Graham Crowden

• Name — Graham Crowden • Birth Name — Clement Graham Crowden • Born — 30 November 1922 • Birthplace — Edinburgh, Scotland • Died — 19 October 2010 • Place of death — Edinburgh, Scotland • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1956–2008 • Children — 4, including Sarah

Crowden was born on 30 November 1922 in Edinburgh, the third of four children of University of Edinburgh-educated schoolmaster Harry Graham Crowden (d. 1938) and Anne Margaret (née Paterson). He was educated at Clifton Hall School and the Edinburgh Academy. He served briefly in the Royal Scots Youth Battalion of the army until he was injured in an accident. During arms drill he was shot by his platoon sergeant, when the sergeant's rifle discharged. The sergeant reportedly enquired "What is it now, Crowden?", to which Crowden replied "I think you've shot me, sergeant." He later found work in a tannery. His sister, Anne Crowden, was a world-renowned classical musician and founder of the Crowden Music School in Berkeley, California, which has rich history of prominent graduates, faculty, and board members.

Crowden had a long theatrical career, most notably at Laurence Olivier's National Theatre where he performed as The Player King in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a play by Tom Stoppard. He occasionally played mad scientists in film, taking the role of Doctor Millar in the Mick Travis films of director Lindsay Anderson, O Lucky Man! (1973) and Britannia Hospital (1982) and also playing the sinister Doctor Smiles in the film of Michael Moorcock's first Jerry Cornelius novel, The Final Programme (1973). Crowden also played the eccentric history master in Anderson's if.... (1968). In 1970, Crowden appeared in the popular Thames Television series Callan as The Groper, a de-registered doctor, who had been in Wormwood Scrubs called on by Callan, when unofficial medical assistance was required (e.g. Series 3, "A Village Called G", and probably others between 1967 and 1973, though some are now lost). In 1975, he made an appearance in "No Way Out" an episode of the British sitcom Porridge alongside Ronnie Barker, Brian Wilde, Richard Beckinsale and Fulton Mackay, as the prison doctor when Fletcher was complaining of an injured leg. He was offered the role of the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who in 1974, when Jon Pertwee left the role but turned it down, informing producer Barry Letts that he was not prepared to commit himself to the series for three years. Crowden's potential hiring was the reason why Ian Marter was originally hired for a role, as the producers and directors considered Crowden too old to be seen running about and taking on a larger physical role. The role of the Doctor ultimately went to Tom Baker. Crowden appeared in The Horns of Nimon (1979–80) as a villain opposite Baker. A regular role was in the BBC comedy-drama A Very Peculiar Practice (1986–1988) as the alcoholic Dr Jock McCannon. In 1990, he appeared as a lecherous peer in the BBC comedy Don't Wait Up and in 1991 he played a modest role in the Rumpole of the Bailey episode "Rumpole and the Quacks", playing Sir Hector MacAuliffe, the head of a medical inquest into the potential sexual misconduct on the part of Ghulam Rahmat (played by Saeed Jaffrey). In 1990, he landed the role of Tom Ballard in the sitcom Waiting for God, opposite Stephanie Cole's character Diana Trent, as the two rebellious retirement home residents. The show ran for five years and was a major success. In 1994, Crowden played the part of Professor Pollux in the BBC TV adaptation of the John Hadfield novel Love on a Branch Line. Crowden then voiced the role of Mustrum Ridcully in the 1997 animated Cosgrove Hall production of Terry Pratchett's Soul Music. In 2001, he guest-starred in the Midsomer Murders episode "Ring Out Your Dead" and also played The Marquis of Auld Reekie in The Way We Live Now. Between 2001 and 2002, he played a role in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series The Leopard in Autumn. In 2003, he made a cameo as a sadistic naval school teacher in The Lost Prince. In 2005–2008, he starred in the Radio 4 sci-fi comedy Nebulous as Sir Ronald Rolands. In 2008, he appeared as a guest star in Foyle's War.

For many years in later life, Crowden lived in Mill Hill, London. Crowden died on 19 October 2010 in Edinburgh after a short illness, survived by his wife, Phyllida Hewat, whom he married in 1952, a son and three daughters, one of whom, Sarah Crowden, followed him into acting.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1956 — David Copperfield — Mr. Gulpidge • 1957 — Nicholas Nickleby — Mr. Pyke • 1958 — Charlesworth at Large — Landlord • 1964 — HMS Paradise — Commander Shaw • 1964 — Redcap — Major Fraser — Episode: "The Patrol" • 1965 — Danger Man — Commander Braithwaite — Episode: "That's Two Of Us Sorry" • 1965 — Edgar Wallace Mysteries — Murchie — Episode: "Dead Man's Chest • 1965 — The Sullavan Brothers — Mr. Cullinane • 1970 — Catweazle — Gobbling — Episode: "The Enchanted King" • 1971 — The Guardians — The Dirtiest Man — Episode: "The Dirtiest Man in the World" • 1971 — Casanova — Feldkirchner — Episode six: "Golden Apples" • 1972 — His and Hers — Bobbie Beresford — Episode: "Come Back" • 1973 — The Adventures of Black Beauty — Mr. Crevace — Episode: "Goodbye Beauty" • 1974 — Father Brown — Colonel Bohun — Episode: "The Hammer of God" • 1975 — Porridge — Prison Physician — Christmas Special – "No Way Out" • 1977 — 1990 — Dr. Sondeberg — Episode: "Decoy" • 1977 — Raffles — Sir Arthur Rumbold — Episode: "Home Affairs" • 1979–1980 — Doctor Who — Soldeed — "The Horns of Nimon" • 1982 — The Brack Report — Max Challen • 1983 — Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime — Colonel Kingston Bruce — "The Affair of the Pink Pearl" • 1985 — Bleak House — Lord Chancellor • 1986–1988 — A Very Peculiar Practice — Dr. Jock McCannon • 1986 — All Passion Spent — Herbert • 1987 — Screen Two — Headmaster — Episode: "East of Ipswich" • 1990–1994 — Waiting for God — Tom Ballard — All 47 episodes • 1991 — Rumpole of the Bailey — Sir Hector MacAuliffe — Episode: "Rumpole and the Quacks" • 1992 — The Alleyn Mysteries — Sir Henry Ancred — Episode: "Final Curtain" • 1994 — Love on a Branch Line — Professor Pollux • 1996 — Gulliver's Travels — Professor of Politics • 2000 — The 10th Kingdom — Elderly elf • 2001 — Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible — Professor MacLewton — Episode: "Curse of the Blood of the Lizard of Doom" • 2001 — The Way We Live Now — The Marquis of Auld Reekie • 2002 — Midsomer Murders — Reggie Barton — Episode: "Ring Out Your Dead" • 2007 — Waking the Dead — Sir Cyril Barrett — Episode: "Deus ex Machina" • 2008 — Foyle's War — Sir John Sackville — Episode: "Broken Souls"