Gregory de Polnay obit

 

Gregory de Polnay Has Died

He was not on the list.

We're sad to hear of the passing of actor Gregory de Polnay, who died on January 1st at the age of 82. Gregory's long stage and screen career as an actor, voice coach and director included the role of Pete Garforth in the Space: 1999 episode The Lambda Factor, plus appearances in Doctor Who (as D84 in The Robots of Death), Tenko, Dixon of Dock Green, and many more. Our thoughts go out to all who knew him.

The English-born actor, director and voice teacher who is noted for his work on stage, radio and television both locally and in Australia.

Gregory de Polnay was born in Chelsea, County of London (now West London), England on 17 October 1943, the son of Hungarian-born English novelist Peter de Polnay and Margaret Mitchell Banks.

De Polnay was probably best remembered for his role as Det. Sgt. Mike Brewer in the police procedural television series Dixon of Dock Green,

He was also a regular in the Australian television sitcom series, The Group (1971).

De Polnay's credits include: Space: 1999, Doctor Who (the serial The Robots of Death),[2] Poldark, Enemy at the Door, Tenko, The Fourth Arm,[3] One by One, Howards' Way and Boon.

He was an actor, director and voice teacher for nearly 40 years, working in all aspects of the theatre with several West End credits to his name and appearing with the RSC in his own production of You Can't Shut Out The Human Voice featuring Peggy Ashcroft and Ben Kingsley. He also had over 100 television appearances and 350 radio broadcasts to his name.

Due to an accident sustained while playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the USA in 1987, de Polnay retrained as a voice specialist at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where he gained the Advanced Diploma in Voice Studies and later on an MA at King's College London in Text and Performance Studies. Whilst being Head of Voice at the Drama Centre, London and at LAMDA, he has been a prominent member of staff at several major drama schools and has lectured on 'Language and Style' in the USA, Canada and South Africa.

During the past decade, de Polnay directed 21 Jacobean and Restoration plays for RADA. He was a drama advisor for the BBC World Service Classical Drama Series and has adapted several plays for the BBC World Service. When not directing, de Polnay worked for several organisations in the field of public speaking and communication skills, including his own business GdeP Associates Ltd in London. He coached several top television and sports presenters. De Polnay also worked extensively for RADA in Business providing communication and presentation skills training for a wide variety of business organisations. He was appointed Director of the RADA Shakespeare Certificate Scheme.

 

Actor

The Robots (2019)

The Robots

Podcast Series

D84 (voice)

2021

1 episode

 

The Home Assistants of Death (2020)

The Home Assistants of Death

7.8

Video

V14 (voice)

2020

 

London's Burning (1988)

London's Burning

7.1

TV Series

Andres

1992

2 episodes

 

Boon (1986)

Boon

6.4

TV Series

Piers Burrage

1991

1 episode

 

Selling Hitler (1991)

Selling Hitler

7.2

TV Mini Series

Philip Knightley

1991

2 episodes

 

Maurice Colbourne, Jan Harvey, and Stephen Yardley in Howards' Way (1985)

Howards' Way

6.8

TV Series

Werner Grunwald

1987

2 episodes

 

Rob Heyland in One by One (1984)

One by One

7.8

TV Series

Adrian Vaughn

1985

1 episode

 

Haunted: Tales of the Supernatural (1980)

Haunted: Tales of the Supernatural

Podcast Series

Gregory (voice)

1984

1 episode

 

Haunted (1984)

Haunted

Video

Gregory (voice)

1984

 

Judy Loe in Missing from Home (1984)

Missing from Home

7.8

TV Mini Series

Richard Earl

1984

6 episodes

 

Rob Edwards and Paul Shelley in The Fourth Arm (1983)

The Fourth Arm

8.1

TV Series

Pierre de Grouchy

1983

4 episodes

 

Stephanie Cole in Tenko (1981)

Tenko

8.5

TV Series

Johnny Saunders

1981

1 episode

 

David Beames and Cécile Paoli in Fair Stood the Wind for France (1980)

Fair Stood the Wind for France

7.9

TV Mini Series

Gendarme

1980

1 episode

 

Alfred Burke, Simon Cadell, Adolf Hitler, Bernard Horsfall, and Martin Jarvis in Enemy at the Door (1978)

Enemy at the Door

7.9

TV Series

Ground Controller

1980

1 episode

 

Richard Briers and Michael Gambon in The Other One (1977)

The Other One

7.7

TV Series

First Son

1977

1 episode

 

Poldark (1975)

Poldark

8.3

TV Series

Sergeant

1977

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

D.84

1977

4 episodes

 

Barbara Bain and Martin Landau in Space: 1999 (1975)

Space: 1999

7.3

TV Series

Peter Garforth

1976

1 episode

 

Julie Dawn Cole and Janina Faye in Angels (1975)

Angels

6.6

TV Series

Ward Doctor

1976

1 episode

 

Jack Warner in Dixon of Dock Green (1955)

Dixon of Dock Green

6.9

TV Series

Det. Sgt. Mike Brewer

1974–1975

29 episodes

 

Boney (1972)

Boney

8.4

TV Series

'Flash' Gordon

1973

1 episode

 

Matlock Police (1971)

Matlock Police

7.5

TV Series

Des Lane

1973

1 episode

 

Wendy Hughes and Ken James in The Group (1971)

The Group

TV Series

Jeremy Windham

1971

14 episodes

 

Australian Plays (1969)

Australian Plays

TV Series

Garry Graves

1970

1 episode

 

The Rovers (1969)

The Rovers

8.3

TV Series

Norm Pilcher

1970

1 episode

 

The Link Men (1970)

The Link Men

TV Series

Don Yates

1970

1 episode

 

Skippy (1968)

Skippy

6.4

TV Series

Marcus

1969

1 episode

 

John Bonney and Denis Quilley in Contrabandits (1967)

Contrabandits

TV Series

Frank Stellar

1968

1 episode

 

The Spanish Farm

TV Series

Capt. Dendrecourt

1968

1 episode

 

Additional Crew

Frances O'Connor in Mansfield Park (1999)

Mansfield Park

7.0

additional dialect coach: adr (as Gregory De Polnay)

1999

 

Self

Ian Cullen and Toby Hadoke in Who's Round (2013)

Who's Round

8.6

Podcast Series

Self (voice)

2016

1 episode

 

Dixon of Dock Green: Personnel Files (2015)

Dixon of Dock Green: Personnel Files

Video

Self

2015

 

Dixon of Dock Green: The Final Cases (2015)

Dixon of Dock Green: The Final Cases

Video

Self

2015

 

Good Evening All: A Tribute to Jack Warner (2015)

Good Evening All: A Tribute to Jack Warner

Video

Self

2015

 

I Was a 'Doctor Who' Monster (1996)

I Was a 'Doctor Who' Monster

6.6

Video

Self

1996