Peter Gilmore obit

Onedin Line star Peter Gilmore dies aged 81

Actor Peter Gilmore, who headed the cast of long-running BBC seafaring drama The Onedin Line, has died at the age of 81. 

He was not on the list.

James Onedin, the protagonist of the long-running BBC television series The Onedin Line, gained his splendid name from a sea nymph. After the programme's creator, Cyril Abraham, had read about mythological figure Ondine, he transposed the "e", thus making her a man. And what a man: Peter Gilmore, who played Onedin in 91 episodes from 1971 to 1980, had tousled hair, flinty eyes, hollow cheeks, mutton-chop sideburns racing across his cheek, lips pulled severely down, chin thrust indomitably forward to face down the brewing gale. He has died aged 81.

The sea captain did not so much talk as emit salty barks that brooked no demur. In 1972, while filming, Gilmore was buzzed by speedboats from the Royal Naval College. Still in character as Onedin, he yelled irascibly at the tyro sailors: "Taxpayers' money! Where are your guns? What use would you be if the Russians came?"

Like Horatio Nelson, Francis Drake and to a lesser extent the early 70s prime minister Edward Heath, the very cut of Gilmore's jib suggested that the British – if only in prime-time costume dramas – still ruled the waves. For many, Gilmore's name conjures up the stirring Adagio from Khachaturian's ballet Spartacus that was used on the opening credits. Madly and marvellously, Onedin set up a shipping line with sailing vessels in late-19th century Liverpool at a time when steamships were taking over the seaways.

By series two, his business model had seen off the sceptics but his wife, Anne, had died in childbirth. That plot twist was partly explained by the fact that the actor who played her, Anne Stallybrass, had decided to return to the theatre.

To honour his dead wife's memory, Onedin added a steamship to his fleet called the Anne Onedin and then allowed Kate Nelligan (as a coal-merchant's eligible daughter) and Caroline Harris (as a 20-something worldly wise widow) to vie for his affections. He spurned both, marrying his daughter's governess, Letty Gaunt, who died of diphtheria. By the eighth and last series, Onedin was married to a third wife, Margarita Juarez, and had become a grandfather.

Before Howards' Way, The Onedin Line was the BBC's nautical franchise: Abraham wrote five novels loosely based on his television scripts, while Gilmore was frequently asked to launch ships and was also bombarded with fan mail and advice from veteran sailors. He parlayed fame into reviving a former career as a singer, releasing in 1974 an album of sailor shanties called Songs of the Sea and in 1977 another called Peter Gilmore Sings Gently.

He regretted that he became too typecast as Onedin to get other lead roles. In 1978 he starred opposite Doug McLure in the film Warlords of Atlantis as an archaeologist searching for the fabled underwater city who ends up battling a giant octopus and other sea monsters.

Gilmore was born in the German city of Leipzig. At the age of six, he moved to Nunthorpe, near Middlesbrough, where he was raised by relatives, later attending the Friends' school in Great Ayton, north Yorkshire. From the age of 14 he worked in a factory, but later studied at Rada. While undertaking national service in 1950 he discovered a talent for singing and after his discharge joined singing groups who performed all over the country.

During the 1950s and 60s he became a stalwart of British stage musicals, appearing in several largely unsuccessful shows, including one called Hooray for Daisy! in which he was the chief human in a drama about a pantomime cow. He even released a single in 1960 as a spin-off from his performance in the musical Follow That Girl, opposite Susan Hampshire. In 1958 he appeared on the pop programme Cool for Cats, where he met the actor Una Stubbs, then one of the Dougie Squires Dancers, who were weekly tasked with interpreting hit songs in movement. The couple were married from 1958 until 1969.

His success at this time in British and US TV commercials led him to be cast in comedies, with 11 appearances in Carry On films, two of which – Carry On Jack (1963) and Carry On Cleo (1964) – gave him early nautical roles. In 1970 he married Jan Waters, with whom he starred in both stage and television productions of The Beggar's Opera, he playing the highwayman Captain Macheath.

The Onedin Line brought Gilmore the fame that had eluded him. In 1976, he and Jan divorced and he started living with Stallybrass, whom he married in 1987. In 1984 a new generation of viewers saw Gilmore as Brazen, the security chief of a distant human colony called Frontios in Doctor Who's 21st series. Brazen died heroically while helping the Doctor escape. Gilmore made his last stage appearance in 1987 in Michael Frayn's Noises Off and his last screen one in the 1996 television movie On Dangerous Ground.

He is survived by Anne and a son, Jason, from his first marriage.

Actor

On Dangerous Ground (1996)

On Dangerous Ground

4.4

TV Movie

Murdoch

1996

 

George Baker, Keith Barron, John Castle, and Amanda Redman in Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987)

Ruth Rendell Mysteries

6.8

TV Series

Frank Malm

1994

2 episodes

 

Nick Berry in Heartbeat (1992)

Heartbeat

6.9

TV Series

Raymond Walker

1993

1 episode

 

Colin Blumenau, Nula Conwell, Peter Ellis, Trudie Goodwin, Jon Iles, Gary Olsen, Eric Richard, John Salthouse, Tony Scannell, Jeff Stewart, Mark Wingett, and Delia Swan in The Bill (1984)

The Bill

6.7

TV Series

Peter Shaw

1993

1 episode

 

Casualty (1986)

Casualty

6.1

TV Series

Lionel Harrap

1992

1 episode

 

Carry on Columbus (1992)

Carry on Columbus

3.4

Governor of the Canaries

1992

 

Benjamin Huntsman

Short

Benjamin Huntsman

1992

 

Haggard (1990)

Haggard

6.4

TV Series

One-Eyed Will

1990

1 episode

 

Bob Hoskins and Maggie Smith in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987)

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

7.0

Kevin O'Neill

1987

 

You'll Never See Me Again

TV Movie

Reg Alden

1986

 

One by One

7.8

TV Series

Ben Bishop

1985

12 episodes

 

Paul McGann, Colin Baker, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, William Hartnell, Sylvester McCoy, Jon Pertwee, and Patrick Troughton in Doctor Who (1963)

Doctor Who

8.4

TV Series

Brazen

1984

4 episodes

 

The Manions of America (1981)

The Manions of America

7.1

TV Mini Series

Jim O'Brien

1981

3 episodes

 

Peter Gilmore and Anne Stallybrass in The Onedin Line (1971)

The Onedin Line

7.6

TV Series

James Onedin

Cousin Richard

1971–1980

91 episodes

 

A Man Called Intrepid (1980)

A Man Called Intrepid

4.5

Gubbins

1980

 

A Man Called Intrepid (1979)

A Man Called Intrepid

6.8

TV Mini Series

Gubbins

1979

3 episodes

 

Warlords of the Deep (1978)

Warlords of the Deep

5.5

Charles Aitken

1978

 

Mad in Austria

TV Movie

James Onedin

1975

 

Margaret Ashcroft, Glynn Edwards, Anna Palk, John Stride, and John Wentworth in The Main Chance (1969)

The Main Chance

7.6

TV Series

Tony Murray

Anthony Gibbs-Revill

1970–1975

2 episodes

 

Cabaret Cabaret

TV Series

1974

1 episode

 

Anna Cropper in Dead of Night (1972)

Dead of Night

7.3

TV Series

1972

1 episode

 

Tony Curtis and Roger Moore in The Persuaders! (1971)

The Persuaders!

8.0

TV Series

Mather

1971

1 episode

 

Carry on Henry VIII (1971)

Carry on Henry VIII

6.2

King Francis of France

1971

 

Vincent Price and Virginia North in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

7.1

Dr. Kitaj

1971

 

The Doctors (1969)

The Doctors

6.9

TV Series

Jack Stockton

1971

16 episodes

 

Freelance (1970)

Freelance

6.9

Boss

1970

 

Romy Schneider and Dennis Waterman in My Lover, My Son (1970)

My Lover, My Son

5.1

Barman

1970

 

Carry on Again Doctor (1969)

Carry on Again Doctor

6.2

Henry

1969

 

Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)

Oh! What a Lovely War

7.0

Private Burgess

1969

 

Alan Dobie in The ITV Play (1968)

The ITV Play

TV Series

Captain Macheath

1969

1 episode

 

Carry on Up the Khyber (1968)

Carry on Up the Khyber

6.8

Private Ginger Hale

1968

 

Frankie Howerd and Sidney James in Carry on Doctor (1967)

Carry on Doctor

6.5

Henry

1967

 

Carry on Follow That Camel (1967)

Carry on Follow That Camel

6.0

Capt. Humphrey Bagshaw

1967

 

The Jokers (1967)

The Jokers

6.6

Army Officer

1967

 

Carry on Don't Lose Your Head (1967)

Carry on Don't Lose Your Head

6.5

Citizen Robespierre

1967

 

BBC Play of the Month (1965)

BBC Play of the Month

6.9

TV Series

Charlie

1966

1 episode

 

The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966)

The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery

5.8

Butters

1966

 

Carnaby, M.D. (1966)

Carnaby, M.D.

5.7

Len the choreographer

1966

 

Carry on Cowboy (1965)

Carry on Cowboy

6.2

Curly

1965

 

Dick Emery in The Dick Emery Show (1963)

The Dick Emery Show

6.8

TV Series

1965

1 episode

 

You Must Be Joking! (1965)

You Must Be Joking!

5.9

Private on Gardening Duty (uncredited)

1965

 

I've Gotta Horse (1965)

I've Gotta Horse

4.7

Jock

1965

 

Hugh and I (1962)

Hugh and I

6.7

TV Series

1965

1 episode

 

Derek Godfrey and Roddy McMillan in Front Page Story (1965)

Front Page Story

TV Series

Steward

1965

1 episode

 

Carry on Cleo (1964)

Carry on Cleo

6.7

Galley Master

1964

 

Seaside Swingers (1964)

Seaside Swingers

5.0

Kenneth

1964

 

Carry on Jack (1964)

Carry on Jack

5.8

Roger

1964

 

Master Spy (1963)

Master Spy

5.8

Tom Masters

1963

 

Carry on Cabby (1963)

Carry on Cabby

6.4

Dancy

1963

 

Bomb in the High Street (1963)

Bomb in the High Street

6.4

Shorty

1963

 

Emergency-Ward 10 (1957)

Emergency-Ward 10

6.5

TV Series

Policeman

1961

1 episode

 

Peter Jones and Miriam Karlin in The Rag Trade (1961)

The Rag Trade

7.3

TV Series

Mr. Stezel Jr

1961

1 episode

 

If the Crown Fits

TV Series

Pavlov

1961

1 episode

 

ITV Play of the Week (1955)

ITV Play of the Week

7.3

TV Series

Albert

1960

1 episode

 

Rush Hour

TV Series

1958

1 episode

 

Ivanhoe (1958)

Ivanhoe

7.1

TV Series

Sir Waldo of Ivanhoe

1958

1 episode

 

A Time to Kill (1955)

A Time to Kill

5.9

Walk on part (uncredited)

1955

 

Diana Dors, Jonathan Ashmore, and Joe Robinson in A Kid for Two Farthings (1955)

A Kid for Two Farthings

6.4

Walk on part (uncredited)

1955

 

BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950)

BBC Sunday-Night Theatre

7.8

TV Series

1953

1 episode