen again. In Who's Who on Television in the late 1970s, Newell described himself as "Actor with a weight problem—the more he diets, the less work he seems to get."

His most notable role was as "Mother", the spymaster in The Avengers. He also turned up as a Playboy Bunny in one of the Benny Hill comedy specials. Film appearances include the Gluttony segment of The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971).

In 1984, he landed a more significant role, as Sutton/Blessington in ITV's well-received The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes production of "The Adventure of the Resident Patient", alongside Jeremy Brett.

Death Later in life Newell succeeded in losing a substantial amount of weight, but this did not prevent his early death from a heart attack. He was married and had two children.

Selected filmography

Film Dial 999 (1955) – Brewers Man (uncredited) The Rebel (1961) – Art Gallery Patron (uncredited) Night Without Pity (1961) – Doctor Crooks Anonymous (1962) – 2nd Jeweller The Boys (1962) – Crowhurst The Dock Brief (1962) – 1st Warder Unearthly Stranger (1963) – Maj. Clarke Never Mention Murder (1964) (Edgar Wallace Mysteries) – Barman Father Came Too! (1964) – King Harold Becket (1964) – William of Corbeil (uncredited) Do You Know This Voice? (1964) – Neighbour Every Day's a Holiday (1964) – Mr. Hoskins The Alphabet Murders (1965) – Cracknell A Study in Terror (1965) – PC Benson Bindle (One of Them Days) (1966) – Mr. Hearty The Sandwich Man (1966) – River Bus Man The Long Duel (1967) – Colonel Danny the Dragon (1967) – Potter The Strange Affair (1968) – Victim The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971) – Doctor (segment "Gluttony") The Canterbury Tales (1972) – Prior (uncredited) Go for a Take (1972) – Generous Jim Where's Johnny? (1974) – Basil Vampira (1974) – Man in Hotel Room Man About the House (1974) – Sir Edmund Weir The Incredible Sarah (1976) – Major Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977) – M. O. Billings The Golden Lady (1979) – Charlie Whitlock The Shillingbury Blowers (1980) – Mr. Meadows Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) – Bentley Bobster Redondela (1987) – José María Gil Ramos Consuming Passions (1988) – Lester (final film role)

Television Arthur's Treasured Volumes (1960) – Various characters Maigret Deadline Midnight (1961) – Bertie Miller Faces of Jim (1962) – Various characters Danger Man (1964) – Alex Thorndyke (1964) – Polton The Idiot (1966) – Lebediev The Illustrated Weekly Hudd (1966) Room at the Bottom (1967) – Cyril Culpepper All Gas and Gaiters (1967) - Ghost The Avengers (1968) – Mother (the spymaster) / Sir George Collins / Smallwood Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - The Man From Nowhere (1968) – Mannering Never Say Die (1970) – Mr. Oliphant The Misfit (1971) – Stanley Allenby-Johnson The Des O'Connor Show (1971) Casanova (1971) – Schalon The Persuaders! Sadie, It's Cold Outside (1975) – Chip shop proprietor Moll Flanders (1975) – Thomas Woodall Doctor Who: The Android Invasion – Part Four (1975) – Colonel Faraday Wilde Alliance ('A Question of Research ', 'A Game for Two Players', episodes) (1978) - Bailey Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (unscreened) (1980) – Inspector Lestrade The Whizzkid's Guide (1981–1983) Doctors' Daughters (1981) – Archdeacon Bellwether Kinvig (1981) – Mr. Horsley Jemima Shore Investigates – Jamie Bottle Boys (1984) – Mr. Dawson Sherlock Holmes, "The Resident Patient" (1985) – Blessington/Sutton Ladies in Charge (1986) – Maxwell The Young Ones Benny Hill comedy special – Playboy Bunny