Thomas William Stevenson Rowbotham (8 April 1949 – 8 November 2022), known professionally as Tom Owen, was a British actor best known for playing Tom Simmonite in the sitcom ''
Last of the Summer Wine
''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of '' Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes f ...
''. He was the son of
Bill Owen, who played William "Compo" Simmonite (the father of Tom Simmonite) in the show.
Theatre
Owen trained as a student assistant stage manager at Leatherhead Theatre in 1966. He worked extensively in repertory both as an actor and director. In 1969 Owen played Farley, in 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips' a role first played by John Mills in the original version. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company playing on Broadway in their production of 'London Assurance'. His performance as Krapp in Fiona Baddeley's production of Beckett's masterpiece 'Krapp's Last Tape' was likened to those given by Michael Gambon, John Hurt and Harold Pinter. He has appeared in the West End in 'Lulu'. He also starred in over twenty pantomimes.
Television
Owen made his television debut in 1968 playing Bill Cowan in Southern TV's groundbreaking series ''
Freewheelers
''Freewheelers'' is a British television series made by Southern Television between 1968 and 1973 for the ITV network. It was created by the television producer Chris McMaster, who was aware of the popularity of adult action series such as '' ...
'' appearing in fifty two episodes. Numerous television series followed including ''
Tottering Towers'' (13 episodes), ''Wreckers at Deadeye'', ''Horse in the House'', ''
The Piglet Files'', ''The Hello Goodbye Man'', ''
Z Cars'', ''
Upstairs Downstairs'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
Minder
A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds".
Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...
'', and ''
Our Mutual Friend''.
Owen's debut in ''Last Of The Summer Wine'' was in 1991 as a bank customer at a cash dispenser in the episode "Situations Vacant". Following the death of his father, Bill, who played Compo in 184 episodes over twenty-seven years, Tom joined ''Last of the Summer Wine'' as a regular in 2000 and stayed with the show appearing in 93 episodes until it ended in 2010.
Owen appeared with
Kirk Douglas in the TV film ''Queenie'', with Michael York in ''
Great Expectations'' and David Hemmings in ''
Unman, Wittering and Zigo''.
Film
Owen starred in two films which were released in 2018: ''
The Bromley Boys
''The Bromley Boys'' is a 2018 British coming-of-age comedy film. Based on an eponymous autobiographical book by author Dave Roberts, the film is set in Bromley, in the suburbs of London, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The story is abou ...
'' and ''
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society''.
Personal life and death
Owen married Mary Bernadette Therese Moylan in 1978; they had two sons, James and William.
Owen died of natural causes on 8 November 2022, at the age of 73.
Television roles
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Tom
1949 births
2022 deaths
British male comedy actors
English male television actors
Male actors from Brighton
20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors
English male stage actors
Male actors from London
People from Marylebone