Tony Beckley

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Tony Beckley
Beckley in The Italian Job (1969)
Born
Derek Anthony Beckley

(1929-10-07)7 October 1929
Southampton, Hampshire, UK
Died19 April 1980(1980-04-19) (aged 50)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeHollywood Forever Cemetery
OccupationActor

Derek Anthony Beckley (7 October 1929 – 19 April 1980)[1] was an English actor.[2] A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Beckley went on to carve out a career on film and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s, often playing villainous roles, as well as being a veteran of numerous stage productions.

Early life[edit]

Beckley was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England. He was a child out of wedlock and never met his father. His mother, Beatrice Mitchell, worked as a steward on ocean liners such as the RMS Mauretania and the RMS Aquitania. Due to work commitments, she was often away, and Beckley was brought up mainly by another woman whom he referred to as his aunt.[2]

When he was five years old, Beckley and his mother moved to Portsmouth and when the Second World War broke out he was sent to Winchester, where he attended boarding school at Winton House. It was in Winchester where he first became interested in acting. While his mother wanted him to do "something nice and safe", like working in the civil service, Beckley discovered that acting was what was going to make him happy when he saw a performance in Portsmouth of Emlyn Williams' The Corn is Green by the Court Players, a local repertory company.[2]

Beckley left school at the age of 16 in pursuit of his acting career. He worked as a stage sweeper and tea maker for two or three months, then moved to London. As he could not get work in the theatre, he did odd jobs as a waiter and in an ice cream factory while spending his spare time watching actors like Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Alec Guinness and the Old Vic productions at the New Theatre.[2]

Shortly before turning 18, he joined the Royal Navy and spent two years as a seaman aboard the destroyer HMS Scorpion, where he found the time to prepare for admission to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).[2] He joined RADA on an ex-Navy grant and during his two-year training befriended people such as actress Sheila Hancock and playwright Charles Laurence.[3]

Career[edit]

After graduating from RADA, Beckley started working for various provincial repertory companies, eventually settling with a company near London (Bromley Repertory[4]) which opened up opportunities for television work.[2] After guest roles in popular TV series such as Sergeant Cork, The Saint, Z-Cars and the then revolutionary[5] comedy programme Dig This Rhubarb[6] Beckley made his film debut in 1965 as Ned Poins in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight.

Beckley appeared in a number of films for director Peter Collinson: The Penthouse (1967); The Long Day's Dying (1968); and most memorably as Camp Freddie in The Italian Job (1969). His only starring role was as the psychotic Kenny Wemys in The Fiend (1972), and he made his last film appearance in 1979 playing another psychopath in When a Stranger Calls. His other films include The Lost Continent (1968), Get Carter (1971), Assault (1971), Sitting Target (1972), Gold (1974), and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).

On television, Beckley played the villainous Harrison Chase in the six-part Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Doom (1976). He also guest-starred on shows such as Manhunt, Callan, Jason King, and Special Branch.[7]

He remained active in the theatre, appearing in the West End in Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings with Elaine Stritch and in Snap with Maggie Smith.[2]

Death[edit]

Beckley died six months after the premiere of When a Stranger Calls.[8][9] Just before his death he had been signed for further work in the US. He was supposed to co-star with Elizabeth Montgomery in a television movie titled My Fat Friend and appear in a film, American Dreamer.[10] He was also to appear in the NBC miniseries Beulah Land alongside Lesley Ann Warren, Don Johnson and others.[11]

Though the cause of his death was given as cancer,[12] it appeared rather "mysterious" [3] and according to his friend Sheila Hancock, it may have been AIDS-related, a disease then little understood.[3] Beckley died at the Medical Center of the University of California in Los Angeles[13] and is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Personal life[edit]

In an interview in 1979, Beckley stated that there was nothing in his background to explain why he became an actor except for possibly "a desire for some attention, which I really didn't get much as a kid."[2]

While often playing villains and psychopaths on screen, Beckley is described as friendly and funny by people who met him and as someone who could tell a good story.[14] Beckley remarked that he would be surprised if people could find anything psychotic in his behaviour.[2]

For more than 15 years, Beckley was in a relationship with film producer Barry Krost. When Krost opened his own management company, Beckley became his first client.[15] Krost also produced Beckley's last film When a Stranger Calls and was a production associate on The Penthouse.[7]

Although he kept a house in Fulham, London and had three dogs, Beckley spent time living in California during the last year of his life in an apartment in West Hollywood.[2]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1964 East Lynne Richard Hare TV film
1965 Chimes at Midnight Ned Poins
1967 The Penthouse Tom
1968 The Long Day's Dying Cliff
The Lost Continent Harry Tyler
1969 The Italian Job Camp Freddie
1971 Get Carter Peter
Assault Leslie Sanford
1972 The Fiend Kenny Wemys
Sitting Target Soapy Tucker
1974 Gold Stephen Marais
Diagnosis: Murder Sergeant Greene
1978 Revenge of the Pink Panther Guy Algo
1979 When a Stranger Calls Curt Duncan

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1958 ITV Television Playhouse Mr. Roberts Episode: "Miss Em"
BBC Sunday Night Theatre Earl of Pembroke Episode: "Till Time Shall End"
1963 Suspense Hugo Episode: "Sense of Occasion"
The Saint Barry Aldon Episode: "Marcia"
John Kennett Episode: "The Saint Plays with Fire"
ITV Play of the Week Dolokhov Episode: "War and Peace"
Vi Episode: "The Kidnapping of Mary Smith"
Sergeant Cork Steve Gurling Episode: "The Case of the Two Drowned Men"
1963-1964 Dig This Rhubarb Series regular
1964 Z-Cars Mr. Fry Episode: "Whistle and Come Home"
The Great War Various roles 5 episodes
Sergeant Cork Les Bartlett Episode: "The Case of the Wounded Warder"
1965 Knock on Any Door Harry Benson Episode: "First Offender"
ITV Play of the Week Montgiron Episode: "The Corsican Brothers"
1966 Sergeant Cork Alex Devere Episode: "The Case of a Lady's Good Name"
Conflict Caius Cassius Episode: "Julius Caesar"
Young Marlow Episode: "She Stoops to Conquer"
ITV Sunday Night Drama Teilo Episode: "Four Triumphant: St David"
1968 ITV Playhouse Roger Bakewell Episode: "Murder: The Dancing Man"
1970 Kate J.K. Episode: "Say It with Flowers"
Parkin's Patch Curry 2 episodes
Manhunt Hochler 2 episodes
Callan Rene Joinville Episode: "Suddenly-At Home"
1971 Now Take My Wife Tom Episode: "A Python Called Monty"
1972 Jason King Giorgio Episode: "Toki"
1973 Arthur of the Britons Morged Episode: "The Swordsman"
1974 Special Branch Helmut Rehfuss Episode: "Catherine the Great"
1975 Ten from the Twenties Dick Wilkes Episode: "Two or Three Graces"
1976 Doctor Who Harrison Chase Episodes: The Seeds of Doom
Little Lord Fauntleroy Braxton Miniseries
1977 The Velvet Glove Otto Mayer Episode: "Happy in War"
The Cost of Loving Leonard Draper Episode: "The Assailants"

Radio[edit]

  • 1968 - Movie-Go-Round[16]

Stage[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ California Death Records – Beckley, Derek Anthony (http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi?surname=Beckley&given=Derek) last accessed: 27/02/13)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j van Gelder, Lawrence. 1979. "New Face: Tony Beckley - Genial Film Maniac With English Roots." in New York Times, 19 Oct 1979, Section The Weekend, Page C3
  3. ^ a b c Hancock, Sheila. 2004. The Two of Us – My Life with John Thaw. London: Bloomsbury.
  4. ^ "Obituaries: Mr Tony Beckley" in The Times, 10 Jun 1980, p. 16.
  5. ^ Byford, Timothy. "Autobiography. Chapter 6 – Television: the BBC." (http://www.timothybyford.com/work_Chapter-6---Television:-the-BBC_1484) last accessed: 01/03/13
  6. ^ Outsider. 1963. "Digging it up" in The Observer Weekend Review, 22 Sep 1963, p. 23. (http://www.solearabiantree.net/namingofparts/pdf/observer/wideningradioshorizons22september1963.pdf)
  7. ^ a b Tony Beckley (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0065777/) last accessed: 01/03/13
  8. ^ "Tony Beckley, Starred In 'Stranger Calls' Film, is Dead". The New York Times. 23 April 1980. p. B14. ISSN 0362-4331. Tony Beckley, who played the title role of a killer in "When a Stranger Calls," a commercially successful horror film that was released last year, died of cancer Saturday at the Medical Center of the University of California at Los Angeles.
  9. ^ Maslin, Janet (12 October 1979). "Screen: A Killer Returns in 'When a Stranger Calls'". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  10. ^ "Deaths Elsewhere -Tony Beckley" in The Blade: Toledo, Ohio, 28 Apr 1980, p. 15. (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ah1PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jwIEAAAAIBAJ&dq=tony-beckley&pg=7197%2C3831633)
  11. ^ "Stars added to cast" in The Free Lance-Star Town & County Magazine, 12 Jan 1980, p. 15. (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hv5NAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1IsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=tony-beckley&pg=2668%2C1631981)
  12. ^ a b Osborne, Charles. 1986. Giving it away: the memoirs of an uncivil servant.London: Secker & Warburg. p. 75.
  13. ^ "Tony Beckley, Starred In 'Stranger Calls 'Film", in: The New York Times Biographical Service, Volume 11, Apr 1980, p. 495.
  14. ^ Philip Hinchcliffe and John Challis on Doctor Who - The Seeds of Doom DVD Extra "Podshock", 2010
  15. ^ Koffler, Kevin. 1994. Out. Volume 3, Issues 1-5, p. 88.
  16. ^ BBC Genome (http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/e6abfe6ee0174cf7882ffee9e743326d)
  17. ^ "Limelight - Tony Beckley". In The Stage, 12 Jan 1961, p. 8
  18. ^ "Bromley Players Excel In 'The Caine Mutiny'". In The Stage, 22 Nov 1956, p. 11
  19. ^ "Bromley Celebrates Second Birthday". In The Stage, 7 Mar 1957, p. 11
  20. ^ "Another Successful Season At Bromley". In The Stage, 27 Dec 1957, p. 7.
  21. ^ Plays and Players, Volume 4, Issue 10, Hansom Books, 1957.
  22. ^ "Incident in Adelaide". In The Stage, 20 Jun 1957, p. 10.
  23. ^ "Documentary Of Legal Life". In The Stage, 7 Feb 1957, p. 10.
  24. ^ "Bromley - 'Jack And The Beanstalk". In The Stage, 2 Jan 1959, p. 7.
  25. ^ Hobson, Harold. 1959. International Theatre Annual, Issue 4, Citadel Press, p. 271.
  26. ^ "'Entertainer' not for the Round". In The Stage, 22 Oct 1959, p. 37
  27. ^ "Discover Theatre History in our Theatre Archive | the Stage Archive".
  28. ^ a b "Actor - Director". In The Stage, 3 Mar 1960, p. 18.
  29. ^ "A lively and versatile 'Shrew' at Oxford". In The Stage, 28 Apr 1960, p. 21.
  30. ^ "Miss Jenkins' fine diction". In The Stage, 20 Oct 1960, p. 17.
  31. ^ Plays and Players, Volume 8, Hansom Books, 1960
  32. ^ "Return of Sonia Dresdel". In The Stage, 9 Feb 1961, p. 13
  33. ^ Shakespeare Quarterly, Volume 11, Folger Shakespeare Library 1960, p. 108.
  34. ^ "Drama With Too Much Doctrine" in The Times, 16 May 1961, p. 17
  35. ^ Mermaid Theatre: The Bed Bug. 1962 (http://www.infotextmanuscripts.org/webb/webb_bed_bug.pdf)
  36. ^ "Balloons of Dialogue" in The Times, 26 Apr. 1962, p. 8
  37. ^ Time & Tide, Volume 43, Time and Tide Publishing Company, 1962
  38. ^ Theatricalia.com (http://theatricalia.com/play/4y/infanticide-in-the-house-of-fred-ginger/production/10g)
  39. ^ "Playwright makes Lorca a lay figure" in The Times, 7 Sep. 1966, p. 16
  40. ^ "Fenella Fielding as Hedda Gabler" in The Times, 20 Mar 1969, p. 16
  41. ^ "University of Glasgow - MyGlasgow - Archives & Special Collections - Scottish Theatre Archive". www.gla.ac.uk.
  42. ^ "Entertainments - Theatres" in The Times, 5 Aug 1974, p. 6
  43. ^ The Times, 30 Jul 1977

External links[edit]

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