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IMDbPro

Alan Wheatley(1907-1991)

  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Alan Wheatley
Sharp-featured, incisive Surrey-born actor whose chief trademark was a memorably mellifluous voice. This, he used to maximum effect as a tool for impersonating a gallery of suave, urbane - usually rather likeable - villains, rogues and assorted shady types. He generally tended to imbue these characters with a distinct air of smugly superior disdain.

Alan had reinvented himself as an actor after abandoning his first profession as industrial psychologist. He made his theatrical debut in 1928 in "Heartbreak House" by George Bernard Shaw and appeared on the London stage two years later. For the remainder of the decade he made a living as a supporting player (with a penchant for period costume) in works by Shakespeare, John Galsworthy, J.M. Barrie, and Oscar Wilde. While preferring the intimacy offered by provincial theatre he also shone on the grander stage of the Old Vic, and, in 1936, appeared in "St. Helena" on Broadway. That same year, he made his feature film debut in The Conquest of the Air (1931).

During World War II, Alan's voice was heard regularly as announcer and newsreader for the BBC European Service. This led to a constant stream of work as a radio actor and reader of English literature and poetry. In the course of the next three decades he impersonated the good (detective Lord Peter Wimsey) and the bad (Othello, Judas, Richard III) with equal verve. His television career -- beginning in 1938 -- went along a similar path. Alan was the very first 'BBC Sherlock Holmes' in 1951, taking his cue for the role from the drawings of Sidney Paget and the descriptions by Arthur Conan Doyle. The six instalments (all live transmissions) were well-received but did Alan no favour: the resulting publicity led his agent to ask for higher salaries and this, in turn, led to fewer job offers.

On the big screen, Alan was best served by being the ill-fated Fred Hale in Brighton Rock (1947); the duplicitous traveller on the Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948); and the corrupt financier Mark Cruden in Delayed Action (1954). On television, he will remain the definitive incarnation of the Sheriff of Nottingham in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955). Alan's sheriff is devious and cunning, a sophisticated arch villain of great clarity, an equal to the hero - if it were not, of course, for the ineptitude of his minions. After the end of his tenure as Richard Greene's nemesis, Alan popped up as assorted police inspectors, professional types, legal eagles and men of the cloth, in anything, from Danger Man (1960) to Department S (1969). He retired from the screen in 1970, and died in August 1991 in London at the age of 84.
BornApril 19, 1907
DiedAugust 30, 1991(84)
BornApril 19, 1907
DiedAugust 30, 1991(84)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos10

Lionel Jeffries, Bernadette O'Farrell, and Alan Wheatley in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
Michael Peake and Alan Wheatley in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
Paul Eddington and Alan Wheatley in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
John Arnatt and Alan Wheatley in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
Donald Pleasence and Alan Wheatley in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
Alan Wheatley in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
Paul Eddington and Alan Wheatley in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
Alan Wheatley in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
Richard Attenborough, William Hartnell, Nigel Stock, and Alan Wheatley in Brighton Rock (1947)

Known for

The Pickwick Papers (1952)
The Pickwick Papers
6.9
  • Fogg
  • 1952
Richard Attenborough in Brighton Rock (1947)
Brighton Rock
7.3
  • Fred Hale
  • 1947
Richard Greene in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
7.6
TV Series
  • Sheriff of Nottingham
  • Sheriff
  • The Sheriff of Nottingham
  • The Sheriff
Vivien Leigh, Stewart Granger, and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
Caesar and Cleopatra
6.2
  • Persian(as Allan Wheatley/Alan Wheatley)
  • 1945

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Department S (1969)
    Department S
    • Carter
    • TV Series
    • 1969
  • The Avengers (1961)
    The Avengers
    • Dangerfield
    • TV Series
    • 1969
  • Mystery Hall
    • Alex Ramsey
    • TV Series
    • 1967
  • Steve Forrest in The Baron (1966)
    The Baron
    • Lord Mountford
    • TV Series
    • 1966
  • Emergency-Ward 10 (1957)
    Emergency-Ward 10
    • Mr. Jackson
    • TV Series
    • 1966
  • Armchair Theatre (1956)
    Armchair Theatre
    • Hendry
    • Mr. Murdstone
    • TV Series
    • 1959–1966
  • ITV Play of the Week (1955)
    ITV Play of the Week
    • Cardinal of Palermo
    • Felix Selinger
    • Jonathan Brewster
    • TV Series
    • 1958–1965
  • Patrick Allen in Crane (1963)
    Crane
    • Dr. Hilfe
    • Michaud
    • TV Series
    • 1964–1965
  • Patrick McGoohan in Secret Agent (1964)
    Secret Agent
    • Solicitor
    • TV Series
    • 1965
  • Escape by Night (1964)
    Escape by Night
    • Ronald Grey-Simmons
    • 1964
  • Eva Bartok in The Midnight Men (1964)
    The Midnight Men
    • Prince Rohat
    • TV Series
    • 1964
  • The Protectors (1964)
    The Protectors
    • James Benson
    • TV Series
    • 1964
  • They All Died Laughing (1964)
    They All Died Laughing
    • Epicene
    • 1964
  • Compact (1962)
    Compact
    • Howard Norton
    • TV Series
    • 1964
  • Paul McGann, Colin Baker, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, William Hartnell, Sylvester McCoy, Jon Pertwee, and Patrick Troughton in Doctor Who (1963)
    Doctor Who
    • Temmosus
    • TV Series
    • 1964

Personal details

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  • Alternative name
    • Allan Wheatley/Alan Wheatley
  • Born
    • April 19, 1907
    • Tolworth, Surrey, England, UK
  • Died
    • August 30, 1991
    • London, England, UK(heart attack)
  • Parents
    • William Henry Wheatley
  • Other works
    He acted with the Sir Ben Greet Players in William Shakespeare's play, "The Merchant of Venice," at the Water Tower Garden Theatre in Canterbury, Kent, England with Thea Holme, Stanley Drewitt, George R. Hagan, Wilfred Babbage, and Powell Lloyd in the cast. Sir Ben Greet was director.

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    The first person to be killed by a Dalek on Doctor Who (1963).

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