Edwardian Woodward

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After graduation from RADA, he worked extensively in repertory companies as a Shakespearean actor throughout England and Scotland, making his London stage debut in R. His initial ambition was to become a journalist, but he settled for working briefly in a sanitary engineer's office. They included Guy Crouchbank in the Evelyn Waugh trilogy Sword of Honour; Cassius in Julius Caesar; Lopakin in The Cherry Orchard; Sir Samuel Hoare in Churchill: The Wilderness Years; and a binman in the BBC drama Common As Muck. Crouchback was the central character in Waugh's three novels set against the background of Britain's involvement in World War II. The subject of This Is Your Life (1955) on two separate occasions, the actor survived two major heart attacks before dying of pneumonia at age 79 on November 16, 2009, in Cornwall, England.

Woodward would make fine use of his mastery of the spoken word by putting out a host of audio books.Woodward was born in Croydon, then in Surrey, and as a child was bombed out of his home three times during the second world war. On the big screen he also played Sergeant Neil Howie, alongside Christopher Lee and Diane Cilento, in The Wicker Man (1973); Commander Powell in Who Dares Wins (1982); Saul in King David; the Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol; Merlin in Merlin and the Sword; Captain Haldane in The Young Winston; the racehorse trainer Josh Gifford in Champions; and Sergeant Wellbeloved in Stand Up Virgin Soldiers. In 1999, Woodward appeared alongside his son Peter in The Long Road, an episode of the Babylon 5 spin-off, Crusade, on which Peter was a regular cast member.

Woodward played the uptight, strongly religious police sergeant, Howie, sent to a remote Scottish island to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young girl. John, 1972 SITTING TARGET, from left: Oliver Reed, Edward Woodward, 1972 KING DAVID, Edward Woodward, 1985. With his first wife, Venetia Collett – who acted under the name Venetia Barrett – Woodward had two sons, Tim and Peter, and a daughter, Sarah, who all followed their parents into acting. Although known predominantly for his television work, Woodward brought his presence to bear on the cinema screen not only in The Wicker Man but as Sergeant Wellbeloved in Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers and the court-martialled Lieutenant Harry Morant in the Australian drama Breaker Morant (1980). The actor continued grandly on stage in such Shakespearean productions as "Hamlet" (Laertes)," "Romeo and Juliet" (Mercutio), "Pericles" (Thaliard), "Much Ado About Nothing" (Claudio), and "Measure for Measure" (Lucio), but scored a major success portraying Percy in "Rattle of a Simple Man" in 1961, making his Broadway debut in the play two years later.Maturing roles in advancing years included a wide range of characters -- everything from Merlin to the Ghost of Christmas Present in mini-movie formats. His capability as tenor enabled him to record 12 albums of romantic songs, as well as three albums of poetry and 14 books to tape. Following a leading stage performance in "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1971), Woodward landed his most notorious feature role, playing a God-fearing detective sent to a remote Scottish island populated by a pagan society in "The Wicker Man" (1973). Each eligible item is clearly marked with the Own Art logo (please bare with us while we implement this).

Back in the West End, Woodward had one of his greatest successes in Charles Dyer's study of loneliness, Rattle of a Simple Man, which he had directed in South Africa before it reached London. After his tabloid divorce (after over 30 years) from his first wife, he quickly married lovely actress Michele Dotrice in 1987, the sister of former 1960s' Disney child star Karen Dotrice of Mary Poppins (1964) fame. He attended Eccleston Road, Sydenham Road, and E Wallington, as well as Kingston Day Commercial School and Elmwood High School, Hackbridge, all in Surrey.Following wide experience touring throughout England and Scotland, and a tour of India and Ceylon in Shakespeare and Shaw, Woodward arrived in London in 1955 with Where There's a Will at the Garrick. Later, at the National Theatre, he played Flamineo in The White Devil (1969) and the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac (1970). Woodward released several albums during his career, including The Edward Woodward Singers (1967), The Edward Woodward Singers in Concert (1970), Edward Woodward Sings (1973), and Edward Woodward Sings Again (1975).