Colin Welland

Colin Welland

Born: July 4, 1934
Died: November 2, 2015
in Liverpool, England
Actor and writer Colin Welland will perhaps be forever remembered for his triumph at the 1982 Academy Awards, when he won the Best Screenplay Oscar for his screenplay for the hit film Chariots of Fire, proclaiming "The British are Coming!" As an actor, his first film appearance is perhaps still his best-loved, the sympathetic Mr Farthing in Kes (1969), for which he won a BAFTA. Born in Liverpool, but raised in Leigh, Welland initially started out as an art teacher before moving into acting and becoming a household name playing the role of PC Graham in the long running BBC police serial Z Cars. Aside from Chariots of Fire, he wrote many other plays and films including the BAFTA winning Kisses at Fifty (later remade for Hollywood with Gene Hackman as Twice in a Lifetime), Leeds United! based on the rag trade strike that his own mother-in-law was active in, Yanks, A Dry White Season and War of the Buttons. As a film and TV actor his credits include Kes, Straw Dogs, Blue Remembered Hills, Cowboys and Sweeney! He died at the age of 81 on November 2, 2015, having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years.

Movies for Colin Welland...

The Fix
Title: The Fix
Character: Harry Catterick
Released: January 4, 1997
Type: Movie
The story of the British betting scandal of 1964, uncovered by journalist Mike Gabbert which saw a number of British professional footballers were jailed and banned from football for life for conspiring to fix the results of matches. Prominent among those jailed and banned were the Sheffield Wednesday F.C. stars Peter Swan, Tony Kay and David Layne.
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Title: Bramwell
Character: Mr. Barclay
Released: May 1, 1995
Type: TV
The story of Eleanor Bramwell , a pioneering female doctor in the late nineteenth century, and the struggles she has with her friends, her colleagues and society. Determined to take the medical profession out of the dark ages, her strongly held opinions often draw her into conflict with the chief surgeon, a man keener on tradition than he is on progress.
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Femme Fatale
Title: Femme Fatale
Character: Martin Harty
Released: February 7, 1993
Type: Movie
Sicilian-born Maddalena has moved to a Devonshire village in England to escape volatile sexual tempers. She marries, but the lust she inspires in the villagers makes them drop dead.
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The Secret Life of Ian Fleming
Title: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming
Character: Reuters editor
Released: March 5, 1990
Type: Movie
The Secret Life of Ian Fleming follows the exciting life of a dashing young Ian Fleming, the mastermind behind the highly successful James Bond books and movies.
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Dancin' Thru the Dark
Title: Dancin' Thru the Dark
Character: Manager
Released: March 2, 1990
Type: Movie
Linda's out on her hen night, her fiance is out on his stag night. Linda is having major doubts about getting married, when both groups arrive at a club, to find the band fronted by her ex-boyfriend—and the love of her life—Peter. Linda has to decide: Does she stay and settle down, like her friends want her to, or does she chuck it all in and run away with Peter?
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The Trial of Klaus Barbie
Title: The Trial of Klaus Barbie
Character: Klarsfeld
Released: July 15, 1987
Type: Movie
Decades after the end of World War II, escaped war criminal Klaus Barbie is brought to justice.
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United Kingdom
Title: United Kingdom
Character: Chief Constable James McBride
Released: December 8, 1981
Type: Movie
Incendiary 1981 Play for Today, written by Jim Allen and directed by Roland Joffé that tells the story of a group of housing estate residents who attempt to organise against persistent rent rises.
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Title: Cowboys
Character: Geyser
Released: September 3, 1980
Type: TV
Cowboys is a British sitcom that aired on the ITV network during the early 1980s. The show was created by Peter Learmouth whom would go on to create Granada television sitcom Surgical Spirit and starred Lancastrian Character-actor Roy Kinnear as Joe Jones "whose small building firm hardly seems to do anything right at all" with co-stars David Kelly as 'Wobbly' Ron, "Oscar-Winning Writer" Colin Welland as Geyser and James Wardroper with Debbie Linden and Janine Duvitski. The show is based on the British colloquial use of "cowboy" to describe a workman of doubtful professionalism e.g. a "cowboy builder".
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After Dark
Title: After Dark
Released: October 19, 1979
Type: Movie
Colin Welland presents this public information film about the hazards of nighttime driving.
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Blue Remembered Hills
Title: Blue Remembered Hills
Character: Willie
Released: January 30, 1979
Type: Movie
On an idyllic summer afternoon in the summer of 1943, a group of children play in the West Country hills, fields and forests. With no adults around, they indulge in spontaneous games and horseplay - sometimes echoing the distant war, at other times revealing their own insecurities and petty vindictiveness.
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Watch That Space
Title: Watch That Space
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1978
Type: Movie
Colin Welland presents this confined spaces training video from the Health and Safety Executive, detailing the hazards of entering any confined space without the neccessary awareness, training & equipment.
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Sweeney!
Title: Sweeney!
Character: Frank Chadwick
Released: January 14, 1977
Type: Movie
When one of Regan's snouts complains that his girlfriend's recent suicide was murder, the flying squad detective feels compelled to investigate. He uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the heart of the government, and finds himself fitted up, suspended and under the scrutiny of Special Branch.
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Machinegunner
Title: Machinegunner
Character: Bone
Released: April 1, 1976
Type: Movie
A 'machinegunner' (West Country slang for a debt-collector) turns amateur sleuth, but finds himself in hot water with local criminals.
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A Passage to England
Title: A Passage to England
Character: Onslow
Released: December 9, 1975
Type: Movie
Anand, his pretty cousin and their sick uncle are stranded in Amsterdam where they receive an offer to take them to England.
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Title: The Sweeney
Character: Tober
Released: January 2, 1975
Type: TV
Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.
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Leeds United!
Title: Leeds United!
Released: October 31, 1974
Type: Movie
The true story of a strike in 1970 by female textile-factory workers in Leeds who wanted to be paid the same as their male colleagues, but whose efforts were undermined by the trade union that they belonged to.
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Straw Dogs
Title: Straw Dogs
Character: Rev. Barney Hood
Released: November 25, 1971
Type: Movie
David Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy's old flame, Charlie. Eventually the taunts escalate, and two of the locals rape Amy. This sexual assault awakes a shockingly violent side of David.
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Villain
Title: Villain
Character: Tom Binney
Released: May 26, 1971
Type: Movie
In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.
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Roll On Four O'Clock
Title: Roll On Four O'Clock
Character: Lennie Brown
Released: December 19, 1970
Type: Movie
Compelling drama from screenwriter Colin Welland set in a city comprehensive school of low expectations and ambitions. Pupil Latimer does not conform to the macho culture and is labeled a homosexual, leading to bullying by both the pupils and some of the teachers.
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Say Goodnight to Your Grandma
Title: Say Goodnight to Your Grandma
Character: Tony
Released: October 27, 1970
Type: Movie
Colin Welland's play about a wife, her mother, her mother-in-law and conflict.
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Kes
Title: Kes
Character: Mr. Farthing
Released: April 3, 1970
Type: Movie
Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence—until tragedy strikes.
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Title: Z-Cars
Character: PC David Graham
Released: January 2, 1962
Type: TV
Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.