From Shakespeare To The Sitcom
October 30, 2010 1:52 PM Subscribe
Graham Crowden, character actor,
has died at 87 after a 52 year career on stage, television, and film. In the United States he may be best known for playing the whimsical Tom Ballard alongside Stephanie Cole's cynical Diana in the BBC series
Waiting for God, often shown on PBS. Born in Edinburgh in 1922, he had a distinguished career on stage, particularly at Olivier's National Theatre, undertaking (among other roles) The Player King in Tom Stoppard's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
In 1974, citing an inability to commit to a single role, he turned down the part of the
Fourth Doctor, which eventually went to his friend Tom Baker. A few years later, in 1977, he played in Terry Gilliam's
Jabberwocky.
He had another star turn on television in a previous BBC series,
A Very Peculiar Practice, as the physician Jock McCannon.
His last role was in 2008 in an episode of
Foyle's War, "
Broken Souls."
Said his agent Sue Grantley
to the BBC, "We will all miss him enormously."
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posted by oonh at 1:52 PM on October 30, 2010