Paul Darrow
| Paul Darrow | |
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 Photo by Tim Drury. |
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| Born | Paul Valentine Birkby 2 May 1941 Surrey, England, U.K. |
| Spouse | Janet Lees Price |
| Website | |
| http://www.avon-paul-darrow.co.uk | |
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This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Discussion about the problems with the sole source used may be found on the talk page. (December 2009) |
Paul Darrow (born Paul Birkby on 2 May 1941) is an English actor best known for his portrayal of Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series Blake's 7. He also guest starred twice on Doctor Who, playing Captain Hawkins in the serial Doctor Who and the Silurians which was transmitted in 1970 and Maylin Tekker in the serial Timelash which was transmitted in 1985.
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[edit] Early years
Darrow was born in Surrey, England, and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School before studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
[edit] Career
The popularity of his role as Avon has tended to overshadow his extensive work in theatre and television. He also plays the character of Kaston Iago in the Kaldor City audios. He appeared in all but the first episode of Blake's 7. In the final episode of the series, in which all of the main characters (except Avon) are seen to be shot, Avon shot dead the character Klyn - played by Paul Darrow's wife, Janet Lees Price. Avon himself survived to the end credits - when gunshots are heard, perhaps signifying his death.
Darrow's other TV appearances include: Emergency Ward 10, The Saint, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, Within These Walls, as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1975 BBC series The Legend of Robin Hood, as Mr. Tallboy in the 1973 TV adaptation of Dorothy L. Sayers' Murder Must Advertise, as Thomas Doughty in the TV film Drake's Venture, Dombey and Son, Maelstrom, Making News, Pie in the Sky, Hollyoaks and Little Britain. He spoke the voiceover for Biblical quotations in Richard Dawkins's The Root of All Evil?.
Proud of his work on Blake's 7, Darrow has acted as the show's most prolific spokesperson, both in the UK and during the late 80s, in the U.S., when the show was frequently broadcast on US public television. In the mid to late 1990s, he has also purchased the rights to Blake's 7 and attempted to produce a big-budget follow-up miniseries, Blake's 7: A Rebellion Reborn. According to Darrow, it would have begun 25 years after the ending of the original series and might have included an aged Avon passing the torch to a new generation.
Darrow records voiceovers and straplines for Jack FM, a radio station based in Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, Jack FM Hertfordshire,106 Jack FM Bristol and 106 Jack FM Southampton. He also provides the voice of the character Grand Moff Tarkin in the computer game Star Wars: Empire at War. He also voiced the character of Zarok in a PlayStation game titled Medievil. Darrow appeared in Emmerdale from 13 July 2009, playing Eddy Fox, a friend of Alan Turner's; he knows Turner as "Tank".[citation needed]
More recently, Dec 2011, Darrow has voiced the character of Overseer Tremel in the the Bioware MMORPG release Star Wars: The Old Republic.
In 2012, Darrow returned to the role of "Kerr Avon" in Big Finish Productions' Blake's 7: The Liberator Chronicles, a series of dramatic readings which take place during Series One before the death of Oleg Gan. Darrow stars as "Avon" in The Turning Test and The Magnificent Four by Simon Guerrier and Counterfeit by Peter Anghelides.
[edit] Further reading
He is the author of Avon: A Terrible Aspect (ISBN 0-80651-112-5), a 1989 novel about Avon's father and Avon's own early life. Darrow's autobiography, You're Him, Aren't You? (ISBN 1-84435-236-6) was published in 2006.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Darrow |
