William Lucas obituary
He was not on the list.
William Lucas, who has died aged 91, was already a veteran television actor before he played Dr Gordon in The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972-74). In a three-channel age, the programme became essential Sunday-teatime viewing for many families and regularly appeared in the weekly Top 20 TV ratings with stories that were a continuation, rather than an adaptation, of those in Anna Sewell’s best-selling 19th-century novel.
Lucas and his co-stars – Judi Bowker and Roderick Shaw as the doctor’s children, Vicky and Kevin, and Charlotte Mitchell as his loyal housekeeper, Amy Winthrop – found themselves part of a screen phenomenon that owed much to writers such as Ted Willis and Richard Carpenter. Denis King’s Galloping Home theme tune evoked childhood memories that led to it being heard over future decades in other programmes – perhaps most memorably in Absolutely Fabulous, accompanying Jennifer Saunders’s dream of running through a field, Black Beauty-style.
Lucas’s character, James Gordon, is a widowed GP moving from London to set up a country practice in the village of Five Oaks. He saves the life of the disabled owner of a black stallion – and is presented with the animal as thanks. His children are seen enjoying adventures with Black Beauty, often bringing villains to heel. For the second series, Stacy Dorning played the doctor’s other daughter, Jenny, returning from school and replacing the departing Bowker.
The programme’s popularity led to Lucas and Dorning reprising their roles two decades later for The New Adventures of Black Beauty, a 1990-91 series produced by a New Zealand television company that showed Dr Gordon and the grown-up Jenny emigrating.
The actor was born William Clucas, the son of Albert, who worked in a Sheffield steelworks, and his wife, Ada (nee Mellor). He had an older sister, Joan, who took him to the cinema, where he enjoyed Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy films, as well as Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals.
On leaving Burnage high school, Manchester, Clucas worked in a bank, then served in the Royal Navy during the second world war. A string of jobs followed – from cafe chef to farm labourer and lorry driver – before he achieved his ambition to train as an actor by winning a scholarship to the Northern Theatre School, established by the Bradford Civic Playhouse’s artistic director, Esme Church. Advised that his surname was too obscure, he changed it to Lucas.
He began his career in 1948 as an assistant stage manager at Chesterfield civic theatre, where he met Doreen Moorhouse, who acted under the name Rowena Ingram. They married in 1954. Repertory work followed in Coventry, Liverpool, Richmond, Windsor and at the Bristol Old Vic. Later, Lucas appeared in the West End as Frank Thorney in the tragicomedy The Witch of Edmonton (Mermaid theatre, 1962) and Martello in Tom Stoppard’s Artist Descending a Staircase (Duke of York’s theatre, 1988-89).
His big television break came with the part of the
blackmailing car dealer Reg Dorking in Portrait of Alison (1955), a crime
thriller serial written by Francis Durbridge. Lucas was the only cast member to
reprise his role for a film version later the same year (released in the US as
Postmark for Danger).
On TV, he was a regular as David Graham in The Strange World of Planet X (1956), Charlton Bradbury in The Crime of the Century (1956-57), Jim Pereira in the second series (1958) of the hotel saga The Royalty, Jonathan Briggs in the serialisation of Frank Tilsley’s novel Champion Road (1958) and Durea in the London underworld thriller Solo for Canary (1958).
He starred in The Infamous John Friend (1959), in the title role of the smuggler and spy for Napoleon, and was Detective Inspector Mitchell in the crime dramas The Days of Vengeance (1960) and Flower of Evil (1961), and Eddie Prior in the thriller serial The Prior Commitment (1969).
Lucas appeared in many television plays and was Inspector Lestrade, perfectly portraying his smug character’s wrong deductions, in A Study in Scarlet and The Second Stain, two 1968 episodes in the Sherlock Holmes series starring Peter Cushing. He even took the title role in a TV production of Rigoletto (1958), recalling: “Happily, the singing was dubbed.” The best of Lucas’s later television performances was in The Spoils of War (1980-81) as George Hayward, the Labour party-supporting father in a Lake District family coming to terms with peace after the second world war.
There were also appearances in three soap operas, the first, in 1966, as Bill Finlay in the football serial United! In Coronation Street, he had a short run as Dennis Maxwell (1971), the crooked personnel manager at the Mark Brittain Warehouse who had an affair with Elsie Tanner, and he later played Judge Parrish (1996), who found Steve and Vicky McDonald guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after accepting stolen whisky. He was a regular in the short-lived British-expats serial Eldorado (1992-93), as Stanley Webb, a retired doctor formerly in the Royal Army Medical Corps who was revealed not to be married to his “wife” Rosemary, but eventually tied the knot.
The early years of the new century saw him in episodes of Last of the Summer Wine, Doctors and The Bill (2005).
Lucas’s film roles included William Morel in Sons and Lovers (1960), the leader of a gang of crooks in Touch of Death (1961), an ex-convict being blackmailed in The Marked One (1963) and Jacob Venable, the criminal nephew hunting for the feline witness to a murder, in the Hammer Films production The Shadow of the Cat (1961).
In retirement, Lucas enjoyed DIY – keeping his lifelong fondness for carpentry going – as well as fishing and cooking.
He is survived by his second wife, Camilla (nee
Idris-Jones), whom he married in 1993, and by Daniel and Thomas, the sons of
his first marriage, which ended in divorce.
He acted in Thomas Dekker, William Rowley and John Ford's play, "The Witch of Edmonton", at the Mermaid Theatre in London, England with Ruby Head, Melvyn Hayes, Edward Jewesbury, Erik Chitty, Timothy Bateson, Ronald Herdman and John Moreno in the cast. Lord Bernard Miles KBE was the director.
Actor
Colin Blumenau, Nula Conwell, Peter Ellis, Trudie Goodwin,
Jon Iles, Gary Olsen, Eric Richard, John Salthouse, Tony Scannell, Jeff
Stewart, and Mark Wingett in The Bill (1984)
The Bill
6.7
TV Series
John Towner
2005
1 episode
Doctors (2000)
Doctors
4.6
TV Series
Reginald Christmas
2004
1 episode
Bill Owen, Peter Sallis, and Brian Wilde in Last of the
Summer Wine (1973)
Last of the Summer Wine
7.1
TV Series
Norris
2003
1 episode
Peter Adamson, Jean Alexander, Johnny Briggs, Margot Bryant,
and Doris Speed in Coronation Street (1960)
Coronation Street
5.6
TV Series
Dennis MaxwellJudge Parrish
1971–1996
11 episodes
Eldorado (1992)
Eldorado
5.1
TV Series
Stanley Webb
1992–1993
91 episodes
The New Adventures of Black Beauty (1990)
The New Adventures of Black Beauty
6.8
TV Series
Dr. James Gordon
1990–1992
26 episodes
Sam Kelly, Joan Sims, and Dennis Waterman in On the Up
(1990)
On the Up
7.2
TV Series
Sir Douglas Hoyle
1990
3 episodes
Beatrix: The Early Life of Beatrix Potter
7.2
TV Movie
John Everett Millais
1990
EastEnders (1985)
EastEnders
4.8
TV Series
Mr. Conroy
1989
2 episodes
Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett in The Two Ronnies (1971)
The Two Ronnies
7.8
TV Series
Growley
1985
1 episode
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
Range
1984
4 episodes
Squadron (1982)
Squadron
7.7
TV Series
British Minister
1982
2 episodes
The Plague Dogs (1982)
The Plague Dogs
7.7
Civil Servant #5 (voice)
1982
Robert Gillespie and Pauline Yates in Keep It in the Family
(1980)
Keep It in the Family
7.4
TV Series
Michael
1981
1 episode
The Spoils of War (1980)
The Spoils of War
7.1
TV Series
George Hayward
1980–1981
20 episodes
Richard O'Sullivan in Dick Turpin (1979)
Dick Turpin
7.3
TV Series
Colonel Bingham
1979
1 episode
The Lively Arts (1969)
The Lively Arts
TV Series
Pelling (It Must Have Been Two Other Fellows)
1977
1 episode
Mr & Mrs Edgehill (1985)
BBC2 Playhouse
6.8
TV Series
Henry Ridout
1976
1 episode
Warship (1973)
Warship
7.8
TV Series
Captain Herrick
1976
1 episode
Operation Daybreak (1975)
Operation Daybreak
7.0
Doctor (Sonja's Father) (uncredited)
1975
Colin Blakely and Michael Williams in The Hanged Man (1975)
The Hanged Man
7.7
TV Mini Series
George Pilgrim
1975
1 episode
Anthony Valentine, Margaret Lockwood, and John Stone in
Justice (1971)
Justice
7.6
TV Series
Chief Constable Robbins
1974
1 episode
John Carlisle and John Woodvine in New Scotland Yard (1972)
New Scotland Yard
7.6
TV Series
Herbert Morris
1974
1 episode
Judi Bowker in The Adventures of Black Beauty (1972)
The Adventures of Black Beauty
6.6
TV Series
Dr. James Gordon
1972–1974
52 episodes
Don Henderson, Diane Keen, Peter Sallis, and Don Warrington
in Crown Court (1972)
Crown Court
7.4
TV Series
Rev. Fortescue Porter
1974
3 episodes
Kenneth Haigh and Nanette Newman in Man at the Top (1973)
Man at the Top
5.2
Marshal
1973
Robert Vaughn, Tony Anholt, and Nyree Dawn Porter in The
Protectors (1972)
The Protectors
6.7
TV Series
Eastbrook
1973
1 episode
Tower of Evil (1972)
Tower of Evil
5.6
Inspector Hawk
1972
The Befrienders (1972)
The Befrienders
TV Series
Frank Marland
1972
1 episode
Jack Warner in Dixon of Dock Green (1955)
Dixon of Dock Green
6.9
TV Series
SawyerPhilip Chapman
1968–1971
2 episodes
Ray Barrett, Geoffrey Keen, and Philip Latham in Mogul
(1965)
Mogul
7.1
TV Series
Wings
1971
1 episode
Doctor at Large (1971)
Doctor at Large
7.1
TV Series
Mortimer Turnbull QC
1971
1 episode
Brett (1971)
Brett
7.3
TV Series
Major Nicolson
1971
2 episodes
Wendy Padbury, Maggie Wells, and Jacqueline Stanbury in
Seasons of the Year (1971)
Seasons of the Year
TV Series
Jethro Harris
1971
1 episode
Out of the Unknown (1965)
Out of the Unknown
7.6
TV Series
Shawlor Gascoyne
1971
1 episode
Marius Goring in The Expert (1968)
The Expert
8.2
TV Series
Chief Superintendent EyreMichael Capper
1969–1971
2 episodes
Richard Beckinsale, Freddie Fletcher, Bernard Hepton, Arthur
Lowe, Jack Rosenthal, and Paula Wilcox in ITV Playhouse (1967)
ITV Playhouse
7.1
TV Series
Eric HalfyardEric
1969–1971
2 episodes
Scramble (1970)
Scramble
7.9
(uncredited)
1970
Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Paul Scofield, and Anna
Calder-Marshall in ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1969)
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
5.9
TV Series
TedSergeant Gribble
1970
2 episodes
Fulton Mackay, Patrick Mower, Derren Nesbitt, Wensley
Pithey, and George Sewell in Special Branch (1969)
Special Branch
7.4
TV Series
Dr. Clifford
1970
1 episode
Ryan International (1970)
Ryan International
TV Series
Guilbert
1970
1 episode
Joby Blanshard, John Paul, and Robert Powell in Doomwatch
(1970)
Doomwatch
7.3
TV Series
Benjamin Fielding
1970
1 episode
Wicked Women (1970)
Wicked Women
8.0
TV Series
Major William Murray
1970
1 episode
John Flanagan, Heather Page, and Gareth Thomas in Parkin's
Patch (1969)
Parkin's Patch
7.4
TV Series
Knox
1970
1 episode
Ros Drinkwater and Francis Matthews in Paul Temple (1969)
Paul Temple
7.0
TV Series
Lucas
1970
1 episode
Alfred Burke in Public Eye (1965)
Public Eye
8.5
TV Series
Mr. OsbornePhil LyonsBen Osborne
1966–1969
3 episodes
The Prior Commitment
TV Mini Series
Eddie Prior
1969
6 episodes
Sherlock Holmes (1964)
Sherlock Holmes
7.5
TV Series
Inspector Lestrade
1968
1 episode
The Avengers (1961)
The Avengers
8.3
TV Series
Brigadier BrettStapley
1967–1968
2 episodes
Packers End
TV Series
David Keppler
1968
1 episode
The Sky-Bike (1967)
The Sky-Bike
5.9
Mr. Smith
1967
Charles Hyatt and William Lucas in City '68 (1967)
City '68
8.1
TV Series
Thomas Turner
1967
1 episode
Z Cars (1962)
Z Cars
7.1
TV Series
Det. Insp. CarterFrank Jordan
1965–1967
3 episodes
Night of the Big Heat (1967)
Night of the Big Heat
5.6
Ken Stanley
1967
Armchair Theatre (1956)
Armchair Theatre
7.7
TV Series
Ben LewisDuncan WeaverFred ...
1960–1967
5 episodes
Thirty-Minute Theatre (1965)
Thirty-Minute Theatre
6.9
TV Series
JanniFred Spears
1966–1967
2 episodes
William Lucas and Neil McCallum in Vendetta (1966)
Vendetta
7.9
TV Series
Drummond
1966
1 episode
ITV Play of the Week (1955)
ITV Play of the Week
6.6
TV Series
GerryTom JaysonRobert Caplan ...
1956–1966
8 episodes
David Lodge in United! (1965)
United!
7.2
TV Series
Bill Finlay
1966
1 episode
No Hiding Place (1959)
No Hiding Place
7.5
TV Series
CliveBarkerDr. Mason
1959–1966
3 episodes
John Thaw in Redcap (1964)
Redcap
7.9
TV Series
Sgt. Joshua Buckett
1966
1 episode
Dateline Diamonds (1965)
Dateline Diamonds
5.3
Major Fairclough
1965
Roger Moore in The Saint (1962)
The Saint
7.5
TV Series
Crantor
1965
1 episode
Patrick McGoohan in Secret Agent (1964)
Secret Agent
8.2
TV Series
Bernhard
1965
1 episode
Curtain of Fear
TV Series
Charles Shand
1964
5 episodes
Espionage (1963)
Espionage
7.6
TV Series
Phil Mason
1964
1 episode
David Gregory and Gillian Watt in The Marked One (1963)
The Marked One
5.8
Don Mason
1963
Bitter Harvest (1963)
Bitter Harvest
6.2
Mr. Medwin
1963
Terence Cooper, William Lucas, and Dilys Watling in
Calculated Risk (1963)
Calculated Risk
6.5
Steve
1963
Nigel Patrick in Zero One (1962)
Zero One
8.7
TV Series
Alex
1963
1 episode
Suspense (1962)
Suspense
5.7
TV Series
The Lover
1963
1 episode
The Very Edge (1963)
The Very Edge
6.3
Inspector Davis
1963
The Break (1962)
The Break
6.0
Jacko Thomas
1962
Out of This World (1962)
Out of This World
7.9
TV Series
Duncan Weaver
1962
1 episode
Jean Kent and Terence Morgan in Sir Francis Drake (1961)
Sir Francis Drake
7.1
TV Series
Count Julio
1961–1962
2 episodes
Touch of Death (1961)
Touch of Death
5.9
Pete Mellor
1961
Flower of Evil (1961)
Flower of Evil
TV Mini Series
Det. Insp. Mitchell
1961
6 episodes
Michael Quinn and Donald Wolfit in Ghost Squad (1961)
Ghost Squad
7.2
TV Series
Ambrose Jerome
1961
1 episode
The Devil's Daffodil (1961)
The Devil's Daffodil
5.5
Jack Tarling (English Version)
1961
The Shadow of the Cat (1961)
The Shadow of the Cat
6.3
Jacob Venable
1961
Bob Dylan, David Warner, Ursula Howells, Reg Lye, James
Mellor, and Maureen Pryor in The Madhouse on Castle Street (1963)
BBC Sunday-Night Play
8.5
TV Series
John Ramsay
1961
1 episode
Theatre 70
TV Series
Leonard Penrose
1961
1 episode
Michael Craig, William Lucas, Françoise Prévost, and Billie
Whitelaw in Payroll (1961)
Payroll
7.0
Dennis Pearson
1961
The Professionals (1960)
The Professionals
6.4
Philip Bowman
1960
Patrick McGoohan in Danger Man (1960)
Danger Man
7.9
TV Series
Colonel Vasco
1960
1 episode
The Days of Vengeance
TV Series
Det. Insp. Mitchell
1960
6 episodes
Orson Welles, Bradford Dillman, Juliette Gréco, and
Catherine Lacey in Crack in the Mirror (1960)
Crack in the Mirror
6.6
Kerstner
1960
Sons and Lovers (1960)
Sons and Lovers
7.1
William Morel
1960
International Detective (1959)
International Detective
6.3
TV Series
Bill Lester
1960
1 episode
Interpol Calling (1959)
Interpol Calling
7.4
TV Series
Cliff McGrath
1960
1 episode
Dial 999 (1958)
Dial 999
7.2
TV Series
Andrews
1959
1 episode
The Flying Doctor (1959)
The Flying Doctor
7.4
TV Series
Ned Darcy
1959
1 episode
The Four Just Men (1959)
The Four Just Men
7.1
TV Series
Paul
1959
1 episode
Tim Turner in The Invisible Man (1958)
The Invisible Man
7.0
TV Series
George Wilson
1959
1 episode
The Infamous John Friend
TV Mini Series
John Friend
1959
8 episodes
William Tell (1958)
William Tell
7.2
TV Series
Kramer
1959
1 episode
Breakout (1959)
Breakout
6.5
Chandler
1959
Lana Morris and Andrew Osborn in Solo for Canary (1958)
Solo for Canary
TV Series
Durea
1958
4 episodes
Champion Road
TV Series
Jonathan Briggs
1958
8 episodes
The Royalty (1957)
The Royalty
TV Series
Jim Pereira
1958
6 episodes
Duty Bound
TV Series
Lance Egar
1958
1 episode
Paper Money
TV Movie
Johnny
1958
The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (1957)
The New Adventures of Charlie Chan
7.6
TV Series
Cary Norton
1958
1 episode
Sword of Freedom (1957)
Sword of Freedom
7.3
TV Series
Tortini
1958
1 episode
Saturday Playhouse (1958)
Saturday Playhouse
TV Series
Arthur Gasket
1958
1 episode
White Hunter (1957)
White Hunter
6.2
TV Series
Claude Holby
1958
1 episode
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
7.6
TV Series
Sir Jack of Southwark
1958
1 episode
Rigoletto
TV Movie
Rigoletto
1958
Isobel
TV Movie
Robert Rush
1957
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950)
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
7.2
TV Series
Ross RobinsonRoy ClarkeMortimer Brewster ...
1955–1957
10 episodes
The Two Mrs. Carrolls
TV Movie
Pennington
1957
High Flight (1957)
High Flight
5.6
Controller (Cranwell)
1957
Sailor of Fortune (1955)
Sailor of Fortune
6.5
TV Series
Vittorio
1957
1 episode
Many Mansions
TV Movie
Sam
1957
The Crime of the Century
4.8
TV Series
Charlton Bradbury
1956–1957
6 episodes
Norman Wisdom in Up in the World (1956)
Up in the World
6.5
Mick Bellman
1956
The Strange World of Planet X (1956)
The Strange World of Planet X
5.5
TV Series
David Graham
1956
6 episodes
X the Unknown (1956)
X the Unknown
6.1
Peter Elliott
1956
Jane
TV Movie
Michael Phillips
1956
Big City
TV Mini Series
Agent
1956
1 episode
A Flea Off Pepe
TV Movie
Gaston Labiche
1956
ITV Television Playhouse (1955)
ITV Television Playhouse
8.2
TV Series
Craig
1956
1 episode
Tears for Simon (1956)
Tears for Simon
6.4
Press Photographer (uncredited)
1956
Postmark for Danger (1955)
Postmark for Danger
6.4
Reg Dorking
1955
London Playhouse
TV Series
Syd
1955
1 episode
Archie Duncan in Strike (1955)
Strike
TV Movie
Young
1955
Faith Domergue and Gene Nelson in The Atomic Man (1955)
The Atomic Man
5.6
X-Ray Technician (uncredited)
1955
Trumpet in the Clouds
TV Movie
John Bunyan
1955
Portrait of Alison
6.8
TV Series
Reg Dorking
1955
5 episodes
Isidor Comes to Town
TV Movie
Bill Warner
1954
Self
The World About Us (1967)
The World About Us
8.3
TV Series
Self - Narrator (voice)
1970–1975
2 episodes
Release (1967)
Release
TV Series
Self
1969
1 episode
Guilty Party
TV Series
Self - Mark Bradley
1957
1 episode
Archive Footage
Inside the Tower
Video
Self - inspector Hawk (archive footage)
2015
Kraft Mystery Theater (1961)
Kraft Mystery Theater
7.9
TV Series
ChandlerPhilip Bowman (archive footage, archive footage)
1961
2 episodes
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