Leonard Cracknell (20 January 1941 – 13 March 1998) was an English actor who worked in television, radio, film and theatre, mainly during the 1960s and 1970s. He was raised in

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed ...

, London, England.

Life

He first came to the attention of the British public in the late 1950s when he starred in one of the first BBC television costume dramas, the 1956 production of ''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

''. He played the lead role as the young David Copperfield, appearing on the front cover of the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

''. As his acting career developed, he starred in the BBC television soap opera '' 199 Park Lane'', created in 1965. Another notable appearance came in ''

The Terrornauts ''The Terrornauts'' is a 1967 British science fiction film produced by Amicus Productions. The film is based on '' The Wailing Asteroid'' by Murray Leinster, adapted for screen by John Brunner. Synopsis Project Star Talk is based at a UK r ...

'' (1967), a cult science fiction movie about an alien invasion of the earth. He was twice married, firstly to Rosemary, with whom he had one daughter; then to Sylvia, with whom he lived out his days in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Acting career

*''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramati ...

'' (2 episodes, 1964–1970) *''If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have to Invent Them'' (TV, 1960) *''

'' (1967) *''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

'' (3 episodes, 1959–66) *''

Invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

'' (film, 1965) *''199 Park Lane'' (TV, 1965) *''Liza of Lambeth'' (TV, 1965) *''

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 ...

'' (1 episode, 1964) *''No Hiding Place'' (1 episode, 1961) *''Sheep's Clothing'' (TV, 1960) *''Dead Lucky'' (1960) *''Volpone'' (TV, 1959) *''Julius Caesar'' (1959) *''

'' (4 episodes, 1956)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cracknell, Leonard 1941 births 1998 deaths People from Hornchurch 20th-century British male actors English male television actors