Keith Skinner (born 1949) is a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
actor and crime historian and author.
Acting career
He worked as an actor in cinema and television. His career began when he starred as Bruno in the 1966 film ''
Mademoiselle''. In 1968, he was cast in
Franco Zeffirelli
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...
's adaptation of ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'' as
Balthasar, Romeo's manservant and trusted friend. He appears at various stages in the film including galloping on horseback to tell
Romeo
Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest ...
(played by
Leonard Whiting
Leonard Whiting (born 30 June 1950) is a British retired actor and singer widely known for his role as Romeo in the 1968 Zeffirelli film version of ''Romeo and Juliet'', a role which earned him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year ...
) of
Juliet
Juliet Capulet () is the female protagonist in William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. A 13-year-old girl, Juliet is the only daughter of the patriarch of the House of Capulet. She falls in love with the male protagonist R ...
's "death" and accompanies Romeo back to
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
again on horseback towards the end of the film.
Skinner starred in one episode of ''The Jazz Age'' in 1968. He played Harry Lampton in five episodes of the early seventies' TV series ''
Man at the Top'' and appeared in three episodes of ''
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 debuted ...
'' from 1969 to 1972. He went on to appear in an episode of ''
Play for Today
''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...
'', one episode of ''
Out of the Unknown
''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science f ...
'' in 1971, two episodes of ''
So it Goes'' in 1973 and two episodes of ''
Beryl's Lot'' (1973-1976). In 1976 he appeared in the British musical ''
The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella''. In 1977, Skinner worked again with Zeffirelli when he played the possessed boy in the TV miniseries ''
Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
''. In 1980, he starred in Frank Loesser's musical ''
Guys and Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...
''. In 1985, Skinner appeared in an episode of ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
''.
Career as crime historian and author
From an early age, Skinner developed an interest in the history of
Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...
. As an adult, he started researching his own family history and undertook more thorough research on the Ripper as well. From there, he moved on to the history of the
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
and he is now an established crime historian and author.
In 2001, he worked on the film ''
From Hell
''From Hell'' is a graphic novel by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell, originally published in serial form from 1989 to 1998. The full collection was published in 1999 by Top Shelf Productions.
Set during the Whitechapel murders of ...
'' as an historical consultant. He also worked as a historical researcher and consultant for the documentaries ''The Hunt'' (2001) and ''Hunt For Jack the Ripper'' (2001).
He has also co-authored a number of historical books,
namely:
*''The Ripper Legacy: Life and Death of Jack the Ripper'' by Martin Howells and Keith Skinner (1987)
*''Peasenhall Murder'' by Martin Fido and Keith Skinner (1990)
*''Scotland Yard Files: 150 Years of the CID'', 1842-1992 by Paul Begg and Keith Skinner (1992)
*''The Jack the Ripper A-Z'' by Paul Begg, Martin Fido and Keith Skinner (1992, 1996)
*''The Jack the Ripper Whitechapel Murders'' by Keith Skinner and Kevin O'Donnell (1997)
*''The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard'' by Martin Fido and Keith Skinner (1999)
*''The Last Victim: Extraordinary Life of Florence Maybrick, the Only Woman to Survive Jack the Ripper'' by Keith Skinner, Anne E. Graham and Carol Emmas (1999)
*''The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Companion'' by Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner (2000)
*''The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook: An Illustrated Encyclopedia'' by Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner (2002)
*''Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel Murders'' (Document Pack) by Stewart P. Evans and Keith Skinner (2002)
*''The Ripper Diary'' by Seth Linder, Caroline Morris and Keith Skinner (2003)
*''The Scotland Yard Files: Milestones in Crime Detection'' by Keith Skinner and Alan Moss (31 Aug 2006)
*''The Complete Jack the Ripper A-Z'' by Paul Begg, Martin Fido and Keith Skinner (2010)
*''Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell'' by Stewart P Evans and Keith Skinner (2002, 2004, 2013)
*''The Victorian Detective (Shire Library)'' by Alan Moss and Keith Skinner (2013)
*''The Crime Museum Casebook: An Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard's Investigations'' by Alan Moss and Keith Skinner (2016)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Keith
1949 births
Living people
20th-century British male actors
British writers
British male television actors
British male film actors
Place of birth missing (living people)
British non-fiction crime writers
Jack the Ripper