Tony Beckley

Derek Anthony Beckley (7 October 1929 – 19 April 1980) was an English actor.

When he was five years old, Beckley and his mother moved to Portsmouth and when the Second World War broke out he was sent to Winchester, where he attended boarding school at Winton House. It was in Winchester where he first became interested in acting. While his mother wanted him to do "something nice and safe", like working in the civil service, Beckley discovered that acting was what was going to make him happy when he saw a performance in Portsmouth of Emlyn Williams' The Corn Is Green by the Court Players, a local repertory company.

Career After graduating from RADA, Beckley started working for various provincial repertory companies, eventually settling with a company near London (Bromley Repertory ) which opened up opportunities for television work. comedy programme Dig This Rhubarb Beckley made his film debut in 1965 as Ned Poins in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight.

Beckley appeared in a number of films for director Peter Collinson: The Penthouse (1967); The Long Day's Dying (1968); and most memorably as Camp Freddie in The Italian Job (1969). His only starring role was as the psychotic Kenny Wemys in The Fiend (1972), and he made his last film appearance in 1979 playing another psychopath in When a Stranger Calls. His other films include The Lost Continent (1968), Get Carter (1971), Assault (1971), Sitting Target (1972), Gold (1974), and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).

On television, Beckley played the villainous Harrison Chase in the six-part Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Doom (1976). He also guest-starred on shows such as Manhunt, Callan, Jason King, and Special Branch.

He remained active in the theatre, appearing in the West End in Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings with Elaine Stritch and in Snap with Maggie Smith. Just before his death he had been signed for further work in the US. He was supposed to co-star with Elizabeth Montgomery in a television movie titled My Fat Friend and appear in a film, American Dreamer. He was also to appear in the NBC miniseries Beulah Land alongside Lesley Ann Warren, Don Johnson and others.

Though the cause of his death was given as cancer, it appeared rather "mysterious" and is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Personal life In an interview in 1979, Beckley stated that there was nothing in his background to explain why he became an actor except for possibly "a desire for some attention, which I really didn't get much as a kid." Beckley remarked that he would be surprised if people could find anything psychotic in his behaviour. Krost also produced Beckley's last film When a Stranger Calls and was a production associate on The Penthouse.

Stage ??? - Five Finger Exercise 1950s - Eden's End 1957 - The Rivals 1957 - Look Back in Anger 1957 - The Teahouse of the August Moon 1957 - Night of the Ding-Dong 1958 - Brothers-in-Law 1958 - Jack and the Bean Stalk 1959 - Wolf's Clothing 1959 - The Entertainer 1959 - Bus Stop (as producer) 1959 - The Long and the Short and the Tall 1960 - Two for the See-Saw (as director) 1960 - Saint Joan 1960 - Time Limit 1961 - S. for Scandal 1961 - The Merchant of Venice (as producer) 1961 - Mother 1962 - The Bed Bug 1962 - Arden of Faversham 1962 - Diary of a Scoundrel 1962 - Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger 1966 - Lorca 1969 - Hedda Gabler 1969 - Cages 1973 - Small Craft Warnings 1974 - Snap 1974 - The Dog Beneath the Skin