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Edward Woodward : Biography, Pictures, Photos, Trivia, Address, Filmography (The Equalizer)

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Edward Woodward

Robert McCall in The Equalizer

Photos Edward Woodward Birth name: Edward Albert Arthur Woodward
Birth date: 1930/06/01
Date of death : 2009/11/16 (79 years old)
Birth place : Croydon, Surrey (Angleterre)
Height: 1.83 m

French Traduire

Biography for Edward Woodward

Stolid, dependable British actor usually seen in humorless roles, he became widely known to U. S. audiences playing "The Equalizer," a retired law officer who hires out to hopeless clients and crime victims on the 1985-89 TV series of the same name. He'd already established himself as a star on British television; the 1974 movie Callan was in fact a spinoff of a TV series with the same name (though after the success of "The Equalizer," an enterprising video company gave it a new, more saleable title in this country: The Neutralizer. In films since 1955 (Where There's a Will he also appeared in Becket (1964), The File of the Golden Goose (1969), Young Winston (1972), Stand Up Virgin Soldiers (1977), The Final Option (1982), King David (1985, an outstanding turn as King Saul), and Mister Johnson (1991). He does have two truly memorable movie roles to his credit: the puritanical investigator discovering a British Isle's peculiar pagan customs in the offbeat horror film The Wicker Man (1973), and the title role in the Australian courtroom drama Breaker Morant (1979).

In the early 1960s, he appeared in television productions. His first interpretation on television dates from September 22, 1960: he plays the main role in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh "officers and gentlemen" (Sword of Honour). The novelist was looking for an actor who knows the middle of the Royal Navy well and especially who has a distinguished look. Edward Woodward was therefore his ideal interpreter. This role marks the starting point for a very prolific activity on the small screen for the actor. Indeed, between 1960 and 1985, he played no less than 2,000 characters on television, which will make him a very popular artist in Anglo-Saxon countries. In 1966, Edward Woodward held on television for the BBC the role of David Callan, a secret MI5 agent, in a 90 -minute TV movie. As the results were considered satisfactory, the TV movie served as a pilot for a series entitled Callan. Woodward played this role for 5 years. It was this character who made him known American viewers. But the series does not really manage to impose itself across the Atlantic (as was the case with all the ITC series of "Saint" via "Cosmos 1999", until "friendly your". Edward is, From 1972 to 1980, extremely in demand on all sides: he chose to concentrate his career on television and theater (notably the musical), which does not prevent him from multiplying his cinematographic performances: we must note his Excellent interpretation of this Australian officer accused of torture in front of the court martial in Breaker Morant who earned him numerous prizes in Australia and Great Britain. In 1984, Edward Woodward divorce, after 29 years of marriage, from Venetia Mary Collet. will not know anything about the reasons for this separation, the actor having always been very discreet about his private life. He will be content to declare: "A marriage between artists is very difficult to manage", which will not prevent him from remarking With another actress, Michelle DOWTER, 17 years younger than him. She is the daughter of Roy Dortor, British actor and longtime friend of Woodward. DOOR is known to viewers for her many apparitions on the small screen, almost always in the roles of heinous men: he was the detestable commissioner Simmonds in "Cosmos 1999", the sworn enemy of the inventor Simon McKay in "The magician", but also the kind (once is not custom) father of "Beauty and the Beast". He also played in an episode of Equalizer entitled "The test of fire" where he interprets the Machiavellian Charley McGuill, prosecutor who puts control in a ccusation before the company's court. In this episode, Edward, in the role of McCall, defends Control and hires a fairly tasty verbal jousting with her dorrice. Edward therefore married Michelle Dorice in New York on February 22, 1985. From this marriage, very criticized by the British press scandalous, will be born a daughter, Emily, on December 21, 1985. The Americans had reserved a mixed reception in Callan and this n 'is therefore truly that with The Equalizer in 1985 that Edward Woodward knew the consecration across the Atlantic. However, the role of Robert McCall had been initially written for Robert Mitchum who made his return to the screen in 1985 after 9 years of absence. In the initial project, in fact, McCall was not as we know him. At the start, it was a retired New York cop who helps his detective son (Scott McCall) to conduct his investigations. The role had been made to measure for Mitchum. However, if the American actor accepted the role of McCall, he only agreed to interpret him in 3 TV movies per year. He did not want to be locked up in a series that would require him that he is working all year round. But the producers are due to their idea of ​​a series of a 45 -minute format per episode. Mitchum therefore renounces the role, but handsome player, he will accept to play in the 90 -minute trap episode for a spy, in which he will really hold the show, McCall not really appearing since he is held prisoner in an unknown place . The producers only had to look for another interpreter for McCall: after having initially thought of Kirk Douglas, their choice finally fell on Edward Woodward. One of the producers (Jeffrey Hayes), already knew him for having seen him repeatedly on Broadway but especially in a British TV movie Two Faced Man broadcast on NBC, in which Woodward plays a secret agent in the grip with old enemies who always believe him in office. Hayes, very impressed by Edward's interpretation in this TV movie, saw him an ideal interpreter of Robert McCall. Despite the reluctance of other producers who had never heard of Woodward, Hayes contacted the actor through his agent. The producer, influenced by "Two-face man" had asked the writers to reshape the character of Mc Call and to do it, not a New York policeman, as we had designed for Mitchum, but an ex-agent Secret adapted to the personality of Woodward (Scott McCall is also reworked). It was under this new aspect that the character of McCall was proposed to Edward. Immediately enthusiastic, the actor accepted the role of this man with a strong and pugnacious character. This is how, from 1985 to 1989, the British actor interpreted in the country of the dollar the one nicknamed "The Robin of Woods of Modern Times", which moves in a Black Jaguar (XJ6 Sport 1985 model). For the little anecdote, the British singer Sting, a real fan of the series, came at the end of 1985, visiting the set of The Equalizer and met Edward. On his return to London, inspired by the story of McCall, he wrote the song "An Englishman in New York".

Edward Woodward was an English actor known for his roles in the films The Wicker Man and Breaker Morant, as well as for his interpretation of Robert McCall in the television series The streets of San Francisco. Woodward was born on June 1, 1930 in Croydon, England, and grew up in a family of musicians. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began his career as the theater actor in the 1950s.

Photos

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Filmography

Title Role
Five Days (2007) (mini) TV Series (filming)
Hot Fuzz (2007) (post-production)
Where the Heart Is - So Long (2005) TV Episode Jack Bishop
Murder in Suburbia - Episode #1.6 (2004) TV Episode Reg Thornton
The Abduction Club (2002) Lord Fermoy
Night Flight (2002) (TV) Vic Green
Messiah (2001) (TV) Rev. Stephen Hedges
Dark Realm (2000) TV Series
Marcie's Dowry (1999) Gus
CI5: The New Professionals (1998) TV Series Harry Malone
The House of Angelo (1997) Dominic Angelo
Harrison: Cry of the City (1996) (TV) Edward 'Teddy' Harrison
Gulliver's Travels (1996) (TV) Drunlo
The Shamrock Conspiracy (1995) (TV) Edward Harrison
Common As Muck (1994) TV Series Nev
In Suspicious Circumstances (1994) TV Series Storyteller
Christmas Reunion (1993) (TV) Colonel Phillips
Deadly Advice (1993) Maj. Herbert Armstrong
Over My Dead Body (1990) TV Series Maxwell Beckett
Mister Johnson (1990) Sargy Gollup
Hands of a Murderer (1990) (TV) Sherlock Holmes
Over My Dead Body (1990) (TV) Maxwell Beckett
The Man in the Brown Suit (1989) (TV) Sir Eustace Pedler
Codename: Kyril (1988) (TV) Michael Royston
Memories of Manon (1988) (TV) Robert McCall
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1987) (TV) Simon Legree
The Equalizer (1985) TV Series Robert McCall (The Equalizer) (1985-1989)
King David (1985) Saul
Arthur the King (1985) (TV) Merlin
A Christmas Carol (1984/I) (TV) Ghost of Christmas Present
Killer Contract (1984) (TV) Bill Routledge
Champions (1984) Josh Gifford
Love Is Forever (1983) (TV) Derek McBracken
Who Dares Wins (1982) Commander Powell
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981) (mini) TV Series Sir Samuel Hoare
Wet Job (1981) (TV) David Callan
The Appointment (1981) Ian
Nice Work (1980) TV Series Edwin Thornfield
'Breaker' Morant (1980) Lt. Harry 'Breaker' Morant, Bushveldt Carbineers
Blunt Instrument (1980) (TV) Logan
1990 (1977) TV Series Jim Kyle
Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977) Sgt. Wellbeloved
Callan (1974) David Callan
Three for All (1974) Roadsweeper
The Wicker Man (1973) Sergeant Neil Howie
Young Winston (1972) Captain Aylmer Haldane
Sitting Target (1972) Inspector Milton
Incense for the Damned (1972) Dr. Holstrom
The Cherry Orchard (1971) (TV)
Evelyn (1971) (TV) The Man
10 Rillington Place (1971) (uncredited) Witnessing officer at hanging
The Edward Woodward Hour (1971) TV Series
The File of the Golden Goose (1969) Arthur Thompson
Julius Caesar (1969) (TV) Cassius
The Listener (1968) (TV)
Wanted (1967/II) (TV)
Callan (1967) TV Series David Callan
A Magnum for Schneider (1967) (TV) David Callan
Sword of Honour (1967) TV Series Guy Crouchback
Ella (1966) (TV)
Becket (1964) Clement, French Courtier
Magnolia Street (1961) TV Series John Cooper
Inn for Trouble (1960)
Emergency-Ward 10 (1957) TV Series Rev. Posset
Where There's a Will (1956) Ralph Stokes

Trivia

Appointed an OBE in 1978.

Cited the final scene in The Wicker Man (1973) as one of the greatest visual shots in cinema history.

Became an Associate Member of RADA.

Graduated from RADA.

Family

Spouse : Michele Dotrice (1987 - present) 1 child, Venetia Mary Collett (1952 - ?) (divorced) 3 children.

Father (with Venetia Barrett) of Tim Woodward, Peter Woodward and Sarah Woodward.

Father, with actress Michele Dotrice, of daughter Emily.

Author of the card

  • Creation date: 01/07/2003 by abdest

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