Paul William McDowell (15 August 1931 – 2 May 2016) was an English actor and writer who appeared in numerous television productions over a 40-year period.
Early life and career
McDowell was born in Fulham, south-west London the only son of William a museum guard and shipyard worker. His mother Frances was a landlady and cleaner. He attended several primary schools and was evacuated to Guildford, Rochdale, and Torbay during the second world war. After leaving school, he trained to be a painter at
Chelsea Art College
Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation.
It offers further and higher educati ...
. He later attended
St Edmund Hall, Oxford. In the early 1960s as "Whispering" Paul McDowell he was a vocalist with the British 1920s-style jazz band
The Temperance Seven, who had a No. 1 hit in
Britain. He was a member of the pop group 'Guggenheim' which he formed with
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
producer and singer Chris Pye, and guitarist Jules Burns. The album ''Guggenheim'' was released in 1972 on Indigo Records, and distributed by the British
Decca label. He worked at
the Establishment Club as an actor/writer, then became a member of the improvisational group
the Second City in the United States and was a writer on ''
The Frost Report.''
Television actor
His television roles include: Mr Collinson, a sour-faced prison officer in ''
Porridge
Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...
'', Churchill's butler in ''
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years'', and Mr Phillips in ''
The Two of Us
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
''.
Writer
As a screenwriter he wrote for
Sheila Hancock
Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress, singer, and author. Hancock trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before starting her career in repertory theatre. Hancock went on to perform in plays and musica ...
and ''
The Two Ronnies''. Later he concentrated on writing and teaching
t'ai chi ch'uan.
Later life
Later he lived in Towcester Northamptonshire, where he wrote a letter
to ''The Guardian'', published on 11 March 2016, less than two months before his death. His letter was an amusing mild rebuke that ''The Guardian'' had omitted to state in their obituary of George Martin that his very first Number 1 hit was the Temperance Seven's "You're Driving Me Crazy".
Illness and Death
On April 23, 2016, McDowell Announced he had been diagnosed with
Lung Cancer, He died on May 2, 2016, from complications
heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
following
Pneumonia. The immediate cause of death on his death certificate was
Cardiac arrest with
Respiratory failure. His children Helena, Lola, Sidonie, Milo and his third wife, Trisha survive him.
Filmography
Film
Television
Notes
External links
*
1931 births
2016 deaths
Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford
English male film actors
English male television actors
Male actors from London
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