On Monday, December 22, 2003 at 3:56:38 AM UTC+2, Michael Rhodes wrote:
> <Archive obituary>
> <The Times, December 27, 1984>
> <MR IAN HENDRY>
> <Popular television actor>
> Ian Hendry, who died in the Royal Free Hospital, London, on December
> 24 at the age of 53, was an actor who specialized in virile, aggresive
> roles, in films of which he had made a substantial number, and more
> predominantly from the mid 1950s onwards on television.
> On the small screen he is especially remembered for his starring roles
> in popular series like "Police Surgeon" and "The Lotus Eaters."
> Ian Hendry was born in Ipswich on January 13, 1931. His first
> experience of the world of theatre was when as a part-time drama
> student he worked in cabaret as a stooge to Coco the Clown. Later,
> after National Service in the Royal Artillery he trained at the
> Central School of Speech and Drama.
> From here he began a life in rep at Hornchurch and Worthing and was
> seen in Goldoni's "Servant of Two Masters" at the Edinburgh Festival.
> He also had film parts in "Simon and Laura" and "The Secret Place" at
> this period, but it was a successful season at the Oxford Playhouse
> which brought him to London and to wider notice.
> He secured himself a television following in the role of a polio
> patient in "Emergency Ward 10" and parts in films such as "Sink the
> Bismarck" and "In the Nick" further established him.
> He became a sought after television actor, appearing in such series as
> "Probation Officer" and "The Avengers" of which he was one of the
> original trio, and "Police Surgeon". But perhaps one of his most
> characteristic roles was as Erik Shepherd the tortured alcoholic
> trying to pull the threads of life together in "The Lotus Eaters" in
> the 1970s.
> Hendry's own tempestuous and hard drinking personal life often seemed
> to echo his screen one, and the breakdown of his second marriage to
> the actress Janet Munro who was to have played his wife in the series,
> as it was about to go into production, threatened the entire venture
> when she withdrew from the role. She died from drink related problems
> in 1972 aged only 38.
> In spite of more leading television roles and a series of films which
> included "Casino Royale", "Get Carter", "Theatre of Blood" and "The
> Bitch" Hendry's life continued to have its ups and downs and in 1980
> he was declared a bankrupt, later on being discharged on payment of
> his debts, thanks to his securing a major role in the television
> series "Maddie for Love" in which he starred with Nyree Dawn Porter.
> Hendry's first marriage to Joanna, a makeup artist, had been dissolved
> in 1962. His third marriage was to Sandy Jones, a former children's
> nanny, who survives him.
> END