Louis Felix Danner Mahoney (; 8 September 1938 – 28 June 2020) was a Gambian-born

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, based in Hampstead in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He was an anti-racist activist and long-time campaigner for racial equality within the acting profession. He represented African-Asian members on the council of the actors' union, Equity, becoming joint Vice-President between 1994 and 1996."Louis Mahoney"
''Forward to Freedom: A history of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement 1959–1994'', 2013.

Career

Mahoney was born in

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

in 1938. In the late 1950s he went to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

originally to study to be a doctor but abandoned his ambitions for a medical career to become a drama school student at the (now Royal)

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

in the 1960s.Louis Mahoney Biography
at IMDb. After graduating, Mahoney worked with Colchester Rep and the Mercury Theatre before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967 – he was one of the first black actors in the Company. He worked regularly on the stage throughout his career including shows at the National Theatre, Young Vic,

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

, Almeida and his final stage performances were in

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

's ''Allelujah!'' at the

Bridge Theatre The Bridge Theatre is a commercial theatre near Tower Bridge in London that opened in October 2017. It was developed by Nick Starr and Nicholas Hytner as the home of the London Theatre Company, which they founded following their tenancy as execut ...

in 2018. He helped found Performers Against Racism in the 1980s to campaign against

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

in South Africa and was Joint Vice President of Equity between 1994 and 1996. He had been seen most frequently on

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

in series such as: ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Special Branch'', ''

The Troubleshooters ''The Troubleshooters'' (titled ''Mogul'' for the first series) is a British television series made by the BBC between 1965 and 1972, created by John Elliot. It recounted events in an international oil company – the "Mogul" of the title. Th ...

'', '' Menace'', '' Special Branch'', '' Doctor Who'' (in the stories ''

Frontier in Space ''Frontier in Space'' is the third serial of the tenth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. The serial was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 24 February to 31 March 1973. It was the last serial to ...

'', ''

Planet of Evil ''Planet of Evil'' is the second serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 27 September to 18 October 1975. The serial is set on and ab ...

'' and '' Blink''), '' Quiller'', ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Televisio ...

'' (as Dr Finn in ''

The Germans "The Germans" (named on some releases as "Fire Drill") is the sixth episode of the BBC sitcom '' Fawlty Towers''. In the episode, while suffering the effects of concussion, Basil Fawlty repeatedly offends some German guests. Despite warning ...

'', 1975), '' The Professionals'' (as Dr Henry in the episode "Klansmen", never transmitted on terrestrial TV in the UK, and in "Black Out", again as a doctor), ''

Miss Marple Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Ch ...

'', '' Yes, Prime Minister'', '' Bergerac'', ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

'', ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'', '' Holby City'' and '' Sea of Souls''. His films included '' The Plague of the Zombies'' (1966), '' Omen III: The Final Conflict'' (1981), ''

Rise and Fall of Idi Amin ''Rise and Fall of Idi Amin'', also known as ''Amin: The Rise and Fall'', is a 1981 biographical film directed by Sharad Patel and starring Joseph Olita as Idi Amin. Olita also played Amin in the 1991 film '' Mississippi Masala''. Plot It det ...

'' (1981), '' White Mischief'' (1987), ''

Cry Freedom ''Cry Freedom'' is a 1987 epic apartheid drama film directed and produced by Richard Attenborough, set in late-1970s apartheid-era South Africa. The screenplay was written by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods. Th ...

'' (1987), ''

Shooting Fish ''Shooting Fish'' is a 1997 British romantic crime comedy film directed by Stefan Schwartz and co-written with Richard Holmes. Starring Dan Futterman and Stuart Townsend as two con men with Kate Beckinsale as their unwilling assistant, the film ...

'' (1997), '' Wondrous Oblivion'' (2003) and '' Shooting Dogs'' (2005). He featured in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

documentary ''Random'' (2011), and in the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

drama '' Being Human'' (2012) as Leo, an aged and dying werewolf. Mahoney's last TV appearance was in the Tracy Beaker

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

spin-off, ''

The Dumping Ground ''The Dumping Ground'' (also informally referred to as ''The DG'') is a British children's television drama series that focuses on the lives and experiences of young people who live in a children's home with their care workers in care. The s ...

'', as Henry Lawrence, the grandfather of Charlie Morris ( Emily Burnett). For decades a resident in Hampstead, Mahoney died on 28 June 2020, aged 81.

Campaign work

Mahoney was a long-standing campaigner for racial equality within the acting profession, as a member of the Equity Afro-Asian Committee (previously called the Coloured Actors Committee until he renamed it), founding Performers Against Racism to defend Equity policy on South Africa, and as co-creator, with Mike Phillips and Taiwo Ajai, of the UK's Black Theatre Workshop in 1976.Abigail Dunn
"Reflections of a firebrand"
, ''Catalyst'', 2 March 2007.

Legacy

The Louis Mahoney Scholarships at the

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

were initiated in his memory to encourage applications from Black and global majority students, beginning from the academic year 2021/22, supporting one undergraduate and one postgraduate candidate in each of the following three years.

Filmography

Theatre

Year''/''Show/''Role''/Theatre : Talking To You / ''Various'' / Duke of York’s Theatre ; Cato Street / ''Conspirator'' / Young Vic ; Jesus Christ Superstar / ''Caiaphas'' / Gaiety Theatre, Dublin ; Murderous Angels/ ''Diallo Diop'' / Gaiety Theatre, Dublin ; 1967 / Coriolanus / ''Lieutenant to Aufidius'' / Royal Shakespeare Company ; 1967 / Romeo and Juliet / ''Musician 1'' / Royal Shakespeare Company ; 1970 / Robinson Crusoe/''Friday'' / Mercury Theatre; Night And Day / ''President Mageeba'' /Watford Palace Theatre ; Hutch Builder to Her Majesty / ''Various'' / Theatre Royal, Drury Lane ; White Devil / ''Antonelli'' / Oxford Playhouse ; I am Tomarienka / ''Various'' / Watermill Theatre ; 1990'' / ''Desire / ''Kindo'' / Almeida ; 1997'' / ''Romeo & Juliet / ''Friar John and Monatague'' / Royal Shakespeare Company ; 2007'' /'' Generations /''Grandfather'' / Young Vic ; 2009'' / ''As You Like It / ''Adam and Sir Oliver Martext'' / Leicester Curve ; 2009'' / ''The Observer / ''Muturi and Dr Durami''/ Royal National Theatre ; 2010'' / ''Love The Sinner / ''Paul'' / Royal National Theatre ; 2011'' / ''Truth & Reconciliation / ''Rwandan Grandfather'' / Royal Court ; 2013'' / ''Feast / ''Papa Legba'' / Young Vic and Royal Court ; 2018'' / ''Allelujah! / ''Neville'' / Bridge Theatre

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, Louis 1938 births 2020 deaths British male film actors Gambian emigrants to England British male television actors Black British male actors Gambian actors Gambian activists Black British activists