Roland Kingsford Bernard Curram (6 June 1932 – 1 June 2025) was an English actor and author.

Career

Curram was educated at

Brighton College Brighton College is a fee-charging, co-educational, boarding and day public school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton and Hove, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18), Brighton Co ...

and has had a long film, television and theatre career. His appearances include

Julie Christie Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. Christie's accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has appeared in six films ranked in the British Film Institu ...

's travelling companion in three-time

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-winning film '' Darling'' and expatriate Freddie in the BBC soap opera '' Eldorado''. In 1979, he played Brian Pilbeam in the first series of ''

Terry and June ''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, Terry and J ...

''. The Pilbeams were Terry and June's annoying neighbours until the Sprys moved in. He also starred as Harold Perkins in the acclaimed BBC TV series ''Big Jim and the Figaro Club'' which was broadcast in July and August 1981. He was married from 1964 until 1985 to the actress

Sheila Gish Sheila Gish (born Sheila Anne Syme Gash; 23 April 1942 – 9 March 2005) was an English actress. For her role in the 1995 London revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical ''Company'', she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance i ...

, with whom he had two daughters, the actors

Lou Gish Lou Gish (27 May 1967 – 20 February 2006) was an English stage, film and television actress. Biography She was born Louise Mikel Henrietta Marie Curram in 1967, the elder daughter of actors Sheila Gish and Roland Curram. She was raised ...

(1967–2006) and Kay Curram (b. 1974). Curram came out as gay in the early 1990s and left acting to carve out a second career as a novelist. He was survived by his boyfriend, Clive. Curram died on 1 June 2025, at the age of 92.

Performances and works

Selected filmography

* '' Up to His Neck'' (1954) * ''

The Admirable Crichton ''The Admirable Crichton'' is a comic stage play written in 1902 by J. M. Barrie. Origins Barrie took the title from the sobriquet of a fellow Scotland, Scot, the polymath James Crichton, a 16th-century genius and athlete. The epigram-loving E ...

'' (1957) * ''

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

'' (1958) * ''

The Green Helmet ''The Green Helmet'' is a 1961 British drama film directed by Michael Forlong starring Bill Travers, Ed Begley and Sid James. The film is centred on a British motor racing team. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same title by Australian au ...

'' (1961) * ''

Incident at Midnight ''Incident at Midnight'' is a 1963 British crime film directed by Norman Harrison and starring Anton Diffring, William Sylvester and Justine Lord. It was written by Arthur La Bern, adapted from an Edgar Wallace short story, and was made at Mer ...

'' (1963) ''(

Edgar Wallace Mysteries The ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' is a British second-feature film series mainly produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 48 films in the series, which were released between 1960 and 1965. The series was screened as ''Th ...

)'' * ''

The Silent Playground ''The Silent Playground'' is a 1963 British thriller film written and directed by Stanley Goulder and starring Bernard Archard, Jean Anderson and Roland Curram. Plot In Greenwich, London, just before Christmas, Mavis Nugent, a young widow, drops ...

'' (1963) * '' Darling'' (1965) * ''

I'll Never Forget What's'isname ''I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname'', also known as ''The Takers'', is a 1967 British comedy-drama film directed and produced by Michael Winner. It stars Oliver Reed and Orson Welles. It was written by Peter Draper. The film deals with creativi ...

'' (1967) * '' Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher'' (1968) * ''

Every Home Should Have One ''Every Home Should Have One'' (U.S. title: ''Think Dirty '') is a 1970 British comedy film directed by Jim Clark and starring Marty Feldman. The screenplay was by Marty Feldman, Barry Took and Denis Norden, based on a story by Herbert Kretzme ...

'' (1970) * '' Ooh... You Are Awful'' (1972) * '' Hardcore'' (1977) * ''

Let's Get Laid ''Let's Get Laid'', also known as ''Love Trap'', is a 1978 British comedy film directed by James Kenelm Clarke and starring Robin Askwith, Fiona Richmond and Anthony Steel. A man returns to London after being demobbed at the end of the Secon ...

'' (1978) * ''

Madame Sousatzka ''Madame Sousatzka'' is a 1988 drama film directed by John Schlesinger, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It is based upon the 1962 novel of the same name by Bernice Rubens. __TOC__ Plot Indian immigrant Sushila Sen (Shabana Azmi) ...

'' (1988) * Eldorado 1992 * ''

Parting Shots ''Parting Shots'' is a 1999 British dark comedy film starring Chris Rea, Felicity Kendal, Oliver Reed, Bob Hoskins, Diana Rigg, Ben Kingsley, John Cleese and Joanna Lumley. It was the final film directed by Michael Winner. Upon release in the ...

'' (1999)

Bibliography

* ''Man on the Beach'' (2004) * ''The Rose Secateurs'' (2007) * ''Mother Loved Funerals'' (2009) * ''The Problem with Happiness'' (2012)

References

External links