I was born on May 26th 1913, in Kenley, Surrey. The second son of George Edward a quantity surveyor and my mother Nellie Maria. After a short spell in Dulwich, London we moved back to Surrey at the end of the first World War.


We lived in an Art Deco house designed and built by my father. I remained here until my adulthood, having been educated at Shoreham College, following in my fathers footsteps as a quantity surveyor. I left my first surveying job to study at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.


I left for the bright lights of Hollywood in 1939, and found my first role surprisingly quickly, ‘The Man In The Iron Mask’. Then in ‘A Chump At Oxford’ with Laurel & Hardy. However, it wasn’t until 1948 that I had my first major role, that of Osric in Laurence Olivier’s ‘Halmet’. I spent most of the 50’s in television, particularly in BBC drama’s such as Pride & Prejudice.


With appearances in The Avengers and The New Avengers, receiving the British Academy Television Award for best Actor in 1956. However, it was for horror films that I will be remembered, Hammer Film Productions characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Professor Van Helsing, and Sherlock Holmes.


Following my wife death I attempted suicide several times, but with my casting as Dr. Who in Dr. Who and the Daleks in the mid 60’s, I focused on my acting. I was rewarded with parts in Star Wars, as Grand Moff Tarkin, a role reprised by CGI in the upcoming Rogue One episode. An OBE in 1989, retiring to Whitstable, and out living prostrate cancer, I eventually passed in August of 1994 age 81. Who am I ?