Derren Nesbitt

Derren Nesbitt
Born	Derren Michael Horwitz (1935-06-19) 19 June 1935 London, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1956–present
Spouse(s)	Anne Aubrey (1961–1973) (divorced) 1 child Susan Nesbitt (c. 1975–?) (divorced) at least 1 child 1 other marriage (divorced) Miranda Nesbitt
Children	5

Derren Nesbitt (born Derren Michael Horwitz; 19 June 1935) is a British actor. Nesbitt's film career began in the late 1950s and he also appeared in numerous TV series in the late 1960s into the 1970s. He is well-remembered for his role as Major von Hapen in the 1968 film Where Eagles Dare.

Acting career

One of the all time British villans, Nesbitt's many television credits date back to the 1950s, including roles in The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, The Invisible Man, Man of the World, Danger Man, The Prisoner, Doctor Who, UFO, The Saint and Special Branch.

He has also appeared in memorable roles in a number of movies, such as a predatory blackmailer of gay men in Victim (1961), a murderous pimp in The Informers (1963), a slimy assassin in Nobody Runs Forever, and the suspicious Gestapo officer in Where Eagles Dare (1968). Nesbitt was keen to be as authentic as possible with his character in Where Eagles Dare. Whilst on location, he requested to meet a former member of the Gestapo to better understand how to play the character and to get the military regalia correct. He was injured on set whilst filming the scene in which his character is killed. The blood squib attached to Nesbitt exploded with such force that he was temporarily blinded, though he made a quick recovery.

In 2018, Nesbitt played the leading role, as a drag queen, in a British independent film, Tucked.

Personal life

Nesbitt has been married four times and has five children from his various marriages.

In 1961 he married his first wife, the actress Anne Aubrey, and they had a daughter the next year. On 25 January 1973 he was fined £250 when he pleaded guilty to two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in October the previous year. He thrashed her with a leather strap after she told him that she was having an affair with another man. He also bruised her by grabbing her clothing the next day when she refused to tell him details about her lover. She divorced him a few months later.

His third wife was an Australian beauty queen, and for a time he moved to her country. As of 2014, he lives in Worthing, West Sussex, with his fourth wife, Miranda.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	The Silent Enemy	Officer in charge of security patrol boat	uncredited
	A Night to Remember	Stoker	uncredited
1959	Room at the Top	Thug
	Behemoth, the Sea Monster	Radio Officer	uncredited
1960	In the Nick	Mick
	Sword of Sherwood Forest	Martin of Eastwood	uncredited
1961	The Man in the Back Seat	Tony
	Victim	Sandy Youth
	Karolina Rijecka	Unknown
1962	Strongroom	Griff
	Term of Trial	Lodger
	Kill or Cure	Roger Forrester
1963	The Informers	Bertie Hoyle
1964	Life in Danger	The Man
1965	The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders	Younger Brother
1966	The Blue Max	Fabian
	Operation Third Form	Skinner
1967	The Naked Runner	Colonel Hartmann
1968	Nobody Runs Forever	Pallain
	Where Eagles Dare	Major von Hapen
1969	Monte Carlo or Bust!	Waleska
1972	Burke & Hare	Burke
	Innocent Bystanders	Andrew Royce
	Ooh... You Are Awful	Sid Sabbath
1973	Not Now Darling	Harry McMichael
1974	Shado	Craig Collins
1975	The Amorous Milkman	Replacement Milkman	uncredited. Writer, Director, Producer
1976	Spy Story	Colonel Stok
1978	The Playbirds	Jeremy
	Give Us Tomorrow	Ron
1979	The Saint and the Brave Goose	Inspector Lebec
1981	The Guns and the Fury	Captain Noel
1983	Funny Money	Jake Sanderson
1987	Eat the Rich	Manager
1990	Bullseye!	Inspector Grosse
	Fatal Sky	Arthur Corbin
1992	Double X: The Name of the Game	The Minister
2006	Pu-239	Pepsi	uncredited
2007	Flawless	Sinclair
2011	The Hot Potato	Fritz Meyer
2012	Run For Your Wife	Man on Bus
2014	Home for Christmas	Grandad
2018	Tucked	Jackie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956- 1957	The Adventures of Sir Lancelot	Sir Tristam Various other roles	Season 1: (14 episodes)
1957	Sword of Freedom	Di Lucca	Season 1, Episode 32: "The Marionettes"
1957 1961	Armchair Theatre	Otto Geoffrey Fitton	Season 2, Episode 5: "The Pier" Season 4, Episode 21: "Honeymoon Postponed"
1958- 1959	The Adventures of William Tell	Captain Frederick Various other roles	Season 1: (8 episodes)
1959	The Larkins	Spider	Season 2, Episode 2: "Teddy for Eddie"
	The Invisible Man	Corporal Stephan	Season 1, Episode 2: "Crisis in the Desert" Season 2, Episode 1: "Point of Destruction"
	ITV Television Playhouse	Tod Blake	Season 5, Episode 6: "The Blood Fight"
	Probation Officer	Joe	Season 1, Episode 6
1960	Skyport	Phillipe	Season 1, Episode 44
	Theatre 70	Unknown	Season 1, Episode 10: "The Neighbour"
1960 1961	Danger Man	Hans Vogeler Hugo Morelli	Season 1: (2 episodes)
1961	International Detective	Istvan Martos	Season 1, Episode 27: "The Martos Case"
1962	Man of the World	Polikoff	Season 1, Episode 11: "Specialist for the Kill"
1963	Dixon of Dock Green	Brian Thomas	Season 9, Episode 26: "A Woman Named Julie"
	Emergency-Ward 10	Campbell Goffin	Season 1: (8 episodes)
	Taxi!	Unknown	Season 1, Episode 7: "A Long Way to Go"
	The Sentimental Agent	Lewis	Season 1, Episode 6: "Meet My Son, Henry"
	The Saint	Netchideff	Season 2, Episode 13: "The Sporting Chance"
1964	No Hiding Place	Wilf Barret	Season 6, Episode 6: "The Write-off"
	Doctor Who	Tegana	Season 1: (7 episodes)
	The Protectors	Stodgey Payne	Season 1, Episode 5: "The Loop Men"
1964 1965 1966	ITV Play of the Week	Caiser Harry Ricky	Season 10: (2 episodes) Season 11, Episode 35: "The Move After Checkmate"
1965	Public Eye	Kiley	Season 1, Episode 11: "Protection Is a Man's Best Friend"
	Gideon's Way	John Benson	Season 1, Episode 14: "The Tin God"
	Danger Man	Rachid Noureddine	Season 2, Episode 4: "Sting in the Tail"
1967	The Rat Catchers	Charles Dinley	Season 2: (2 episodes)
	Mr. Rose	Fred Chater	Season 1, Episode 10: "The Deadly Doll"
	Write a Play	Unknown	Season 2, Episode 8: "The White Christ & The Freeze Man"
	Softly, Softly	Newnes	Season 3: (2 episodes)
	The Troubleshooters	Lanyon	Season 4, Episode 7: "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down"
	Man in a Suitcase	Lucas Guardino	Season 1, Episode 11: "Dead Man's Shoes"
	The Prisoner	New Number Two	Season 1, Episode 10: "It's Your Funeral"
1969	Honey Lane	Al Dowman	Unknown
1969- 1970	Special Branch	Detective Chief Inspector Jordan	Season 1: (14 episodes) Season 2: (13 episodes)
1970	Strange Report	Nils Paavo	Season 1, Episode 16: "Report 4977: Swindle – Square Root of Evil"
	Berlin Affair	Galt	TV Movie
1971	UFO	Colonel Craig Collins	Season 1, Episode 16: "The Man Who Came Back"
	The Persuaders!	Groski	Season 1, Episode 9: "The Old, the New and the Deadly"
1972 1973	The Protectors	Brad Huron Colin Foster	Season 1: (2 episodes)
1979	Return of the Saint	Inspector Lebec	Season 1: (2 episodes)
	The House on Garibaldi Street	Arthur Lubinsky	TV Movie
1980	Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson	George Wharton	Season 1, Episode 20: "The Case of the Luckless Gambler"
1982	The Chinese Detective	Gunther Esslin	Season 2, Episode 6: "Chorale"
1988 1990 1993	The Comic Strip Presents...	Various characters	Season 4, Episode 1: "The Strike" Season 5: (2 episodes) Season 7, Episode 2: "Space Virgins from Planet Sex"
1990	Bergerac	Dennis Swain	Season 8, Episode 2: "My Name's Sergeant Bergerac"
1993	Hale and Pace	Unknown	Season 5, Episode 6
2004	The Courtroom	Judge Arnold Francis	Season 1: (11 episodes)

External links

• Derren Nesbitt at IMDb