Patrick Wymark
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Patrick Wymark (11 July 1926, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England — 20 October 1970, Melbourne, Australia), born Patrick Carl Cheeseman, was a British, stage, film and television actor.
Biography
Brought up in neighbouring Grimsby, Wymark frequently re-visited the area during the height of his career. He attended University College, London, before training at the Old Vic Theatre School and making his first stage appearance in a walk-on part in Othello in 1951. He toured South Africa the following year.
Moving to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Wymark played a wide range of traditional roles, including Dogberry in 'Much Ado about Nothing' and Stephano in the 'The Tempest'. He also played the parts of Marullus in 'Julius Caesar' and Bottom in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Other stage parts included the title role in 'Danton's Death' and, with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Ephihodov in 'The Cherry Orchard'. His theatre roles also included playing the part of Bosola in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi in 1960. His film roles included: Children of the Damned, Repulsion, Operation Crossbow, The Secret of Blood Island, Witchfinder General, Battle of Britain, Where Eagles Dare, Blood on Satan's Claw, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun and Cromwell.
On television, where at one point he was considered as a replacement for William Hartnell on Doctor Who., he was best known for his role as the machiavellian businessman John Wilder in the drama series The Plane Makers/The Power Game, a role which led to offers of company directorships. Wymark, however, was a gentle man in real life, self-confessedly ignorant of business matters, who considered the Wilder character to be a "bastard" and was described by his wife as "the most inefficient, dreamy muddler in the world."
He died suddenly in Australia on October 20, 1970 of a heart attack three days before he was due to star in 'Sleuth' at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. He was aged 44 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery. Grimsby named Wymark View in that city after him.
Wymark, who was married to Olwen Wymark, an American writer of numerous plays, took his acting name from his grandfather-in-law, writer William Wymark Jacobs. They lived in Parliament Hill, Hampstead, and had four children, one being the actress Jane Wymark.
