Christopher Blake (born Peter Ronald Gray, 23 August 1949 – 11 December 2004) was an English

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and screenwriter. He is perhaps best remembered for starring in the

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location ...

s '' Mixed Blessings'' (1978–80) and '' That's My Boy'' (1981–86).

Early life

He was born Peter Ronald Gray on 23 August 1949, the eldest of three boys, in

Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow t ...

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 ...

, England. His father, Charles (known as Harry), was a plasterer and his mother, Elizabeth, a dressmaker and housewife. They went on to have two more sons. The family emigrated to Australia in the late 1950s but returned in 1966 and he attended the Fitzherbert Secondary Modern School, Brighton, Sussex. He then trained at the

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 ...

and changed his name to Christopher Blake, because there was another Peter Gray registered with the actors' union, Equity. He chose the surname Blake from the telephone directory.

Career

Blake first came to the attention of television audiences in 1972 when he was cast as Gilbert Blythe in the 1972 BBC adaptation of '' Anne of Green Gables''. He would later reprise the role in 1975 in ''

Anne of Avonlea Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...

''. Blake later had roles in the

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

serial ''

Love for Lydia ''Love for Lydia'' is a semi-autobiographical novel written by British author H. E. Bates, first published in 1952. Plot Lydia Aspen, a seemingly shy girl from a wealthy but isolated background, is encouraged by her aunts, her new carers, to disc ...

'' (1977), and then a starring role in the ITV sitcom '' Mixed Blessings'' (1978–80) for which he also sang the theme tune. Although Blake remained busy as an actor in various stage and television roles, his next truly successful venture was the ITV sitcom '' That's My Boy'' (1981–86) in which he played Robert Price, a middle-class doctor who hires a live-in housekeeper (played by

Mollie Sugden Mary Isobel Sugden (21 July 19221 July 2009), known professionally as Mollie Sugden was an English actress. She was best known for being an original cast member in the British sitcom '' Are You Being Served?'' (1972–1985) as senior saleswoman ...

) who turns out to be his biological mother. After ''That's My Boy'', Blake continued in character parts in episodic television, but never managed to land the more prominent roles that he had enjoyed earlier in his career. In 2000, he guest-starred in the '' Doctor Who'' audio adventure '' The Mutant Phase'' which featured the

Daleks The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme '' Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Wh ...

. In later years Christopher Blake turned to screenwriting, writing several episodes of Channel 5's short-lived soap ''

Family Affairs ''Family Affairs'' is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per w ...

''. He wrote two episodes ("Dancing in the Dark" and "Endangered Species") of the ITV crime serial ''

A Touch of Frost A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'' with his writing partner Tony Charles. On the 26 February 1970 edition of

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

, Blake is seen as an audience member dancing to a

Dave Clark Five The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark served as the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten sin ...

performance of Everybody Get Together, the official video of the song shot with members of his acting school class.

Personal life

He was married twice and had three children from his first marriage; two daughters and a son. A talented all-round cricketer since his youth in Australia, he played the game throughout his life, including for The Lord's Taverners and

William Franklyn William Leo Franklyn (22 September 1925 – 31 October 2006) was a British actor, perhaps best known for voicing the "Schhh... You Know Who" adverts for Schweppes from 1965 to 1973. He also performed on stage, film, television and radio, ...

's team, the Sargentmen, which raised money for the

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

Cancer Fund for Children. One of his other great passions was supporting Arsenal F.C. and he dropped references to Arsenal into scripts whenever the opportunity arose.

Illness and death

In early 2004 after an aggressive and rare form of

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tirednes ...

was diagnosed, Blake received treatment at the

Royal Marsden Hospital The Royal Marsden Hospital (RM) is a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London based in Kensington and Chelsea, next to the Royal Brompton Hospital, in Fulham Road with a second site in Belmont, close to Sutton Hospital, High Down and D ...

in Surrey. He died on 11 December 2004 in London, England, aged 55. He is buried at the

East London Cemetery The East London Cemetery and Crematorium are located in West Ham in the London Borough of Newham. It is owned and operated by the Dignity Funeral Group. History The cemetery was founded in 1871 and laid out in 1872 to meet the increasing dema ...

and Crematorium.

Television credits

* ''

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 ...

'' .... Alan / ... (2 episodes, 1990, 2001) * '' Doctors'' .... Dan Armstrong (1 episode, 2001) * '' Birds of a Feather'' .... David Kane (1 episode, 1997) * '' Down to Earth'' (1995) TV Series .... Chris Fairfax (7 episodes) * ''

To Be the Best ''To Be the Best'' is a 1991 British television miniseries directed by Tom Wharmby. Based on the 1988 novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, it was the fourth mini-series based on a Bradford novel he had directed. It was produced by London Weekend Tel ...

'' (1992) (TV) .... Sandy * ''

So Haunt Me ''So Haunt Me'' is a British television sitcom about a family that moves into a home occupied by the ghost of its previous resident, a middle-aged Jewish mother. The show was created by Paul Mendelson who was also credited on another British s ...

'' (1992) .... Chris Longford (1 episode, 1992) * ''

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Br ...

'' TV Series .... Tim Derby (1991) * '' Young Charlie Chaplin'' (1989) .... Asylum Doctor (2 episodes, 1989) * '' That's My Boy'' (1981–1986) TV Series .... Dr. Robert Price (37 episodes) * '' Love's Labour's Lost'' (1985) (TV) .... Longaville * ''

Alexa Alexa may refer to: Technology *Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistant developed by Amazon * Alexa Internet, a defunct website ranking and traffic analysis service * Arri Alexa, a digital motion picture camera People * Alexa (name), a given name a ...

'' (1982) TV Series .... Paul * '' Tales of the Unexpected'' .... Israeli Officer (1 episode, 1981) * ''

The Mill on the Floss ''The Mill on the Floss'' is a novel by George Eliot, first published in three volumes in 1860 by William Blackwood. The first American edition was published by Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York. Plot summary Spanning a period of 10 to ...

'' (1979) TV Miniseries .... Tom Tulliver * ''

The Lost Boys ''The Lost Boys'' is a 1987 American supernatural black comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Harvey Bernhard with a screenplay written by Jeffrey Boam, Janice Fischer and James Jeremias, from a story by Fischer and Jerem ...

'' (1978) TV Series .... George * '' Mixed Blessings'' (1978–80) TV Series .... Thomas Simpson (22 episodes) * '' A Ghost Story For Christmas: Stigma'' (1977) (TV) .... Richard * ''

Love For Lydia ''Love for Lydia'' is a semi-autobiographical novel written by British author H. E. Bates, first published in 1952. Plot Lydia Aspen, a seemingly shy girl from a wealthy but isolated background, is encouraged by her aunts, her new carers, to disc ...

'' (1977) TV Series .... Richardson * ''

'' (1975) TV Series .... Gilbert Blythe * ''

Warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...

'' .... Sg. Lt. Newcombe (1 episode, 1974) * '' Death or Glory Boy'' (1974) (TV) .... David Parker * '' Anne of Green Gables'' (1972) TV Series .... Gilbert Blythe Christopher Blake (I)
/ref>

Film credits

* ''Child 2 Man'' (2000) .... Dabdu's Sidekick * '' La Passione'' (1996) .... John MacIlroy *To be the best (1990) .... Sandy * '' Aces High'' (1976) .... Lieutenant Roberts * ''

Hennessy Jas Hennessy & Co., commonly known simply as Hennessy (), is a French producer of cognac, which has its headquarters in Cognac, France. It is one of the "big four" cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin, who together ma ...

'' (1975) .... Young Soldier * ''

Because of the Cats ''Because of the Cats'', released theatrically in the UK as ''The Rape'', is a 1973 Dutch-Belgian drama film directed by Fons Rademakers and starring Bryan Marshall, Alexandra Stewart, Sylvia Kristel and Sebastian Graham Jones. The film's Dut ...

'' (1973) .... Frank Kieft

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Christopher 1949 births 2004 deaths English male television actors Deaths from cancer in England People from Chingford Male actors from London Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma English male screenwriters 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers