John Thaw
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person
John Edward Thaw (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor in television, stage and cinema, best known for his television roles starring as Detective Inspector Jack Regan in The Sweeney (1975—78) and as Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse in Inspector Morse (1987—2000).
For four consecutive years Thaw was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for playing Morse, winning in 1990 and 1993.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1988, he was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film Cry Freedom and in 2001 was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Early life
[edit]Born in Gorton, Manchester, to John Edward ("Jack") Thaw, a tool-setter at the Fairey Aviation Company aircraft factory, later a long-distance lorry driver, and Dorothy (née Ablott).<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> Dorothy left when he was seven years old. He and his younger brother, Raymond Stuart (Ray) had a difficult childhood due to their father's long absences. Thaw grew up in Gorton and Burnage, attending the Ducie Technical High School for Boys, gaining just one O Level. He entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at the age of 16 (two years underage), and won the Academy's Vanburgh Award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ray emigrated to Australia in the mid-1960s.<ref>Template:Citation
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Career
[edit]In 1960, Thaw made his stage début in A Shred of Evidence at the Liverpool Playhouse and was awarded a contract with the theatre. His first film role was a bit part in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) starring Tom Courtenay and he also acted on stage opposite Laurence Olivier in Semi-Detached (1962). In 1963/64, he appeared in several episodes of the BBC series Z-Cars as a detective constable. Between 1964 and 1966, he starred in two series of the ABC Weekend Television/ITV production Redcap, playing the hard-nosed military policeman Sergeant John Mann. He was also a guest star in an early episode of The Avengers. In 1967 he appeared in Bat Out of Hell and in the Granada TV/ITV series, Inheritance, alongside James Bolam and Michael Goodliffe; TV plays including The Talking Head, and episodes of series such as Budgie, where he played against type as an effeminate failed playwright with a full beard and a Welsh accent.Template:Cn
Thaw was cast in the police drama series The Sweeney (1975–1978) alongside Dennis Waterman and Garfield Morgan, playing the hard-bitten, tough-talking Flying Squad detective Jack Regan. It established him as a major star in the United Kingdom. He followed this with the sitcom Home to Roost (1985–1990), which co-starred Reece Dinsdale, about a divorced father whose teenage son moves back in with him after choosing as a child to live with his mother. The show ran for four series.
Thaw's role as Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse in Inspector Morse (1987–93, with later specials until 2000), cemented his fame. Alongside his put-upon Detective Sergeant Robert "Robbie" Lewis (Kevin Whately), Morse became a high-profile character—"a cognitive curmudgeon with his love of classical music, his drinking, his classic Jaguar and spates of melancholy".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to The Guardian, "Thaw was the definitive Morse, grumpy, crossword-fixated, drunk, slightly anti-feminist, and pedantic about grammar."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Inspector Morse became one of the UK's most popular TV series; at its peak in the mid-'90s, ratings hit 18 million people, about one third of the British population.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He won "Most Popular Actor" at the 1999 National Television Awards and won two BAFTA awards for his role as Morse.
He subsequently played liberal working-class Lancastrian barrister James Kavanagh in Kavanagh QC (1995–99, and a special in 2001). Thaw also appeared in two sitcoms—Thick as Thieves (London Weekend/ITV, 1974) with Bob Hoskins and Home to Roost (Yorkshire/ITV, 1985–90). Thaw is mainly known in America for the Morse series, as well as the BBC series A Year in Provence (1993) with Lindsay Duncan.
He appeared in a number of films for director Richard Attenborough, including Cry Freedom, where he portrayed the conservative South African justice minister Jimmy Kruger (for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor), and Chaplin where he played the English music hall impresario Fred Karno alongside Robert Downey Jr. (Chaplin).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Thaw also appeared in the TV adaptation of the Michelle Magorian book Goodnight Mister Tom (Carlton Television/ITV). It won "Most Popular Drama" at the National Television Awards, 1999.<ref name=GMT-ITV>Goodnight Mister Tom synopsis Template:Webarchive. ITV. Retrieved 20 February 2010.</ref>
During the 1970s and 1980s, Thaw appeared in productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1981 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the foyer of the National Theatre in London.Template:Citation needed
Personal life
[edit]In 1964, Thaw married Sally Alexander,<ref>Shut It!</ref> a feminist activist and stage manager, later professor of history at Goldsmiths, University of London. They divorced four years later.<ref name="McGOWANB-AVERYC-2002-09-22">Template:Cite news</ref> He met actress Sheila Hancock in 1969 on the set of So What About Love?<ref name="DriscollM-2002-02-23">Template:Cite news</ref> She was married to fellow actor Alexander "Alec" Ross. They became friends, but she refused to have an affair as she did not want to disrupt her daughter's life.<ref name=DriscollM-2002-02-23/> Following the death of her husband (from oesophageal cancer) in 1971, Thaw and Hancock married on 24 December 1973 in Cirencester.<ref name=DriscollM-2002-02-23/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They remained together until his death in 2002 (also from oesophageal cancer).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
He had three daughters (all actresses): Abigail from his first marriage to Sally Alexander, Joanna from his second marriage to Sheila Hancock, and he also adopted Sheila Hancock's daughter Melanie Jane, from Hancock's first marriage to Alec Ross.<ref name=McGOWANB-AVERYC-2002-09-22/><ref name=JTObit-TT-2002-02-23>Template:Cite news</ref> His granddaughter Molly Whitmey made a cameo in the Endeavour episode Oracle (series 7, episode 1, broadcast 9 February 2020) as the younger version of her grandmother Sally Alexander.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Thaw was a committed socialist<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in March 1993 by Queen Elizabeth II.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In September 2006, Thaw was voted by the general public as number 3, after David Jason and Morecambe and Wise, in a poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars for the past 50 years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Illness and death
[edit]A heavy drinker until going teetotal in 1995,<ref name=DriscollM-2002-02-23/> and a heavy smoker from the age of 12,<ref name=JTObit-TT-2002-02-23/> Thaw was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in June 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He underwent chemotherapy in hope of overcoming the illness, and at first had appeared to respond well to the treatment. However, just before Christmas 2001 he was informed that the cancer had spread and the prognosis was terminal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
He died on 21 February 2002,<ref name=JTObit-TT-2002-02-23/> seven weeks after his 60th birthday, the day after he signed a new contract with ITV,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the day before his wife's birthday. At the time of his death he was living at his country home, near the villages of Luckington and Sherston in Wiltshire,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was cremated in Westerleigh, near Yate in South Gloucestershire, in a private service.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A memorial service was held on 4 September 2002 at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, attended by 800 people including Charles, Prince of Wales, Richard Attenborough, Tom Courtenay and Cherie Blair.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | The Younger Generation | Customer / Max / Edward / Charlie / Peter / Denny / Martin | |
| 1961-1964 | ITV Play of the Week | Various | 3 episodes |
| 1962 | Probation Officer | Stan Liddell | 1 episode |
| Smashing Day | Stan | TV film | |
| Nil Carborundum | ACI Neville Harrison | ||
| 1963 | BBC Sunday-Night Play | Charlie | Episode: "So Long Charlie" |
| ITV Television Playhouse | Barritt | Episode: "The Lads" | |
| Z Cars | Detective Constable Elliot | 4 episodes | |
| 1963–1965 | The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theater | Alan Roper / David Jones | "Five to One" / "Dead Man's Chest" |
| 1964 | The Avengers | Captain Trench | Episode: "Espirit De Corps" |
| 1964–1966 | Redcap | Sergeant John Mann | 2 series |
| 1966 | Bat Out of Hell | Mark Paxton | 5 episodes |
| Drama 61-67 | Harry Fox | Episode: "The Assassin at the Door" | |
| 1966-
1973 |
BBC Play of the Month | Various | 3 episodes |
| 1967 | Inheritance | Will Oldroyd | Miniseries |
| 1969 | The Borderers | Sir Richard | Episode: "Dispossesed" |
| Strange Report | Inspector Jenner | Episode: "Revenge - When a Man Hates" | |
| 1969-1973 | ITV Saturday Night Theatre | Various | 4 episodes |
| 1971 | ITV Sunday Night Drama | Him | Episode: "Turn of the Year: Parcel" |
| Budgie | Denzil Davies | Episode: "Sunset Mansions, or Whatever Happened to Janey-Baib?" | |
| The Onedin Line | Carby | Episode: "Mutiny" | |
| 1971-1972 | Armchair Theatre | Tony/Peter | 2 episodes |
| 1972 | Pretenders | Fast Jack | Episode: "The Paymaster" |
| The Frighteners | Wood | Episode: "Old Comrades" | |
| ITV Playhouse | Williams | Episode: "Refuge for a Hero" | |
| The Adventures of Black Beauty | Jack Desmond | Episode: "The Hostage" | |
| 1973 | The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes | Lt. Holst | Episode: "The Sensible Action of Lieutenant Holst" |
| The Protectors | Mario Carpiano | Episode: "Lena" | |
| 1974 | Armchair Cinema | DI Jack Regan | Episode: "Regan" |
| Thick As Thieves | Stan | ||
| The Capone Investment | Tom | ||
| 1975–1978 | The Sweeney | Det. Insp. Jack Regan | |
| 1976 | The Morecambe & Wise Show | Guvnor | Christmas special |
| 1978 | Play for Today | Dinny Matthews | Episode: Dinner at the Sporting Club |
| 1980 | Drake's Venture | Francis Drake | TV film |
| 1984 | Killer Waiting | Major Peter Hastings | |
| Mitch | Mitch | ||
| BBC Television Shakespeare | Hubert de Burgh | Episode: The Life and Death of King John | |
| 1985–1990 | Home to Roost | Henry Willows | 4 series |
| 1987–2000 | Inspector Morse | Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse | 33 television films |
| 1987 | The Return of Sherlock Holmes | Jonathan Small | Episode: The Sign of Four |
| 1989 | Bomber Harris | Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris | TV film |
| 1991 | Stanley and the Women | Stanley Duke | Miniseries |
| 1992 | A Year in Provence | Peter Mayle | |
| 1995 | Screen One | George Jones | Episode: "The Absence of War" |
| 1995–2001 | Kavanagh QC | James Kavanagh, Q.C. | 6 series |
| 1998 | Goodnight Mister Tom | Tom Oakley | TV film |
| 1999 | Plastic Man | Joe McConnell | |
| The Second World War in Colour | Narrator | Documentary | |
| 2000 | Monsignor Renard | Monsignor Augustine Renard | Miniseries |
| 2001 | The Glass | Jim Proctor |
Film
[edit]| Year | Title | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner | Bosworth (uncredited) |
| 1963 | Five To One | Alan Roper |
| 1965 | Dead Man's Chest | David Jones |
| 1968 | The Bofors Gun | Featherstone |
| 1970 | Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition | Dom |
| The Last Grenade | Terry Mitchell | |
| 1972 | Dr. Phibes Rises Again | Shavers |
| 1977 | Sweeney! | Detective Inspector Jack Regan |
| 1978 | Sweeney 2 | |
| 1981 | Killing Heat | Dick Turner |
| 1987 | Cry Freedom | Jimmy Kruger |
| 1988 | Business As Usual | Kieran Flynn |
| 1992 | Chaplin | Fred Karno |
| 1996 | Masculine Mescaline | The Man |
Theatre
[edit]Honours and awards
[edit]| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Evening Standard British Film Award | Best Actor | Sweeney! | Template:Won |
| 1988 | BAFTA | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Cry Freedom | Template:Nominated |
| 1990 | BAFTA TV | Best Actor | Inspector Morse | Template:Won |
| 1991 | Template:Nominated | |||
| 1992 | Template:Nominated | |||
| 1993 | Template:Won | |||
| 1995 | Aftonbladet TV Prize, Sweden | Best Foreign TV Personality – Male (Bästa utländska man) | Template:Won | |
| 1998 | National Television Award | Special Recognition Award | Inspector Morse | Template:Won |
| Most Popular Actor | Template:Won | |||
| 1999 | Goodnight, Mister Tom | Template:Won | ||
| 2000 | Monsignor Renard | Template:Nominated | ||
| 2001 | Inspector Morse and Academy Fellowship | Template:Won | ||
| 2002 | Buried Treasure | Template:Nominated |
In 1994, Thaw was awarded with CBE. A memorial bench is dedicated to Thaw within the grounds of St Paul's Covent Garden.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Hancock, Sheila (2004). The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw. London: Bloomsbury. Template:ISBN
- John Thaw: The Biography. Stafford Hildred and Tim Ewbank. London: Andre Deutsch. Template:ISBN
External links
[edit]- 1942 births
- 2002 deaths
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
- English male television actors
- English male film actors
- English male stage actors
- English socialists
- Male actors from Manchester
- BAFTA fellows
- Best Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- People from Gorton
- Deaths from esophageal cancer in England
- Inspector Morse
- Labour Party (UK) people
- People educated at Ducie Technical High School for Boys
- Royal Shakespeare Company members