Anthony Valentine

Anthony Valentine
Born	17 August 1939 (1939-08-17) Blackburn, Lancashire
Occupation	actor
Spouse	Susan Skipper

Anthony Valentine (born 17 August 1939) is an English actor.

Early life

Valentine was born in Blackburn, Lancashire. Valentine was educated at the Valerie Glynne School and Acton County Grammar School, London.

He worked as a child actor for the BBC, and appeared at the age of 10 in the film No Way Back (1949) and aged 12 in The Girl on the Pier (1953). He played Harry Wharton in the 1950s BBC Children's adaptation of Billy Bunter (1955–57).

In 1958, Valentine appeared opposite Laurence Olivier and Irene Worth in a production of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman as part of the ITV Play of the Week series.

He is best known for his roles on television, most notably the ruthless Toby Meres in the series Callan (1967–72), sinister Luftwaffe Officer, Major Horst Mohn in the BBC drama Colditz (1974) and the eponymous Raffles (1975–1977).

Life and career

Other TV appearances include A for Andromeda (1961), Z Cars (1972), The Avengers (1967, 1968), Softly, Softly (1969), Department S (1970), Budgie (1971), Codename (1970), Space: 1999 (1975), Raffles (1976), Minder (1979, 1980) playing Maurice, a professional gambler, Tales of the Unexpected (1980, 1982), Airline (1982) (in the first episode as Squadron Leader Dickie Marlowe of the RAF), Bergerac (1983), Robin of Sherwood (1984, 1985), Boon (1989), Lovejoy (1986, 1991), The House of Eliott (1991), The Bill (1998), The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (in The Illustrious Client, 1991) and New Tricks. He also narrated the three Wildlife Explorer documentary films & played a South London thug in the cult classic film Performance (1970). He was also the voice of "Dr. X" on Queensrÿche's seminal 1988 album, Operation: Mindcrime.

Later television work includes an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot (2006), episodes of The Commander (2005, 2006, 2008) in which played Commissioner Edward Sumpter and an episode of the popular series Heartbeat (2006).

Recent television roles are as Nuremberg Prison Commandant Burton C. Andrus in the 2006 BBC docudrama Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial (2006) and as Jimmy "The Gent" Vincent in ITV's The Last Detective (2007). In September 2009 he joined the cast of the British soap Coronation Street as a character called George Wilson.

He is also a noted theatre actor, appearing in many West End plays over the years, such as No Sex Please, We're British, Sleuth, Half a Sixpence and 'Art', and he appeared in the premiere performance of Arnold Wesker's Chicken Soup with Barley, playing the part of Ronnie. His most recent appearance was in Separate Tables at the Mill at Sonning. He also wrote and directed The Waiting Game at the same theatre.

On 12 November 2005, Valentine became the patron of the Thwaites Empire Theatre in his birthplace Blackburn.

Select filmography

• No Way Back (1949)
• The Girl on the Pier (1953)
• The Brain Machine (1955)
• The Damned (1963)
• Performance (1970)
• Justice (TV, 1971-1974)
• Tower of Evil (1972)
• Colditz (TV, 1974)
• Raffles (TV, 1975–1977)
• To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
• Escape to Athena (1979)
• The Monster Club (1980)
• Airline (TV, 1982)
• "Robin Of Sherwood" (TV series)
• Lovejoy (1985)
• The Fear (TV, 1988)
• Body and Soul (1993)
• Jefferson in Paris (1995)
• The Knock (1996–1998)
• The House of Angelo (1997)
• Cuisine américaine (1998)
• Two Men Went to War (2002)
• Coronation Street (TV, 2009–2010)

External links

• Anthony Valentine at the Internet Movie Database