Gary Watson (born Garrowby Watson, 13 June 1930) is a British retired actor. Early in his career he appeared in Friedrich Hebbel's 1962 play ''
Judith'' at
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...
in London, with
Sean Connery. He made more than 40 appearances in television programmes between 1956 and 1988, and many more on radio and in commercials.
He became known for his appearances in British
ITC productions of the 1960s, including ''
The Avengers'', ''
The Saint'' and ''
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' is a British private detective television series, starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope respectively as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk. The series was created by Dennis Spooner and p ...
'' in 1969 in the last episode "
The Smile Behind the Veil". In 1966 he appeared as Aramis in all ten episodes of ''
The Three Musketeers
''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...
'', starring alongside
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer.
Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of '' I, Claudius'', King Richard I ...
and
Jeremy Young. He also appeared in the 1967 ''
Doctor Who'' serial "
The Evil of the Daleks
''The Evil of the Daleks'' is the mostly-missing ninth and final serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which originally aired in seven weekly parts from 20 May to 1 July 1967.
In this seri ...
". He played Denisov in the 1972 television series ''
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
''. and the semi-regular character of Detective Inspector Fred Connor in the long-running BBC police drama ''
Z-Cars
''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debut ...
'' between 1972 and 1974. In 1974 he played George Vavasor in five episodes of ''
The Pallisers
''The Pallisers'' is a 1974 BBC television adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels. Set in Victorian era England with a backdrop of parliamentary life, Simon Raven's dramatisation covers six of Anthony Trollope's novels and follows the e ...
''. In 1977 he played the role of Ross in the BBC series ''Murder Most English''. He also appeared in the 1970
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
adaptation o
playing
MacDuff. He was also much employed as a reader and narrator, featuring in dozens of commercials throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He was particularly noted for his work for
British Transport Films and commercials for
Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exte ...
and
Nescafé
Nescafé is a brand of coffee made by Nestlé. It comes in many different forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café". Nestlé first introduced their flagship coffee brand in Switzerland on 1 April 1938.
History
Nestlà ...
.
Watson was born in
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
on 13 June 1930. He attended
Kingswood School
(''In The Right Way Quickly'')
, established =
, closed =
, type = Independent
, religious_affiliation = Methodist
, president =
, head_label = Headmaste ...
, where he was a classmate of
Anthony Thwaite.
graduated from the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
. In the late 1950s he taught English at Westminster City School, off Victoria Street in London. He was very popular with the pupils and directed some school plays such as ''Treasure Island'', starring a young Ken Phillips as Doctor Trelawny.
References
External links
*
1930 births
Living people
English male television actors
English male voice actors
{{UK-tv-actor-1930s-stub