Frank Middlemass

Francis George Middlemass (28 May 1919 – 8 September 2006) was an English actor, who even in his early career played older roles. He is best remembered for his television roles as Rocky Hardcastle in '' As Time Goes By'', Algy Herries in ''To Serve Them All My Days'' and Dr. Alex Ferrenby in 20 episodes of '' Heartbeat.'' Middlemass was also active in the Royal Shakespeare Company and was the fourth and final actor to play Dan Archer in ''The Archers''.

Early life

Middlemass was born in Eaglescliffe, County Durham, the son of a shipping company director. He was brought up in Newcastle upon Tyne, and educated in Stockton-on-Tees. He entered the army at the age of nineteen and was wounded in the Dunkirk retreat. He left the army when he was thirty and was by then a lieutenant colonel.

Middlemass started his acting career in rep in Penzance, Cornwall and then went on to join the Old Vic Company. While with them he toured North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Poland and the Far East, and performed in ''Twelfth Night'' opposite Vivien Leigh. During the 1960s, he toured with Ian McKellen's Actors' Company and performed at the Nottingham Playhouse. He performed opposite Peter O'Toole in '' Waiting for Godot''.

His first television role was in 1958, in ''Dixon of Dock Green''. His other early television appearances included ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly, Softly'', '' The Avengers'' and '' Jackanory''. During the 1970s and 1980s he appeared in '' Doctor at Large'', ''War and Peace'' (a memorable performance as Mikhail Kutuzov), '' Crown Court'', ''Last of the Summer Wine'', ''Ripping Yarns'' (Murder at Moorstone's Manor), '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', ''Poldark'' (1975), ''Fall of Eagles'' (as Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin), '' The Sweeney'' and ''Emmerdale Farm''.
He played Sir Charles Lyndon in Stanley Kubrick's '' Barry Lyndon'' (1975).

Television

Middlemass played the philandering butcher Mr. Lyon in the final episode of the third series of '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' in 1973, but it was not until 1980, when he appeared in the post-World War I drama ''To Serve Them All My Days'', that he first took a leading role in a British series.

He followed this up with a notable performance in the BBC Television Shakespeare production as The Fool to Michael Hordern's ''King Lear'', as Henry Baker in '' The Blue Carbuncle'' episode of ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' in 1984 and Brezhnev in Tom Stoppard's ''Squaring the Circle''. He went on to play minor characters in ''Yes Minister'', '' Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years'' (as Lord Derby), ''Juliet Bravo'', '' Only When I Laugh'', '' All in Good Faith'', ''Yes, Prime Minister'', '' Oliver Twist'' (as Mr. Brownlow), ''Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady'', and ''Miss Marple'', in the 1989 episode "A Caribbean Mystery" (as Major Palgrave).

In 1989 he recorded a role as a choirmaster (similar to his role in the Children's Film Unit's ''A Swarm in May'', listed below) for the Christmas ghost story ''Haunting Harmony''; this was a co-production made chiefly for export and shown in Canada and Ireland at Christmas 1990, but not transmitted in Britain until 1993 in a late-night slot. From 1992 to 1993, he appeared in twenty episodes of the police drama '' Heartbeat'' as Dr. Alex Ferrenby.

Following that in 1993, Middlemass first appeared in the sitcom '' As Time Goes By'' as Rocky Hardcastle, a role that continued regularly until 2002, and then also in the 2005 two-part reunion specials, his final television appearance. He appeared in both British TV adaptations of ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'', " The Blue Carbuncle" playing Peterson in the BBC
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