Edward Woodward 1930 - 2009

Edward Albert Arthur Woodward OBE was born on the 1st June 1930 and died on 16th November 2009. He was an English actor and singer who had acquired success in both the theatre and television work.

Woodward was born in Croydon, South London to a working class family and was an only child. He attended a number of schools including Eccleston Road, Sydenham Road, Elmwood School and Hinchley Wood School – all in Surrey. His further education took place at Kingston College.

Woodward was initially an amateur actor and an associate member of RADA, but during the war worked in a sanitary engineers office before eventually being accepted to RADA in a formal capacity. As with many of his generation he was torn between wanting to be an actor and a professional footballer. He played for Brentford however sustained a serious injury and was out of the game for over a year. This gave him an opportunity to get serious about his acting.

His premier performance was at the Castle Theatre in Farnham in 1946. He worked after graduating mostly as a travelling Shakespearean actor throughout England and Scotland making his debut in London in 1955 in Where There’s A Will. Woodward also starred in the film of the same name.
By the mid 1950’s he had made his theatrical debut in the West End as well as having travelled to Broadway and Australia for theatre work. His work included Romeo and Juliet and High Spirits on Broadway (1964 – 1965) which won three Tony Awards.

Woodward’s film debut came in 1955 in Where There’s a Will and after his went on to make occasional appearances in The Wicker Man in 1973.
Woodward was best known for his television work and his appearances in Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour Trilogy established him as a fine actor. His work continued to be varied making cameo’s in comedy work such as Morecambe and Wise and in the spy series Callan as well as appearing opposite Laurence Olivier in an episode of Laurence Olivier Presents entitled Saturday, Sunday, Monday in 1978. He became very well known for his role in Callan.

In the mid 80’s Woodward took on his signature role. As a British Former Intelligence Operative in The Equalizer he became one of the UK’s most popular television stars. The series ran from 1985 – 1989 over four series’.

His career continued with roles in the CBS Series Over My Dead Body, BBC Drama Common As Muck as well as Welsh Drama Tan ar y Comin which was especially novel considering he didn’t speak a word of the language.

Edward Woodward was also a tenor singer meaning he was able to record twelve albums of sings as well as three albums of poetry and fourteen literary recordings.

Woodward was married twice; the first time to Venetia Mary Collett from 1952 – 1987 and had two sons; Tim and Peter. Both sons have become actors and their daughter Sarah is a Tony Award Nominated Actress. Woodward left Barrett and married Michele Dotrice in New York in 1987.

Edward Woodward sadly died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro at age 79 after suffering from various illnesses including pneumonia.