GEOFFREY BAYLDON

(7 January 1924 - 10 May 2017)

Having allegedly turned down the part of Doctor Who for fear of being typecast in an old-man part, the actor Geoffrey Bayldon went on to make his name as Catweazle in the TV series of the same name about an 11th-century wizard reincarnated into the 20th century, an iconic role that put him among the most popular TV roles. Later on he would gain more fans as the Crowman in Worzel Gummidge and the hero of Magic Grandad, all parts of an old man. Before entering TV he had worked on stage at Stratford-upon Avon, Glasgow, Birmingham and London’s Old Vic etc. In films from 1952, he was uncredited in Trent’s Last Case with Orson Welles, but then concentrated on television while also taking small roles in films such as The Camp on Blood Island, Dracula, A Night to Remember, The Rough and the Smooth and Libel. Still concentrating on television Bayldon also made films including The Longest Day, 55 Days at Peking, Becket, King Rat, Sky West and Crooked, Casino Royale (1967, as Q), To Sir, With Love, Inspector Clouseau, A Dandy in Aspic, Otley and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Never a leading man in films, he played a waiter in Born to Boogie with Marc Bolan and Ringo Starr, a vicar in Steptoe and Son Ride Again, an Archbishop in The Slipper and the Rose, the governor in the film of Porridge, and a colonel in Bullshot. Apart from appearing in umpteen high-profile TV series, his last films included Madame Sousatzka, Tom and Viv, Ladies in Lavender and Love/Loss (2010). But it is as Catweazle that Geoffrey Bayldon will be best remembered and loved.

MICHAEL DARVELL