William Mervyn

 ( 1912 Births ) 

William Mervyn Pickwoad (3 January 1912 – 6 August 1976) was an English actor best known for his portrayal of the bishop in the clerical comedy All Gas and Gaiters, the old gentleman in The Railway Children and Inspector Charles Rose in The Odd Man and its sequels.

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Life and career Mervyn was born in Nairobi, British East Africa, but educated in Britain at Forest School, Snaresbrook, before embarking on a stage career, spending five years in provincial theatre. He made his West End debut in The Guinea Pig at the Criterion Theatre in 1946,Wearing, 2014, The London Stage 1940–1949, p. 222 before parts in plays such as Lend Me Robin at the Embassy Theatre, the comedy Ring Round the Moon, The Mortimer Touch, A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde at the Savoy Theatre in 1953Wearing, 2014, The London Stage 1950–1959, p.214 and Charley's Aunt.

Mervyn's later stage roles included those of O'Trigger in The Rivals, Lord Greenham in the comedy Aren't We All? and Sir Patrick Cullen in The Doctor's Dilemma. Although he was admired in the theatre, it was with television that he became really well known. One of his first major small screen roles was Sir Hector in the 1962 series Saki. Four years later, he played the Bishop of St. Ogg's in the comedy series All Gas and Gaiters. It was, at that time, breaking with tradition, allowing a laugh at the expense of the established church.

He also played the police chief inspector Charles Rose in the Granada TV series The Odd Man and its spin-offs It's Dark Outside and Mr Rose. He played the Hon. Mr. Justice Campbell in the Granada TV series Crown Court.

Having taken the part of a Chief Inspector in the 1949 Ealing Studios film The Blue Lamp, in which PC George Dixon first appears (only to be shot dead by a young Dirk Bogarde), he then reappeared in a 1960 Dixon of Dock Green episode "The Hot Seat". He was in the 1966 Doctor Who story The War Machines and several Carry On films in the late 1960s, and also appeared as Mr. Whitty in the Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) episode "A Disturbing Case" in 1969.

Usually cast as a wealthy upper class gentleman, he also appeared in The Railway Children (1970), as the children's train passenger friend, and The Ruling Class (1972). Around the same time, he appeared as Sir Hector Drummond, Bt., in the British TV series The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, in an episode entitled "The Superfluous Finger" (1973).

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Personal life Mervyn was married to Anne Margaret Payne-Cook, a theatre designer and architect who survived him with their three sons – Michael Pickwoad, who in 2010 became the production designer on Doctor Who, Richard, television director and aerial cameraman and Nicholas (Pickwoad), expert on bookbinding. Mervyn's granddaughter Amy Pickwoad became an art director and standby art director for Doctor Who.

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Filmography

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Film

1947	The Loves of Joanna Godden	Huxtable
	The Mark of Cain	Mr Bonnington	Uncredited
1949	That Dangerous Age	Nicky
	Stop Press Girl	Cinema Manager	Uncredited
1950	The Blue Lamp	Chief Inspector Hammond	Uncredited
	Four Men in Prison	Prison Governor	short
1954	Conflict of Wings	Mr Wentworth
1956	Tons of Trouble	Roberts (M15)
	The Long Arm	Manager of Festival Hall
1957	The Admirable Crichton	Guest at Ball	Uncredited
	Barnacle Bill	Captain
	The Long Arm	Manager of Festival Hall	Released as The Third Key in the USA
1958	Carve Her Name with Pride	Colonel Buckmaster
1959	The 39 Steps	Angry Train Passenger	Uncredited
	Upstairs and Downstairs	Kingsley
1960	A Touch of Larceny	Capt. Balfour	Uncredited
	The Battle of the Sexes	Detective's friend
	Circus of Horrors	Doctor Morley
1961	No Love for Johnnie	Postmaster-General	Uncredited
	Watch It, Sailor!	Ship's Captain	Uncredited
	Invasion Quartet	Naval Officer
1963	Tamahine	Lord Birchester
1964	Hot Enough for June	Passenger on plane	Uncredited and released as Agent 8¾ in the USA
	Murder Ahoy!	Commander Breeze-Connington
1965	Operation Crossbow	Dutch Technical Examiner
	Up Jumped a Swagman	Mr Hawkes Fenhoulet
1967	Deadlier Than the Male	Chairman of the Phoenician Board
	The Jokers	Uncle Edwards
	Follow That Camel	Sir Cyril Ponsonby
1968	Hammerhead	Walter Perrin
	Salt and Pepper	Prime Minister
	Star!	General	Uncredited
	Hot Millions	Sir Charles Wilson	Uncredited
1969	The Best House in London		Uncredited
	Carry On Again Doctor	Lord Paragon
1970	Incense for the Damned	Marc Honeydew
	Atlantic Wall	L'évêque Anglais
	The Railway Children	Old Gentleman	credited as Mr William Mervyn
1971	Carry On Henry	Physician
1972	The Ruling Class	Sir Charles Gurney
	Up the Front	Lord Twithampton
1976	The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones	Squire Alworthy

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Television

1959	Charlesworth	Charles Begbie
	Hancock's Half Hour	Council official
1960	ITV Television Playhouse	Mr Challen
	The Long Way Home	French police sergeant
	The Four Just Men	Under Secretary
	Yorky	Mr Playford
	On Trial	Sergeant Ballatine/President of the Court
	Dixon of Dock Green	Bruce Treadgold
	Persuasion	Admiral Croft
1961	No Hiding Place	Ivor Naunton/Colonel Frew
1962	Oliver Twist	Mr Grimwig
	Bulldog Breed	Company director
	Maigret	Doctor
	It Happened Like This	Sir George Wilby
1963	The Odd Man	Chief Inspector Rose
	The Sentimental Agent	Colonel Wilde
1964	Silas Marner	Squire Cass
	Diary of a Young Man	Bott
	The Massingham Affair	Mr Jessopp
1965	The Flying Swan	Alexander Curtis
	Heiress of Garth	Squire Griffin	TV mini-series
	Court Martial	Chief Inspector Haigh
1966	The Liars	Sir Gerald
		Sir Charles Summer
	BBC Play of the Month	Sir Hector Rose
1966–1971	All Gas and Gaiters	Bishop Cuthbert Hever
1967	Gideon's Way	Mr Pater
1968–1970	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Sir Eric Brown/Father
1969	Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)	Whitty
1970	The Mating Machine	Major Whitestone
1971–1972	Tottering Towers	Duke of Tottering
1972–1984	Crown Court	The Hon. Mr Justice Campbell
1973	The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes	Sir Hector Drummond
1976	The Ghosts of Motley Hall	Mr Bayling
1977	Raffles	Osborne

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Theatre

1946	The Guinea Pig	Criterion Theatre
1947–1948	The Blind Goddess	Apollo Theatre, London
1948	Lend Me Robin	Embassy Theatre
1952	The Mortimer Touch	Duke of York's Theatre
1952–1953	Pagan in the Parlour	Theatre Royal, Bath
1953	A Woman of No Importance	Savoy Theatre
1954	Charley's Aunt	New Theatre and Novello Theatre
1954–1955	Witness for the Prosecution	Bristol Hippodrome
1955	Mrs Willie	Globe Theatre, London
1956	The Rivals	Saville Theatre
1957	The Iron Duchess	Fortune Theatre
1972	The Doctor's Dilemma

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Bibliography

• TV Unforgettables – Over 250 Legends of the Small Screen
• Wearing, J.P. (2014). The London Stage 1940 – 1949: A Calendar of Productions, Performers and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield
• Wearing, J.P. (2014). The London Stage 1950 – 1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield

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External links

• William Mervyn at BFI
• William Mervyn at Rotten Tomatoes

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