Rupert Davies

Rupert Davies

Born: May 22, 1916
Died: November 22, 1976
in Liverpool, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rupert Davies (22 May 1916 – 22 November 1976) was a British actor. He remains best known for playing the title role in the BBC's 1960s television adaptation of Maigret, based on the Maigret novels written by Georges Simenon.

Davies was born in Liverpool. After a service in the British Merchant Navy, during the Second World War he was a Sub-Lieutenant Observer with the Fleet Air Arm. In 1940 the Swordfish aircraft in which he was flying ditched in the sea off the Dutch Coast. Davies was captured and interned in the famous Stalag Luft III POW camp. He made three attempts to escape. All failed. It was during his captivity that he began to take part in theatre performances, entertaining his fellow prisoners.

On his release, Davies resumed his career in acting almost immediately, starring in an ex Prisoner Of War show, 'Back Home', which was hosted at the Stoll Theatre, London.

After the war Davies became a staple of British television appearing in numerous plays and series, including Quatermass II, Ivanhoe, Emergency - Ward 10, Danger Man, The Champions, Doctor at Large (1971), Arthur of the Britons and War and Peace (1972). He also provided the voice of "Professor Ian McClaine" in the Gerry Anderson series Joe 90.

In 1964 he became the first person to be awarded Pipe Smoker of the Year.

Davies also played supporting roles in many films, appearing briefly as George Smiley in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965). He also appeared in several horror films in the late 1960s, including Witchfinder General (1968) and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), as well as such international blockbusters as Waterloo (1970) and Zeppelin (1971).

He died of cancer in London in 1976, leaving a wife, Jessica, and two sons, Timothy and Hogan, and is buried at Pistyll Cemetery, near Nefyn in North Wales.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Rupert Davies, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Rupert Davies...

The Many Faces of Dracula
Title: The Many Faces of Dracula
Character: Monsignor (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 2000
Type: Movie
Hosted by Christopher Lee, this documentary examines the different actors who have portrayed Dracula over the years.
bee
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Title: Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Character: Monsignor (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
A history of the famous vampire of books and movies, using film clips, previews and other methods.
bee
Mike Leigh: Making Plays
Title: Mike Leigh: Making Plays
Character: (Archive Material)
Released: September 4, 1982
Type: Movie
Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.
bee
The After Dinner Game
Title: The After Dinner Game
Character: Bartley Humbolt
Released: January 16, 1975
Type: Movie
Vice-Chancellor Bartley Humbolt has problems. His young university is almost bankrupt, his wife is threatening to leave him, his protege professor from industry is threatening to overshadow him, and his prestigious professor of history is threatening to resign. But Bartley is a born manipulator. And when he gives a dinner party, he has something very special in mind - for afters.
bee
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
Title: King Arthur, the Young Warlord
Character: Cerdig, Chief of the Saxons
Released: January 1, 1975
Type: Movie
This is the inspiring, epic journey of a noble warrior's quest to prove his worth, his might, and his destined fate to become the next ruler of Britain.
bee
Frightmare
Title: Frightmare
Character: Edmund Yates
Released: November 5, 1974
Type: Movie
In 1957, Dorothy and Edmund Yates were committed to an institution for the criminally insane, she for acts of murder and cannibalism and he for covering up her crimes. Fifteen years later, they are pronounced fit for society and released. However, in Dorothy's case the doctors may have jumped the gun a bit. Edmund and eldest daughter, Jackie, try to discover just how far Mother's bloodlust has taken her. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Debbie begins to explore the crazy roots of her family tree as fully as possible.
bee
Title: Father Brown
Released: September 26, 1974
Type: TV
Father Brown was a Catholic priest who doubled as an amateur detective in order to solve mysteries.
bee
Title: Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
Character: Lemerie
Released: September 1, 1973
Type: TV
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries was a British television series The series was an anthology of different tales. Each episode was introduced by Orson Welles, who was the only regular actor in the series. In the opening titles, Welles would be shown in silhouette as he walked through a hallway towards the camera, smoking a cigar and outfitted in a broad-brimmed hat and a huge cloak, the outfit itself being a nod to his having provided the voice of The Shadow in the radio program. When he actually appeared on-screen to introduce the episodes, his face would be all that would be shown, in extreme close-up and very low lighting.
bee
Title: Arthur of the Britons
Character: Cerdig
Released: December 6, 1972
Type: TV
This series strips away the elaborate medieval view of Camelot, and presents Arthur as the chief of a small Celt tribe in Dark-Ages Britain, a century or two after the withdrawal of Rome. Arthur struggles to weave the scattered tribes of Celts, Jutes, etc. into a union that can effectively oppose the Saxon invaders who are arriving in Britain in growing numbers. He is aided by his adoptive father, Llud, and his foster brother, Kai, who is himself a Saxon foundling.
bee
Title: Arthur of the Britons
Released: December 6, 1972
Type: TV
This series strips away the elaborate medieval view of Camelot, and presents Arthur as the chief of a small Celt tribe in Dark-Ages Britain, a century or two after the withdrawal of Rome. Arthur struggles to weave the scattered tribes of Celts, Jutes, etc. into a union that can effectively oppose the Saxon invaders who are arriving in Britain in growing numbers. He is aided by his adoptive father, Llud, and his foster brother, Kai, who is himself a Saxon foundling.
bee
Title: War and Peace
Released: September 29, 1972
Type: TV
The classic BBC dramatisation of Tolstoy's epic story of love and loss set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Anthony Hopkins heads the cast as Pierre Bezuhov (a role for which he won the 1972 Best Actor BAFTA); Morag Hood is the impulsive and beautiful Natasha Rostova; Alan Dobie is the dour but heroic Andrei Bolkonsky; and David Swift is Napoleon, whose decision to invade Russia in 1812 has far-reaching consequences for Pierre and the Rostov and Bolkonsky families. The twenty-part serial was the vision of producer David Conroy whose principle aim was to transfer the rich characterisation and incident from Tolstoy's greatest novel to a television drama. Scripted by Jack Pulman and directed by John Davies, Conroy's War And Peace boasts superb acting, award-winning design (1972 Best Design BAFTA) and breathtaking battle sequences which were filmed in former Yugoslavia.
bee
Title: The Man Outside
Released: May 12, 1972
Type: TV
bee
Zeppelin
Title: Zeppelin
Character: Captain Whitney
Released: April 8, 1971
Type: Movie
The outbreak of World War I places Scots officer Geoffrey Richter-Douglas in an uncomfortable position. Although his allegiance is to Britain, his mother was from an aristocratic Bavarian family, and he spent his summers in Germany as a child. When Geoffrey is approached by a German spy who offers him a chance to defect, he reports the incident to his superiors, but instead of arresting the spy they suggest that he accept her offer--and become an Allied agent. In Germany, among old friends, Geoffrey discovers that loyalty is more complicated than he expected, especially when he finds himself aboard the maiden voyage of a powerful new prototype Zeppelin, headed for Scotland on a secret mission that could decide the outcome of the war.
bee
The Night Visitor
Title: The Night Visitor
Character: Mr. Clemens
Released: February 10, 1971
Type: Movie
An insane Swedish farmer escapes from an asylum to get revenge on his sister, her husband and others.
bee
The Firechasers
Title: The Firechasers
Character: Prentice
Released: January 1, 1971
Type: Movie
Insurance investigator must find out who is setting fires. Along the way he meets and works with a beautiful newspaper reporter and falls in love.
bee
Waterloo
Title: Waterloo
Character: Gordon
Released: October 26, 1970
Type: Movie
After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him. The best of the British generals, the Duke of Wellington, beat Napolean's best generals in Spain and Portugal, but now must beat Napoleon himself with an Anglo Allied army.
bee
The Oblong Box
Title: The Oblong Box
Character: Joshua Kemp
Released: June 11, 1969
Type: Movie
Evil lurks in the gloomy house at Markham Manor where a deranged Sir Edward is the chained prisoner of his brother Julian. When Sir Edward escapes, he embarks on a monstrous killing spree, determined to seek revenge on all those whom he feels have double-crossed him.
bee
Curse of the Crimson Altar
Title: Curse of the Crimson Altar
Character: The Vicar (uncredited)
Released: December 1, 1968
Type: Movie
When his brother disappears, Robert Manning pays a visit to the remote country house he was last heard from. While his host is outwardly welcoming - and his niece more demonstrably so - Manning detects a feeling of menace in the air with the legend of Lavinia Morley, Black Witch of Greymarsh, hanging over everything.
bee
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
Title: Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
Character: Monsignor Ernst Mueller
Released: November 7, 1968
Type: Movie
In the shadow of Castle Dracula, the Prince of Darkness is revived by blood trickling from the head-wound of an unconscious priest attempting exorcism. And once more fear and terror strikes Transylvania as the undead Prince of Darkness stalks the village of Keineneburg to ensnare victims and satisfy his evil thirst.
bee
Title: Joe 90
Released: September 29, 1968
Type: TV
Joe 90 is a 1960s British science-fiction television series following the adventures of a nine-year-old child, Joe McClaine, who starts a double life as a schoolboy-turned-spy when his scientist father invents a device capable of duplicating and transferring expert knowledge and experience from one human brain to another. Equipped with the skills of the foremost academic and military minds, Joe is recruited by the World Intelligence Network and, becoming its "Most Special Agent", pursues the ideal of world peace and saving human life.
bee
Title: The Champions
Character: Voss
Released: September 25, 1968
Type: TV
The Champions is a British espionage/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure series consisting of 30 episodes broadcast on the UK network ITV during 1968–1969, produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company. The series was broadcast in the US on NBC, starting in summer 1968.
bee
Witchfinder General
Title: Witchfinder General
Character: John Lowes
Released: May 17, 1968
Type: Movie
England, 1645. The cruel civil war between Royalists and Parliamentarians that is ravaging the country causes an era of chaos and legal arbitrariness that allows unscrupulous men to profit by exploiting the absurd superstitions of the peasants; like Matthew Hopkins, a monster disguised as a man who wanders from town to town offering his services as a witch hunter.
bee
Submarine X-1
Title: Submarine X-1
Character: Vice Admiral Redmayne (uncredited)
Released: March 22, 1968
Type: Movie
After losing a submarine and fifty crew in a battle with a German ship during WWII, a Royal Navy officer gets a second chance in a daring raid with midget subs.
bee
Title: Man in a Suitcase
Released: September 27, 1967
Type: TV
Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.
bee
Five Golden Dragons
Title: Five Golden Dragons
Character: Comm. Sanders
Released: August 3, 1967
Type: Movie
While travelling through Hong Kong, Bob Mitchell accidentally stumbles into the middle of criminal negotiations between a mean gang, the Five Golden Dragons and the local mobsters.
bee
The Brides of Fu Manchu
Title: The Brides of Fu Manchu
Character: Jules Merlin
Released: December 16, 1966
Type: Movie
This time Fu Manchu and his army of henchmen are kidnaping the daughters of prominent scientists and taking them to his remote island headquarters. Instead of asking for ransom, Fu demands that the fathers help him to build a death ray, which he intends to use to take over the world. But Fu's archenemy, Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard, is determined not to let that happen.
bee
Target for Killing
Title: Target for Killing
Character: Kommissar Saadi
Released: September 29, 1966
Type: Movie
A secret agent is charged with preventing a crime syndicate's plot to assassinate a young heiress.
bee
Maigret Plays Dirty
Title: Maigret Plays Dirty
Character: Maigret
Released: January 1, 1966
Type: Movie
Murder mystery featuring Maigret.
bee
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Title: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Character: George Smiley
Released: December 16, 1965
Type: Movie
British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the Cold War during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.
bee
The Uncle
Title: The Uncle
Character: David Morton
Released: April 23, 1965
Type: Movie
Gus is a seven-year-old uncle who struggles with the responsibility placed upon him when his nephew Tom comes to spend the summer holidays with his family.
bee
The Big Breaker
Title: The Big Breaker
Character: Councillor Wally Cross
Released: November 18, 1964
Type: Movie
A lodger, recuperating from a heart attack, sets his sights on his landlady.
bee
Title: Detective
Released: March 30, 1964
Type: TV
A BBC anthology series featuring adaptations of detective stories over 45 episodes in three seasons that ran from 1964 to 1969. As with many BBC programmes made before the early 1970s, many of its episodes no longer exist. Of the eighteen episodes from the first season only twelve are currently known to exist; likewise six of the sixteen editions from the second run are considered lost, and just one of the final ten survives in the archives.
bee
Title: Detective
Character: Chief Inspector Jules Maigret - Introduction
Released: March 30, 1964
Type: TV
A BBC anthology series featuring adaptations of detective stories over 45 episodes in three seasons that ran from 1964 to 1969. As with many BBC programmes made before the early 1970s, many of its episodes no longer exist. Of the eighteen episodes from the first season only twelve are currently known to exist; likewise six of the sixteen editions from the second run are considered lost, and just one of the final ten survives in the archives.
bee
Title: Detective
Character: Chief Inspector Jules Maigret
Released: March 30, 1964
Type: TV
A BBC anthology series featuring adaptations of detective stories over 45 episodes in three seasons that ran from 1964 to 1969. As with many BBC programmes made before the early 1970s, many of its episodes no longer exist. Of the eighteen episodes from the first season only twelve are currently known to exist; likewise six of the sixteen editions from the second run are considered lost, and just one of the final ten survives in the archives.
bee
Title: Ready Steady Go!
Character: Self
Released: August 9, 1963
Type: TV
Ready Steady Go! is one of the UK's first rock/pop music television programmes and was a forerunner of MTV-type programming. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan was assisted by record producer/talent manager Vicki Wickham, who became the show's producer, and Michael Lindsay-Hogg who was appointed the show's director in 1965. It was broadcast from August 1963 until December 1966. It was produced by Associated-Rediffusion the weekday ITV contractor for London, called Rediffusion-London post 1964. The live show was eventually networked nationally. The show gained its highest ratings on 20 March 1964 when it featured the Beatles being interviewed and performing their songs "It Won't Be Long", "You Can't Do That" and "Can't Buy Me Love" - the last of which was a hit at the time. RSG! USA! was a Dick Clark production in 1964. A trademark infringement ended the show after six episodes. Its last episode was broadcast on 23 December 1966.
bee
Title: Maigret
Character: Chief Inspector Maigret
Released: October 31, 1960
Type: TV
BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television.
bee
The Criminal
Title: The Criminal
Character: Edwards
Released: September 13, 1960
Type: Movie
When a robbery at a racetrack goes wrong ex-con Johnny Bannion is caught and sent back to prison. He won't tell the rest of the gang where he has stashed the loot leading to violent consequences.
bee
Danger Tomorrow
Title: Danger Tomorrow
Character: Dr. Campbell
Released: March 31, 1960
Type: Movie
A woman with extra-sensory perception has a vision of a murder.
bee
Devil's Bait
Title: Devil's Bait
Character: Landlord
Released: December 1, 1959
Type: Movie
The police, with the help of a baker, try to find the owner a loaf of bread accidentally poisoned with potassium cyanide.
bee
Sapphire
Title: Sapphire
Character: Ferris
Released: November 2, 1959
Type: Movie
Two Scotland Yard detectives investigate the murder of a young woman of mixed race who had been passing for white. As they interview a spate of suspects -- including the girl's white boyfriend and his disapproving parents -- the detectives wade through a stubbornly entrenched sludge of racism and bigotry.
bee
The Thought of Tomorrow
Title: The Thought of Tomorrow
Character: Geoffrey Hansbury
Released: October 11, 1959
Type: Movie
Geoffrey Hansbury's clothing empire is on the verge of collapse. His health his deteriorating and relies on his secretary Jane Harrison, who is also his mistress. All their efforts are needed to get the deal that will save his business.
bee
Title: The Third Man
Released: October 2, 1959
Type: TV
bee
Title: Interpol Calling
Character: Coetzee
Released: September 13, 1959
Type: TV
The adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international drug-running, homicide, robbery and forgery.
bee
John Paul Jones
Title: John Paul Jones
Character: British Captain
Released: June 16, 1959
Type: Movie
The career of Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones, from his youth in Scotland through his service to Catherine the Great of Russia.
bee
Life In Emergency Ward 10
Title: Life In Emergency Ward 10
Character: R.S.O. Hunter
Released: April 1, 1959
Type: Movie
Life in Emergency Ward 10 is a 1959 film directed by Robert Day. It stars Michael Craig and Wilfrid Hyde-White. It was based on the television series Emergency – Ward 10
bee
Violent Moment
Title: Violent Moment
Character: Bert Glennon
Released: March 1, 1959
Type: Movie
Douglas Baines, a wartime army deserter, is lying low in a shabby flat with his girlfriend Daisy and the couple's small son, Jiffy. Returning home with a toy for Jiffy's second birthday, he learns that Daisy has had the boy adopted. When she refuses to tell him where the boy is, he strangles Daisy and goes on the run.
bee
Breakout
Title: Breakout
Character: Morgan
Released: March 1, 1959
Type: Movie
A local government official leads a double life when organising a breakout from a prison.
bee
Title: The Invisible Man
Character: Dushkin
Released: September 14, 1958
Type: TV
British scientist Peter Brady, while working on an invisibility formula, suffers a tragic accident which turns himself invisible. Unfortunately, there is no antidote, so, while working on a method to regain his visibility, he undertakes missions for his government stopping bad guys.
bee
Sea Fury
Title: Sea Fury
Character: Bosun
Released: August 26, 1958
Type: Movie
The captain of a tugboat harboured off a Spanish village is lured into a romantic involvement with a young girl at the behest of her father, in the hope of getting his hands on the vessel. Meanwhile, a handsome English sailor, signs on to the boat and before long he and the girl fall for one another. Meanwhile a sinking freighter carrying explosive cargo has to be salvaged....
bee
The Key
Title: The Key
Character: Baker
Released: May 28, 1958
Type: Movie
In wartime England, circa 1941, poorly-armed tugs are sent into "U-Boat Alley" to rescue damaged Allied ships. An American named David Ross arrives to captain one of these tugs. He's given a key by a fellow tugboat-man -- a key to an apartment and its pretty female resident. Should something happen to the friend, Ross can use the key.
bee
Title: Ivanhoe
Character: Brother Gareth
Released: January 5, 1958
Type: TV
Ivanhoe is a British television series first shown on ITV in 1958-59. The show features Roger Moore in his first starring role, as Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, in a series of adventures aimed at a children's audience. The characters were drawn loosely from Sir Walter Scott's 1819 novel.
bee
The Traitor
Title: The Traitor
Character: Clinton
Released: March 1, 1957
Type: Movie
One time members of a resistance group come together every year to remember their dead leader, betrayed to and executed by the Nazis. When it seems that they might finally know the name of the traitor - and that he or she comes from within their own unit - their annual gathering becomes a deadly trial...
bee
Title: Armchair Theatre
Character: Inspector Shawcross
Released: July 8, 1956
Type: TV
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.
bee
Title: Quatermass II
Character: Vincent Broadhead
Released: October 22, 1955
Type: TV
The serial sees Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group being asked to examine strange meteorite showers. His investigations lead to his uncovering a conspiracy involving alien infiltration at the highest levels of the British Government. As even some of Quatermass's closest colleagues fall victim to the alien influence, he is forced to use his own unsafe rocket prototype, which recently caused a nuclear disaster at an Australian testing range, to prevent the aliens from taking over mankind.
bee
The Dark Avenger
Title: The Dark Avenger
Character: Sir John
Released: April 15, 1955
Type: Movie
Edward, Prince of Wales, son and heir to his father King Edward III of England, leads an English army to the French province of Aquitaine to protect the inhabitant from the ravages of the French. After defeating the French in battle, the defeated French plot to kill the prince. Failing in this, they kidnap his lady, the lovely Lady Joan Holland. Of course Prince Edward has to ride to the rescue, adopting numerous guises to save his paramour, which ultimately end in him leading his men into one final climactic battle against the French. (Also known as "The Warriors" and "The Black Prince").
bee
The Angel with the Trumpet
Title: The Angel with the Trumpet
Character: Policeman
Released: March 20, 1950
Type: Movie
Sad tale of a woman who marries the man her family wishes her to wed, not Wooland, the man she truly loves. Years after her lover's suicide, Herlie joins him before the Gestapo can get to her because of her Jewish ancestry.
bee
Health in Our Time
Title: Health in Our Time
Released: January 1, 1948
Type: Movie
Shows how hygiene can change the course of history and how it was a decisive factor in Britain's World War II victory. Commentary by Dr. Charles Hill.