Peter Clowe Hughes (20 May 1922 – 5 February 2019) was an English actor with a career spanning five decades. He was an actor, founder and director of theatre, but was best known for his film and television roles.

Early life and theatre

Hughes was born in

Kensal Rise Kensal Green is an area in north-west London. It lies mainly in the London Borough of Brent, with a small part to the south within Kensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on the Harrow Road, about miles from Charing Cross. To the w ...

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, an only child of a single mother. He was partly raised in foster institutions, and initially trained as a

draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to: * An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century * An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...

designing car chassis, before moving to

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

after his mother died in 1939 where he took a post designing armoured cars. After helping establish the Talisman Theatre in 1942, he trained as an actor, making his professional debut in 1949, in a production of

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

's ''

Fallen Angels A fallen angel is an angel that has been exiled or banished from Heaven. Fallen Angels may also refer to: Film and television * ''Fallen Angels'' (1948 film), a Greek film by Nikos Tsiforos * Fallen Angels (1985 documentary film) by Gregory Dark * ...

''. His West End debut would occur four years later in 1953, after which he would establish a long association with both the

Richmond Theatre The present Richmond Theatre, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is a British Victorian theatre located on Little Green, adjacent to Richmond Green. It opened on 18 September 1899 with a performance of ''As You Like It''. One of ...

and the

Watford Palace Theatre Watford Palace Theatre, opened in 1908, is an Edwardian Grade II listed building in Watford, Hertfordshire. The 600-seat theatre on Clarendon Road was refurbished in 2004. It houses its own rehearsal room, wardrobe, cafe and bar. History The ...

Film and television

In television, Hughes would play the recurring role of a bank manager in the BBC series '' Bergerac''. Other notable roles include an English tourist in ''

Love Is a Splendid Illusion ''Love is a Splendid Illusion'' is a 1970 British sex comedy concerning a businessman (Simon Brent) whose cheating ways come to a head in Italy when the secret lover of his equally cheating wife (Lisa Collings) turns out to be a potential business ...

'' (1970). He appeared in ''

An Englishman's Castle ''An Englishman's Castle'' is a BBC television serial first broadcast in 1978, written by Philip Mackie and directed by Paul Ciappessoni. The story was set in an alternative history 1970s, in which Nazi Germany won World War II and England is r ...

'' in 1978, a serial of alternative history in which the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

have won the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Another appearance in 1978 was as the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

crime boss William Henry (Bill) Hayden in an episode of the hard-hitting British police drama '' The Professionals'', the episode entitled ''When the Heat Cools Off''. Hughes also featured as a maitre d' in ''

The Great Muppet Caper ''The Great Muppet Caper'' is a 1981 British-American musical heist comedy film directed by Jim Henson (in his feature directorial debut). It is the second theatrical film in ''The Muppets'' franchise. In addition to the Muppet performers, the ...

'' (1981); the P&O manager in

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...

's ''

A Passage to India ''A Passage to India'' is a 1924 novel by English author E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of 20th century English liter ...

'' (1984) and a policeman in the

John Boorman Sir John Boorman (; born 18 January 1933) is a British film director, best known for feature films such as ''Point Blank'' (1967), ''Hell in the Pacific'' (1968), ''Deliverance'' (1972), ''Zardoz'' (1974), '' Exorcist II: The Heretic'' (1977), ...

film '' Hope and Glory'' (1987). TV miniseries included ''

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 ...

'' (1988) starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

in which Hughes played Mr. Poulson, the proprietor of a news agency. He played

General Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts ...

's film adaptation of ''

Evita Evita may refer to: Arts * Evita (1996 film), ''Evita'' (1996 film), a 1996 American musical drama film based on the 1976 concept album of the same name * Evita (2008 film), ''Evita'' (2008 film), a documentary about Eva Péron * Evita (album), ''E ...

'' in 1996.

Personal life

Hughes and his wife Erica were the parents of historian Bettany and

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

, a cricketer and journalist. He retired in 1999 and died in February 2019 at the age of 96.https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/2019/obituary-peter-hughes/?login_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestage.co.uk%2Faccounts%2Fusers%2Fsign_up.popup

Filmography

References

External links

* 1922 births 2019 deaths English male film actors English male television actors {{UK-actor-stub