Victor Maddern

Victor Jack Maddern (16 March 1928 – 22 June 1993) was an English actor. He was described by The Telegraph as having "one of the most distinctive and eloquent faces in post-war British cinema".

Life and career Born in Seven Kings, Ilford, Essex, Maddern attended Beal Grammar Boys school and afterwards joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 15 and served in the Second World War from 1943 until its end and was medically discharged in 1946.

He subsequently trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Appearing as Helicon in a production of Albert Camus' play Caligula (1964), Maddern was singled out for critical praise, and in My Darling Daisy (1970) portrayed the notorious Frank Harris. Among his many TV roles were Private Gross in Denis Cannan's Captain Carvallo, old Lampwick's son-in-law in The Dick Emery Show, and Tommy Finch, the British dad in Fair Exchange in 1962–63 on the CBS network, one of the first hour-long situation comedies. In 1963, he had a guest role in Perry Mason as jewel smuggler Gilbert Tyrell, in the episode "The Case of the Floating Stones". Maddern also appeared in an episode of Dixon of Dock Green which has since been lost, save for an outtake reel in which he repeatedly failed to pronounce "Dock Green Nick".

Besides acting, Maddern ran a script-printing business, and in 1991 opened a public speaking school. A lifelong Conservative Party voter, he offered special rates to Conservative MPs and constituency workers.

In his later years, Maddern devoted much of his time to charitable work. He was married with four daughters. He died from a brain tumour in Hackney, London, in 1993, aged 65.

Partial filmography

Morning Departure (1950) – Leading Telegraphist Hillbrook Seven Days to Noon (1950) – Private Jackson The Franchise Affair (1951) – Mechanic Pool of London (1951) – First Tram Conductor (uncredited) I’ll Never Forget You (1951) – Geiger Man (uncredited) High Treason (1951) – Anarchist (uncredited) His Excellency (1952) – Soldier Angels One Five (1952) – Airman The Planter's Wife (1952) – Radio operator (uncredited) Top Secret (1952) – British N.C.O. Time Bomb (1953) – Saboteur Street of Shadows (1953) – Danny Thomas Sailor of the King (1953) – Signalman Willy 'Misery' Earnshaw Malta Story (1953) – Grouchy Soldier Clearing Rocks (uncredited) The Good Beginning (1953) – Bookie's Runner (uncredited) The Young Lovers (1954) – Sailor (uncredited) The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954) – Gus Westover Carrington V.C. (1954) – Sergeant Owen Fabian of the Yard (1954) Raising a Riot (1955) – Guardsman (uncredited) The End of the Affair (1955) – 1st Orator The Night My Number Came Up (1955) – Engineer Footsteps in the Fog (1955) – Jones Josephine and Men (1955) – Henry The Cockleshell Heroes (1955) – Sergeant Craig It's a Great Day (1955) – Charlie Mead Private's Progress (1956) – Pvt. George Blake The Last Man to Hang (1956) – Bonaker Child in the House (1956) – Bert A Hill in Korea (1956) – Pvt. Lindop The Man in the Sky, aka Decision Against Time (1957) – Joe Biggs Seven Waves Away (1957) – Willy Hawkins Saint Joan (1957) – English Soldier Face in the Night (1957) – Ted Strangers' Meeting (1957) – Willie Fisher Barnacle Bill (1957) – Figg Son of a Stranger (1957) – Lenny Carve Her Name with Pride (1958) – Sergeant, Parachute Training Instructor (uncredited) Happy Is the Bride (1958) – Shop Steward The Safecracker (1958) – Morris Dunkirk (1958) – Merchant Seaman in Pub Cat & Mouse (1958) – Superintendent Harding Blood of the Vampire (1958) – Carl I Was Monty's Double (1958) – Orderly Sergeant The Square Peg (1958) – Cpl Motor Pool. (uncredited) The Siege of Pinchgut (1959) – Bert I'm All Right Jack (1959) – Knowles Please Turn Over (1959) – Works Manager Sink the Bismarck! (1960) – Able Seaman (uncredited) Carry On Constable (1960) – Detective Sergeant Liddell Let's Get Married (1960) – Works Manager Light Up the Sky! (1960) – Lance Corporal Tomlinson Watch Your Stern (1960) – Sailor fishing for bike Crossroads to Crime (1960) – Len Exodus (1960) – Sergeant Carry On Regardless (1961) – First Sinister Passenger Raising the Wind (1961) – Removal Man On the Fiddle (1961) – First Airman Petticoat Pirates (1961) – CPO Nixon H.M.S. Defiant (1962) – Bosun Dawlish The Longest Day (1962) – Camp Cook (uncredited) Carry On Spying (1964) – Milchmann Carry On Cleo (1964) – Sergeant-Major Rotten to the Core (1965) – Anxious O'Toole Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) – Taxi Driver Circus of Fear (1966) – Mason The Magnificent Two (1967) – Drunken Soldier Run Like a Thief (1967) – Abel Baker Cuckoo Patrol (1967) – Dicko The Lost Continent (1968) – The Mate Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher (1968) – First Warder Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) – Junkman The Bushbaby (1969) – Barman The Magic Christian (1969) – Hot Dog Vendor Cromwell (1970) – Executioner (uncredited) The Magnificent Six and 1/2 (1971) Steptoe and Son (1972) – Chauffeur Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973) – Dog Home Manager Carry On Emmannuelle (1978) – Man in Launderette Around the World in 80 Days (1989) – Liverpool Ticket Agent Freddie as F.R.O.7 (1992) – Old Gentleman Raven (voice) (final film role)

Selected television credits

The Vise (aka Saber of London) (1957) – Miller in Episode "Bishops Sometimes Bite" The Adventures of Robin Hood (1958) – Hugo Sir Francis Drake (1961–1962) – Brewer / Ship's Cook Fair Exchange (1962–1963) – Tommy Finch Perry Mason (1963) – Gilbert Tyrell Mess Mates (1960) – 'Tug' Nelson Bonanza (1963) – Dave Crossroads (1964) – Bert Henderson The Troubleshooters (1965) – Rogers Gideon's Way (1965) – Charles Randle Take a Pair of Private Eyes (1966) – Cokey Brock The Avengers (1966) – Jackson in Episode "The Thirteenth Hole" The Prisoner (1967) – Bandmaster The Baron (1967) – Dino The Wednesday Play (1967) – Wagger The Saint (1967–1968) – Enrico Montesino Dixon of Dock Green (1967–1975) – Orrie Heppledene / Forbes / Jimmy Lester / Fred Hall The Ugliest Girl in Town (1968) – Freddie Doctor Who - (Fury from the Deep) (1968) – Robson Softly Softly (1970) Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1970) – Detective Sergeant Watts The Dick Emery Show (1968–1980) – Ernie Paul Temple (1971) – Bill Stacey The Frighteners (4 August 1972, ITV (TV network)) - ep. 'The Disappearing Man' - Harry Henshaw Crown Court (1973) – Joe Fisk Men of Affairs (1974) – Removal man 1990 (1977) – Sammy Calhoun Mr. Big (1977) – Fick Mack You're Only Young Twice (1979) – Fingers Together (1980) – Harry Klein In Loving Memory (1982) – Comic That's My Boy (1983) – Bluebird Johnny Miss Marple: The Moving Finger (1985) – Police Constable Johnson The Beiderbecke Tapes (1987) – Sam Bentley C.A.B. (1988) – Private Tripe The Bill (1990) – Mr Grant The Darling Buds of May (1992) – Fruity Pears