Brian Rawlinson
Encyclopedia
Brian Rawlinson was an English
actor
and writer
who was prolific in films and TV from the 1950s
.
Rawlinson appeared in several films (including several from the Carry On stable) but was more frequently on television, his most notable role being that of Robert Onedin in the BBC TV serial The Onedin Line
. He also played character roles in many other TV programmes such as Coronation Street
, The Baron
, Z Cars, The Bill
, Heartbeat, Danger Man
, Goodnight Sweetheart
and Last of the Summer Wine
, playing Cyril Gridley, which was his final appearance. He was also in “The Buccaneers” TV series 1956-57. Played Gaff Guernsey.
As a writer Rawlinson wrote several plays, but was most involved in the mid-1970s
BBC serial Churchill's People
, an adaptation based on Winston Churchill
's book A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
, one of the most notorious flops in the corporation's history. He was later interviewed about his association with the series on TV Hell
, a theme night that BBC 2 ran in 1992 on poorly made and conceived television.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
who was prolific in films and TV from the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
.
Rawlinson appeared in several films (including several from the Carry On stable) but was more frequently on television, his most notable role being that of Robert Onedin in the BBC TV serial The Onedin Line
The Onedin Line
The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham.The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin...
. He also played character roles in many other TV programmes such as Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, The Baron
The Baron
The Baron is a British television series, made in 1965/66 based on the book series by John Creasey, written under the pseudonym Anthony Morton, and produced by ITC Entertainment. It was the first ITC show without marionettes to be produced entirely in colour...
, Z Cars, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, Heartbeat, Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
, Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart is a sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the...
and Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
, playing Cyril Gridley, which was his final appearance. He was also in “The Buccaneers” TV series 1956-57. Played Gaff Guernsey.
As a writer Rawlinson wrote several plays, but was most involved in the mid-1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
BBC serial Churchill's People
Churchill's People
Churchill's People is series of 26 historical dramas produced by the BBC, based on Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. They were first broadcast on BBC1 in 1974 and 1975....
, an adaptation based on Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's book A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples is a four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies and possessions throughout the world, written by Winston Churchill, covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain to the beginning of the First World War...
, one of the most notorious flops in the corporation's history. He was later interviewed about his association with the series on TV Hell
TV Hell
TV Hell was a BBC2 theme night broadcast on 31 August 1992, showing a whole evening of archive television clips widely regarded by critics and the public alike as among the worst ever produced in Britain...
, a theme night that BBC 2 ran in 1992 on poorly made and conceived television.
Selected filmography
- Dangerous ExileDangerous ExileDangerous Exile is a 1957 British historical drama film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Louis Jourdan, Belinda Lee, Anne Heywood and Richard O'Sullivan. It concerns the fate of Louis XVII, who died in 1795 as a boy, yet was popularly believed to have escaped from his French...
(1957) - The Unstoppable ManThe Unstoppable ManThe Unstoppable Man is a 1960 British crime drama film directed by Terry Bishop and starring Cameron Mitchell, Harry H. Corbett, Marius Goring and Lois Maxwell.-Plot:...
(1960) - No KiddingNo Kidding (film)No Kidding is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas featuring Leslie Phillips, Geraldine McEwan and Irene Handl, Noel Purcell and Julia Lockwood. The film is adapted from Verily Andersons novel Beware of Children.-Plot:...
(1960) - The Iron Maiden (1962)
- Carry On CruisingCarry On CruisingCarry On Cruising is the sixth Carry On film and was released in 1962. It was the first in the Carry On series to be filmed in colour and was based on an original story by Eric Barker. P&O - Orient Lines were thanked in the credits. Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Connor appear in...
(1962) - Nurse on WheelsNurse on WheelsNurse on Wheels is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas, and starring Juliet Mills, Ronald Lewis, and Joan Sims.Nurse on Wheels shares its cast and production team with the Carry On films, but the film is not an official member of the Carry On series.-Cast:* Juliet Mills as Joanna...
(1963) - Ladies Who DoLadies Who DoLadies Who Do 1963 British comedy film starring Peggy Mount, Robert Morley and Harry H. Corbett.-Cast:*Peggy Mount as Mrs. Cragg*Robert Morley as Colonel Whitforth*Harry H. Corbett as James Ryder*Miriam Karlin as Mrs. Higgins...
(1963) - Carry On CleoCarry On CleoCarry On Cleo is the tenth film in the Carry On film series and was released in 1964. The website ICONS.a portrait of England cites the Carry On films as iconic of British cinema, and describes Carry On Cleo as "perhaps the best". Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Charles...
(1964) - The Big JobThe Big Job (film)The Big Job is a British comedy film that was first released in 1965. It stars Sid James, Dick Emery, Joan Sims, Sylvia Syms, Jim Dale and Lance Percival....
(1965) - Carry On CowboyCarry On CowboyCarry On Cowboy is the eleventh in the Carry On series of films. It was released in 1965 and was the first film to feature series regulars Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw...
(1966) - Far From the Madding CrowdFar from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It was Schlesinger's fourth film and marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works which explored contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by...
(1967) - See No EvilSee No Evil (1971 film)See No Evil, also known as Blind Terror, is a 1971 British thriller film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Mia Farrow as a recently-blinded woman named Sarah.-Plot:...
(1971)