Richard Pearson
Birthday: Born in 1918-08-02 in Monmouth, Gwent, Wales, UK
Deathday: 2011-08-02
Richard de Pearsall Pearson (1 August 1918 – 2 August 2011) was an English character actor, who appeared in numerous film, television and stage productions over a period of 65 years. He played leading roles in several London West End plays and also supported Maggie Smith, Robert Morley and others in long-running West End stage productions. His many screen appearances included character parts in three Polanski films.
TV Credits
Tales of the Unexpected
Character: Michael Carey
A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars....
Enemy at the Door
Character: William Clifford
Enemy At The Door is a British television drama series made by London Weekend Television for ITV. The series was shown between 1978 and 1980 and dealt with the German occupation of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, during the Second World War. The programme generated a certain amount of criticism in Guernsey, particularly for being obviously filmed on Jersey despite being ostensibly set on Guernsey. The series also marked the TV debut of Anthony Head as a member of the island resistance. The...
Inspector Morse
Character: Jerome Hogg
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses....
One Foot In the Grave
Character:
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series The series features the exploits of Victor Meldrew and his long-suffering wife, Margaret. The programmes invariably deal with Meldrew's battle against the problems he creates for himself. Living in a typical household in an unnamed English suburb, Victor takes involuntary early retirement. His various efforts to keep himself busy, while encountering various misfortunes and misunderstandings are the themes of the sitcom. The series was larg...
A Fine Romance
Character:
A Fine Romance is a British situation comedy starring husband-and-wife team Judi Dench and Michael Williams. Dench's sister was played by Susan Penhaligon. It was produced by London Weekend Television and written by Bob Larbey. It was first broadcast on 8 November 1981. It lasted for 26 episodes over four series; the final episode being broadcast on 17 February 1984. The series takes its name from a song in the 1936 film Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, which Dench recorded a...
The Wind in the Willows
Character: Mole (voice)
The Wind in the Willows is a TV series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 film The Wind in the Willows. It was made by animation company Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television and shown on the ITV network. An hour-long feature, A Tale Of Two Toads, was broadcast in 1988, and a fifth season of 13 episodes was shown in 1989 under the title Oh! Mr Toad in some countries, whilst ret...
No Hiding Place
Character:
No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart....
The First Churchills
Character:
The lives of the Duke of Marlborough and his wife Sarah, from their meeting in 1673 to the duke's death in 1722....
Sir Francis Drake
Character: Sir Richard Bosanquet
Sir Francis Drake was a British adventure television series starring Terence Morgan as Sir Francis Drake, commander of the sailing ship the Golden Hind. As well as battles at sea, sword fights, the series also deals with intrigue at Elizabeth's court, often caused by Spaniard, Mendoza....
Mystery and Imagination
Character:
Mystery and Imagination is a British television anthology series of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 by the ITV network and produced by ABC and Thames Television....
The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
Character: Jack Williams
The second collection of short stories written by Baroness Orczy about the gallant English hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel and his League....
Thirty-Minute Theatre
Character:
Thirty-Minute Theatre is an anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known. Thirty-Minute Theatre followed on from a similarly named ITV series, beginning on BBC2 in 1965 with an adaptation of the black comedy Parsons Pleasure. In 1967 BBC2 launched the UK's first colour service,...
Hammer House of Horror
Character: Sir Humphrey Chesterton
Anthology series, in which each self-contained episode featured a different kind of horror. These varied from witches, werewolves, ghosts, devil worship and voodoo, but also included non-supernatural horror themes such as cannibalism, confinement and serial killers....
BBC Play of the Month
Character: Koolyghin
Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina. Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970...
Columbo
Character: Diver
Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline....
Our Mutual Friend
Character: Nicodemus Boffin
Intertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in 1860s London....
Campion
Character: Dr. Galley
Campion is a television show made by the BBC, adapting the Albert Campion mystery novels written by Margery Allingham. Two series were made, in 1989 and 1990, starring Peter Davison as Campion, Brian Glover as his manservant Magersfontein Lugg and Andrew Burt as his policeman friend Stanislaus Oates. A total of eight novels were adapted, four in each series, each of which was originally broadcast as two separate hour-long episodes. Peter Davison sang the title music for the first series himself...
Therese Raquin
Character: Michaud
Therese, an attractive young woman married to her sickly cousin Camille, leads an extremely monotonous life until Camille brings home Laurent, an old schoolmate....
Miss Marple: The Moving Finger
Character: Mr. Pye
The residents of a quiet English village begin to receive nasty, threatening letters. The wife of the local vicar calls in her friend Miss Marple to investigate....
Armchair Theatre
Character: Major Trumbull
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....
Miss Marple
Character: Mr. Pye
Miss Marple, the spinster detective who is one of the most famous characters created by English crime writer Agatha Christie, is portrayed by Joan Hickson who starred in a dozen television mysteries about Miss Marple over the course of a decade....
Thirty-Minute Theatre
Character: Cloon
Thirty-Minute Theatre is an anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known. Thirty-Minute Theatre followed on from a similarly named ITV series, beginning on BBC2 in 1965 with an adaptation of the black comedy Parsons Pleasure. In 1967 BBC2 launched the UK's first colour service,...
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character: Bailiff
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Character: Marquess of Macclesfield
Adaptations of mystery stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's contemporary rivals in the genre....
Public Eye
Character: Jenks
Public Eye is a British television series that ran from 1965 to 1975. It was produced by ABC Television for three series, and Thames Television for a further four series. The series depicted the investigations and cases handled by the unglamorous enquiry agent Frank Marker, an unmarried loner who is in his early forties when the series begins. In the words of an ABC trailer for the third series: "Marker isn't a glamorous detective and he doesn't get glamorous cases—he doesn't even get glamorous ...
BBC2 Play of the Week
Character: Father Below
...
Play for Today
Character: Alfred
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration....
Bleak House
Character: Inspector Bucket
Bleak House is the first BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. It was adapted by Constance Cox as an eleven-part series of half-hour episodes first transmitted from 16 October 1959. It stars Andrew Cruickshank in the role of John Jarndyce, Diana Fairfax as Esther Summerson and Colin Jeavons as Richard Carstone. The complete series still exists....
Lilli Palmer Theatre
Character: Bilston
A half-hour anthology series....
Sunday Night Theatre
Character: John Wood
Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty...
Movie Credits
Whoops Apocalypse
Character: Michael Sumpter (Defence Secretary)
When a small British owned island in the Caribbean is invaded and the world's most dangerous terrorist kidnaps a member of the Royal family, the countdown to World War 3 begins. If anyone can prevent the oncoming apocalypse it's the American President, but her closest ally the British Prime Minister appears to have gone stark raving mad....
Tess
Character: Vicar of Marlott
A strong-willed peasant girl is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line, but is left traumatised from her experiences....
Water
Character: Foreign Secretary
The British governor of a tiny island nation in the Caribbean Commonwealth finds his idyllic existence thrown into chaos when an American drilling company finds a huge source of natural mineral water there....
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Character: Patient
Recently divorced career woman Alex Greville begins a romantic relationship with glamorous mod artist Bob Elkin, fully aware that he's also intimately involved with middle-aged doctor Daniel Hirsh. For both Alex and Daniel, the younger man represents a break with their repressive pasts, and though both know that Bob is seeing both of them, neither is willing to let go of the youth and vitality he brings to their otherwise stable lives....
The Blue Parrot
Character: Quinney
'Rocks' Owen, the well-off owner of a car-hire business, is found murdered; the last place he was seen alive was the Blue Parrot nightclub. Scotland Yard go in to investigate, with the help of a visiting American detective and a nightclub hostess who may not be all she appears to be....
Macready's Gala
Character: Headmaster
The Headmaster and governors of a boarding school are accidentally locked in the new memorial room with the convicted Great Train Robbers....
The Wind in the Willows
Character: Mole
One spring, Mole decides that he can ignore the spring cleaning for a little longer, and begins a series of adventures with his new friend Rat. They go for a picnic on the riverbank, on a caravan expedition with Toad, until Toad switches allegiance to his new car and his reckless driving makes Mole and Rat search out Badger for help in curbing Toad's profligate habits. But Toad gets away from them and gets a 20-year sentence from the magistrate for theft, reckless driving, and Gross Impertinence...
The Agony and the Ecstasy
Character: Cardinal
During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II contracts the influential artist Michelangelo to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and asks the sculptor to paint a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo doubts his painting skills and abandons the project. Divine inspiration returns Michelangelo to the mural, but his artistic vision clashes with the pope's demanding personality and threatens the success of the historic painting....
Dangerous Cargo
Character: Noel
Inspired by the real events of the attempted heist at Heathrow Airport in 1952, a criminal tricks an old friend into giving away the location of a shipment of gold bullion so he and his gang can steal it....
Guns of Darkness
Character: Herbert Bastian
Committed pacifist Tom Jordan's decision to help former President Rivera escape a military coup is a simple act of mercy that takes him and his wife to the edge of despair. It turns them into outlaws and fugitives, hunted by a vicious South American regime; yet it could also bring them together in a way they have never been before....
One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing
Character: Sir Geoffrey
Escaping from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious "Lotus X", Lord Southmere, a Queen's Messenger, is chased by a group of Chinese spies....
Attempt to Kill
Character: Frank Weyman
A wealthy business man fires one of his employees and becomes the victim of murder attempt. The fired man becomes the prime suspect, but it appears that he himself has been murdered....
Love Among the Ruins
Character: George Druce
An aging actress and socialite, Jessica Medlicott has ended her engagement with a younger man and is now being sued by her former fiancé. Esteemed barrister Sir Arthur Glanville-Jones is assigned to represent Jessica in the lawsuit, and he also happens to be an old suitor of hers from decades earlier. While Jessica claims not to remember him, and Arthur still smarts from her earlier rejection, the two form a close bond during the case....
She Fell Among Thieves
Character: Father Below
While on a Pyrenees vacation in 1922, upright English gentleman Richard Chandos (Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange, Heroes) encounters the villainous Vanity Fair (Eileen Atkins, Cold Mountain). Mistress of the turreted Chateau Jezreel and leader of a motley band of criminals, she will inherit millions if she can force her stepdaughter to marry. Pitting his wits against this formidable adversary, Chandos determines to rescue the beautiful young woman. But Vanity Fair keeps one step ahead of hi...
The Mirror Crack'd
Character: Doctor Haydock
Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim....
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Character:
1973 BBC TV movie adaptation of the book by Lewis Carroll....
Royal Flash
Character: Duchy Chamberlain
Cowardly rogue Harry Flashman's (Malcolm McDowell) schemes to gain entry to the royal circles of 19th-century Europe go nowhere until he meets a pair of devious nobles with their own agenda. At their urging, Flashman agrees to re-create himself as a bogus Prussian nobleman to woo a beautiful duchess. But the half-baked plan quickly comes unraveled, and he's soon on the run from several new enemies who are all calling for the rapscallion's head....
Catch Me a Spy
Character: Haldene
While on vacation, a woman's husband is taken by the Russian government. After one attempt fails, she begins looking for a suitable spy to capture and trade in exchange for her husband, but she develops an attraction to the one she thinks is a good candidate....
It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet
Character: Granville Bennett
Based on James Herriot's books about life as a 1930s veterinarian in Yorkshire, John Alderson plays the kindly doctor who ministers to animals in this enjoyable family film. Sequel to the 1975 film All Creatures Great and Small....
Inspector Clouseau
Character: Shockley
Detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau is borrowed from the Surete on special assignment for Scotland Yard in hopes that a fresh outlook will help the government recover the loot from the Great Train Robbery, which is being used to underwrite a new crime wave. What they don't count on, however, is having more than one Clouseau on the job....
The Strange Affair
Character:
When rookie P.C. Strange falls for an under aged girl, he is unknowingly compromised by a pair of pornographers. Meanwhile, seasoned Det. Pierce is out to catch mob boss Quince and soon both plots intertwine....
Charlie Bubbles
Character: Accountant
Charlie Bubbles, a writer, up from the working class of Manchester, England, who, in the course of becoming prematurely rich and famous, has mislaid a writer's basic tool – the capacity to feel and to respond. Now he must visit his estranged wife and son, whom he has set up on a farm outside his native city. His journey accidentally becomes an attempt to reestablish his connections with life, people, and his own history....
The Woman in Question
Character: Detective
Agnes "Astra" Huston, a fortune teller at a run-down fair, is found strangled in her bedroom. As the police question five suspects, their interactions with her are shown in flashbacks from their point of view....
Scrooge
Character: Mr. Tupper
Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman; until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man....
The Blue Bird
Character: Bread
Peasant children Mytyl and Tyltyl are led on a magical quest for the fabulous Blue Bird of Happiness by the fairy Berylune. On their journey, they're accompanied by the anthropomorphized presences of a Dog, a Cat, Light, Fire, and Bread, among other entities....
Sea Fury
Character: Kershaw
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.......
Still Waters
Character: Alfred
A middle-aged couple who are fairly tired of each other go out on a picnic for the day. However, they row, and Maud wanders off and talks to other people she meets. Eventually, the couple come together again, and the day has helped them to understand each other a little better....
Life in Danger
Character: Sgt. Burt Norris
Panic and fear overtake a small British farming community after a homicidal child-killer escapes from a local mental hospital....
The Three Sisters
Character: Koolyghin
In a small Russian town at the turn of the century, three sisters (Olga, Irina, and Masha) and their brother Andrei live but dream daily of their return to their former home in Moscow, where life is charming and stimulating meaningful. But for now they exist in a malaise of dissatisfaction. Soldiers from the local military post provide them some companionship and society, but nothing can suffice to replace Moscow in their hopes. Andrei marries a provincial girl, Natasha, and begins to settle int...
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
Character: Osborn
One Rolls-Royce belongs to three vastly different owners, starting with Lord Charles, who buys the car for his wife as an anniversary present. The next owner is Paolo Maltese, a mafioso who purchases the car during a trip to Italy and leaves it with his girlfriend while he returns to Chicago. Finally, the car is owned by American widow Gerda, who joins the Yugoslavian resistance against the invading Nazis....
The Comedy Man
Character: Advertising Man
A middle-aged stock actor goes to London to try the big time. After much frustration, he lands a job doing TV commercials, gaining wealth and recognition. He eventually gives it all up to return to stage work and keep his pride....
Coming Out
Character: Gerald Fox
Lewis, a gay writer of romantic novels, writes an article on gay issues under the pseudonym of "Zippy Grimes." The reason for this is that he hasn't come out yet and he doesn't want to alienate his mainly female fan-base. The article is a great success and leads to a huge amount of reactions, mainly from other gay men who are leading a double life. He decides to meet a number of these letter writers and eventually is forced to come out....
How I Won the War
Character: Old Man at Alamein
An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe....
Macbeth
Character: Doctor
Scotland, 11th century. Driven by the twisted prophecy of three witches and the ruthless ambition of his wife, warlord Macbeth, bold and brave, but also weak and hesitant, betrays his good king and his brothers in arms and sinks into the bloody mud of a path with no return, sown with crime and suspicion....
Model for Murder
Character: Bullock
An American officer scours Britain in search of his dead brother's girlfriend and becomes involved in a jewel heist....
Libel
Character: The Butler
A California commercial pilot sees a telecast in London of an interview with Sir Mark Lodden at his home. The Canadian is convinced that the baronet is a fraud, and he is actually a look-alike actor named Frank Welney....
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
Character: Wilting
Fresh-faced young Michael Rimmer worms his way into an opinion poll company and is soon running the place. He uses this as a springboard to get into politics and in the mini-skirted flared-trousered world of 1970 Britain starts to rise through the Tory ranks....
Pope Joan
Character: Friar Timothy
Based on the medieval legend of Pope Joan, who was made Pope for a brief period around 855 A.D. The movie presents her existence as fact, though it is questionable that Pope Joan really did exist, and portrays her relationships with other notables of the time....
Her Majesty's Pleasure
Character: Mrs Whiteheart
They are all 'in' for life so the pleasures are sparse, and strictly of their own making.Their really big event is the Christmas pantomime, only this year they have lost their star. Mother Bear has escaped. Still, there is some consolation. The new arrival looks a likely Goldilocks. "There's one or two who'll be after him", says Woodbine - and he knows all their weaknesses....
Mrs. Warren's Profession
Character: Rev. Samuel Gardner
Performed in 1902, after being banned by the censor for eight years, Shaw's indictment of the hypocrisy surrounding prostitution still shocked its audiences. Mrs. Warren has graduated from prostitution to opening and operating a chain of brothels throughout Europe. When her educated daughter Vivie discovers the truth about her mother's profession her reactions affect everyone around her....
The Wind in the Willows: A Tale of Two Toads
Character: Mole (voice)
Designed with young audiences in mind, this award-winning animated film (created with labor-intensive stop-motion techniques) brings Kenneth Grahame's classic children's book to life. When the villainous Weasel and his crew of thugs kidnap an unsuspecting Toad and send an impostor to take over Toad Hall, Badger, Rat and Mole aren't fooled. But can they figure out a way to save their friend before it's too late?...
Svengali
Character: Lambert
A man hypnotizes a young woman into being an opera singer....
Quay South
Character: Frederick Elwes
Facing pressure from authorities to relinquish control of his ship the Ebb Tide, Capt. Daniel Thwaite (Roger Livesey) struggles to decide what course of action he should pursue in this riveting military drama set in 1940 northeastern England. Based on a novel by Howard Clewes, this episode from the "ITV Television Playhouse" series co-stars Michael Bates, Miriam Karlin and Peter Barkworth....
The Legend of Young Dick Turpin
Character: Bailiff
When a rapacious new landlord threatens to evict him, seize his horse, and leave him penniless, the young farmer Dick Turpin flees to London and reluctantly establishes himself in the underworld with the help of a street-smart boy....