Colin McCormack
Encyclopedia
Colin McCormack was a professional Welsh
actor
who enjoyed considerable success in classical stage performances and television shows over a career approaching fifty years from his debut as a child actor in a BBC TV's
Dixon of Dock Green
episode, a show he returned to twenty years later when he played a police constable. Later his presence and bearing as a stage actor and member of the Royal Court Theatre
and Bristol Old Vic
companies and the Royal Shakespeare Company
was admired by audiences and fellow performers alike. McCormack also appeared in several feature films during his career.
As a celebrity, McCormack was probably little known to the public who may well have recognised his face but been unable to place a name to it, but as a character actor he was part of that high-quality and essential fabric that binds the elements of any production or a company together. McCormack was probably best known to a whole generation of British teenagers for his recurring role as Alan in the 1984 science fiction series Chocky
. Older viewers may remember him better from his 1991 stint playing Kevin Masters in EastEnders
.
In his close to fifty TV roles McCormack's electric presence and square jaw coupled with his imposing athletic build usually placed him in roles like soldiers, policemen or criminal types. However, he could also demonstrate a light and sympathetic capability that fitted equally into comedy roles in programmes like Man About the House
, The Good Life and Yes, Minister. He was generous with his skills as an actor and was always keen to nurture budding talent, as shown by his regular time spent tutoring and coaching at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
where his students included Ewan McGregor
, Daniel Craig
and Damien Lewis.
McCormack died of cancer aged 62 after a short illness, following a tour of the RSC's Romeo and Juliet
in Hong Kong
.
near Cardiff
in Wales
on 2 December 1941, during the Second World War, the eldest son of a railway worker. Educated at Kings College, a private junior school in Cardiff and Penarth Grammar School
he appeared in several school plays and also joined the local Victoria Youth Drama Group, appearing in several amateur productions and drama competitions. While still in school, at the age of fourteen in 1955, he was chosen after an audition to play a young crime victim on an early episode of BBC TV's
Dixon of Dock Green
.
McCormack developed into a tall and muscular teenager and was a keen, accomplished rugby player. His active participation in the sport at inter-school level and with Penarth Rugby Football Club
helped develop his solid and athletic build that would later stand him in good stead as an actor. In later years he became a formidable and dedicated squash player, a game he keenly played well into his fifties.
On leaving grammar school McCormack initially chose to attend an arts course at Cardiff Art College. Despite these early studies, acting remained his first love and he eventually secured a place at the Central School of Speech and Drama
in London
as a further step towards a professional acting career.
His first professional stage performance came in 1964 as a member of the Bristol Old Vic
repertory company
when he appeared in the play Bartholomew Fair followed by dozens of ensemble productions over the next few years, also willingly helping out with the manufacture of scenery and props and with the vast wardrobe management for the small company of actors.
McCormack's appearances with the RSC had to be interspersed with appearances with other theatre companies and his frequent TV roles but he appeared with the RSC during every decade between the 1960s and his death in 2004. In the 1970s he played Angus in the RSC's Macbeth at the Aldwych Theatre
, London, Udy in Howard Barker's The Hang of the Gaol, Florence in The Adventures of Awful Knawful at the Warehouse Theatre during 1978, and Chachava in The Caucasian Chalk Circle. The decade ended with McCormack playing Borachio in Much Ado About Nothing in an RSC UK tour that started in the Autumn of 1979 and continued over into the spring of 1980.
The 1980 season continued with McCormack taking four different roles in Barker's The Loud Boy's Life when he played Costall, Dampsing, Streatham, and Imber, requiring many costume changes and several virtuoso characterisations. He starred as Macduff in the Barbican Theatre's 1988 showing of Adrian Noble's Macbeth and again in 1989. Also that year he played Mr. Hardacre in Edward Bond's play Restoration, Sebastian in The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and Kent in the Almeida Theatre
's King Lear directed by Cicely Berry.
The 1990s started with McCormack taking a starring role as gang member Dolin in the RSC's groundbreaking stage production of A Clockwork Orange at the Barbican Theatre. He returned to the RSC for the 1998 and 1999 seasons when the company alternated performances of three plays where he played Mike in Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere, the Duke of Milan in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Baptista in the bawdy Elizabethan comedy The Taming of the Shrew. He reprised the last role for a small-scale RSC tour of the UK during the summer of 2000.
During the last few years of his life McCormack, by now a highly regarded stalwart and senior member of the RSC, played the Earl of Salisbury in King John several times over the 2001 and 2002 seasons, Casca in Julius Caesar at both the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Barbican, and filled three separate roles in Gregory Doran's "Season of Rarities" during the winter of 2002/2003: He was Lord Audley in Edward III, Bramble in Eastward Ho! and Pietro in The Malcontent.
.
McCormack's last UK stage appearance was as Nicholas in Harold Pinter
's One for the Road at the Battersea Arts Centre during 2003. Pinter himself was particularly taken with McCormack's impressive interpretation and personally wrote to him afterwards, saying:
Throughout his busy stage and television career Colin still found time to cultivate a lifelong interest, expertise and extensive knowledge in historic churches and medieval architecture.
Typical of his application and dedication as an actor he actually took a script, for a planned Spanish theatrical season at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury, into hospital with him to study during his treatment. He was still studying the script the day before he died on 19 June 2004 in the Royal Middlesex Hospital.
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
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...
who enjoyed considerable success in classical stage performances and television shows over a career approaching fifty years from his debut as a child actor in a BBC TV's
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
episode, a show he returned to twenty years later when he played a police constable. Later his presence and bearing as a stage actor and member of the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
and Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
companies and the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
was admired by audiences and fellow performers alike. McCormack also appeared in several feature films during his career.
As a celebrity, McCormack was probably little known to the public who may well have recognised his face but been unable to place a name to it, but as a character actor he was part of that high-quality and essential fabric that binds the elements of any production or a company together. McCormack was probably best known to a whole generation of British teenagers for his recurring role as Alan in the 1984 science fiction series Chocky
Chocky
This article is about the novel; see also the TV series Chocky Chocky is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, first published in 1968 by Michael Joseph. The BBC produced a radio adaption by John Tydeman in 1967...
. Older viewers may remember him better from his 1991 stint playing Kevin Masters in EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
.
In his close to fifty TV roles McCormack's electric presence and square jaw coupled with his imposing athletic build usually placed him in roles like soldiers, policemen or criminal types. However, he could also demonstrate a light and sympathetic capability that fitted equally into comedy roles in programmes like Man About the House
Man About the House
Man About the House is a British sitcom starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett that was broadcast for six seasons on ITV from 1973 to 1976. It was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The series was considered daring at the time due to its subject matter of...
, The Good Life and Yes, Minister. He was generous with his skills as an actor and was always keen to nurture budding talent, as shown by his regular time spent tutoring and coaching at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
where his students included Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
, Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
and Damien Lewis.
McCormack died of cancer aged 62 after a short illness, following a tour of the RSC's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
Early life and career
Colin McCormack was born in PenarthPenarth
Penarth is a town and seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, 5.2 miles south west from the city centre of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff and lying on the north shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay...
near Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
on 2 December 1941, during the Second World War, the eldest son of a railway worker. Educated at Kings College, a private junior school in Cardiff and Penarth Grammar School
Stanwell School
Stanwell School is a co-educational foundation status comprehensive school and Sixth form college located in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales for children aged between eleven and eighteen...
he appeared in several school plays and also joined the local Victoria Youth Drama Group, appearing in several amateur productions and drama competitions. While still in school, at the age of fourteen in 1955, he was chosen after an audition to play a young crime victim on an early episode of BBC TV's
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
.
McCormack developed into a tall and muscular teenager and was a keen, accomplished rugby player. His active participation in the sport at inter-school level and with Penarth Rugby Football Club
Penarth RFC
Penarth Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club based since 1924 at The Athletic Field, Lavernock Road, in Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.-Origins and early history:...
helped develop his solid and athletic build that would later stand him in good stead as an actor. In later years he became a formidable and dedicated squash player, a game he keenly played well into his fifties.
On leaving grammar school McCormack initially chose to attend an arts course at Cardiff Art College. Despite these early studies, acting remained his first love and he eventually secured a place at the Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as a further step towards a professional acting career.
His first professional stage performance came in 1964 as a member of the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
repertory company
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
when he appeared in the play Bartholomew Fair followed by dozens of ensemble productions over the next few years, also willingly helping out with the manufacture of scenery and props and with the vast wardrobe management for the small company of actors.
The Royal Shakespeare Company
His work at the Old Vic came to the attention of the RSC and in 1967 he was invited to join Britain's most prestigious company of classical actors at their Stratford upon Avon headquarters. He would remain deeply associated with the RSC for the next thirty-six years right up until his death. As with most young recruits he then started working his way through minor supporting roles as a 'bit part' player. His first appearance with the RSC at Stratford was as a citizen in Coriolanus and during his first full season with the company he went on to play a courtier in Trevor Nunn's production of The Revenger's Tragedy, the First Suitor in All's Well That Ends Well, Donalbain in Peter Hall's production of Macbeth, and Third Musician in Romeo and Juliet.McCormack's appearances with the RSC had to be interspersed with appearances with other theatre companies and his frequent TV roles but he appeared with the RSC during every decade between the 1960s and his death in 2004. In the 1970s he played Angus in the RSC's Macbeth at the Aldwych Theatre
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...
, London, Udy in Howard Barker's The Hang of the Gaol, Florence in The Adventures of Awful Knawful at the Warehouse Theatre during 1978, and Chachava in The Caucasian Chalk Circle. The decade ended with McCormack playing Borachio in Much Ado About Nothing in an RSC UK tour that started in the Autumn of 1979 and continued over into the spring of 1980.
The 1980 season continued with McCormack taking four different roles in Barker's The Loud Boy's Life when he played Costall, Dampsing, Streatham, and Imber, requiring many costume changes and several virtuoso characterisations. He starred as Macduff in the Barbican Theatre's 1988 showing of Adrian Noble's Macbeth and again in 1989. Also that year he played Mr. Hardacre in Edward Bond's play Restoration, Sebastian in The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and Kent in the Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
's King Lear directed by Cicely Berry.
The 1990s started with McCormack taking a starring role as gang member Dolin in the RSC's groundbreaking stage production of A Clockwork Orange at the Barbican Theatre. He returned to the RSC for the 1998 and 1999 seasons when the company alternated performances of three plays where he played Mike in Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere, the Duke of Milan in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Baptista in the bawdy Elizabethan comedy The Taming of the Shrew. He reprised the last role for a small-scale RSC tour of the UK during the summer of 2000.
During the last few years of his life McCormack, by now a highly regarded stalwart and senior member of the RSC, played the Earl of Salisbury in King John several times over the 2001 and 2002 seasons, Casca in Julius Caesar at both the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Barbican, and filled three separate roles in Gregory Doran's "Season of Rarities" during the winter of 2002/2003: He was Lord Audley in Edward III, Bramble in Eastward Ho! and Pietro in The Malcontent.
Royal Court Theatre Company
McCormack's occasional association with Royal Court Theatre company started in 1982 when he appeared in G.F. Newman's play Operation Bad Apple. He returned to the Royal Court in 1986 to star in the original stage production of Jim Cartwright's seminal play Road. Also that year he appeared at the Theatre Upstairs in the Royal Court's production of Andrea Dunbar's Shirley. In 1991 he took a leading role in Griselda Gambaro's Putting Two and Two Together again at the Theatre Upstairs and starred in the 1992 production of Timberlake Wertenbaker's unusual play Three Birds Alighting in a Field.Other Theatre companies
McCormack found himself increasingly in demand by a number of other acting companies and producers in the later years of his career and his other stage appearances include playing Islayev during the Cambridge Theatre Company's (CTC) 1987 tour of A Month in the Country and Pinchwife in The Country Wife in 1991 also with the CTC. He took on the dual roles of Chandebise and Poche in Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear by the Welsh company "Theatr Clwyd" in 1993 and in a number of non-company appearances played Wangel in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea at the Blackfriars Theatre in 1996, Lord Kent in the Haymarket Theatre's 1997 showing of King Lear, Estragon in Waiting for Godot in 2000 at the Mercury Theatre, ColchesterMercury Theatre, Colchester
The Mercury Theatre is a theatre in Colchester, built in 1972. It originated with the Colchester Repertory Company, formed in 1937. After considerable campaigning and fundraising a theatre, designed by Norman Downie was constructed...
.
McCormack's last UK stage appearance was as Nicholas in Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
's One for the Road at the Battersea Arts Centre during 2003. Pinter himself was particularly taken with McCormack's impressive interpretation and personally wrote to him afterwards, saying:
- "I thought your Nicholas was absolutely terrific. What power and awesome lucidity."
Television Roles
| Year | TV Show | Role (If Known) | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Dixon of Dock Green Dixon of Dock Green Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:... |
Young boy victim | First TV appearance following a BBC audition |
| 1966 | Z-Cars Z-Cars Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by... |
Running youth | 1 Episode - Series 5 |
| 1970 | Please Sir! Please Sir! Please Sir! was a London Weekend Television produced situation comedy, created by writers John Esmonde and Bob Larbey and featured the actors John Alderton, Deryck Guyler, Joan Sanderson, Noel Howlett, Erik Chitty and Richard Davies... |
Skinhead 'yobbo' | 1 Episode in Series 1 |
| 1971 | Trial | Petrol pump attendant | 1 Episode "Debris" |
| 1972 | Van der Valk | Sailor | 1 Episode "One herring's not enough" |
| 1972 | Public Eye | Book Shop Manager | 1 Episode "Girl in Blue" |
| 1973 | Thriller | Peter | 1 Episode "The Eyes have it" |
| 1973 | Warship Warship (TV series) Warship was a popular British television drama series produced by the BBC between 1973 and 1977. It was also dubbed into Dutch and broadcast in the Netherlands as Alle hens... |
Petty Officer James | 1 Episode "Sub smash" |
| 1973 | New Scotland Yard | Detective Sergeant Edge | 1 Episode "Edge" |
| 1973 | Softly, Softly Softly, Softly: Taskforce Softly, Softly the popular BBC television police drama series, was revamped in 1969, partly to coincide with the coming of colour broadcasting to BBC 1... |
Tommy Jarvis | 1 Episode "Night Watch" |
| 1973 | Spy Trap | Detective Inspector Tarr | 1 Episode "A dirty sort of War" |
| 1974 | Dixon of Dock Green Dixon of Dock Green Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:... |
Police Constable Wakeman | 1 Episode "Sounds" - McCormack's second appearance on the show after a nineteen-year gap |
| 1973–1974 | Man about the House Man About the House Man About the House is a British sitcom starring Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett that was broadcast for six seasons on ITV from 1973 to 1976. It was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The series was considered daring at the time due to its subject matter of... |
Bernard | 3 Episodes "It's only money", "While the cat's away" and "Somebody out there likes me" |
| 1975 | Centre Play | Telephone caller | 1 Episode "Post Mortem" |
| 1975 | Quiller | Press reporter | 1 Episode "Objective Caribbean" |
| 1977 | The Good Life | Mr Batty | 1 Episode "Our speaker today" |
| 1977 | Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior... |
The Commander | 2 Episodes "The Sun Makers - Part 3" and "The Sun Makers - Part 4" |
| 1978 | Armchair Theatre | Detective Sergeant Bowen | 1 Episode "The girl who walked too quickly" |
| 1978 | Out | Keith | Unknown episodes |
| 1978 | The Sweeney The Sweeney The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London... |
David Wade | 1 Episode "The bigger they are" |
| 1980 | The Gentle Touch The Gentle Touch The Gentle Touch is a British police drama television series made by London Weekend Television for ITV which ran from 1980-1984. Commencing transmission on 11 April 1980, the series is notable for being the first British series to feature a female police detective as its leading character, ahead of... |
Jack Ledley | 1 Episode "Break in" |
| 1981 | When the Boat Comes In When the Boat Comes In When the Boat Comes In is a British television period-drama produced by the BBC between 1976 and 1981.The series stars James Bolam as Jack Ford, a First World War veteran who returns to his poverty-stricken town of Gallowshield in the North East of England in the 1920s.The memorable traditional... |
Starkey | 1 Episode "Back to dear old Blighty" |
| 1981 | Yes, Minister | Bodyguard | 1 Episode "The death list" |
| 1982 | Kelly Montieth | (unknown) | 1 Episode (Series 4 Episode 2) |
| 1978 & 1983 | The Professionals The Professionals (TV series) The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon... |
Detective Sergeant Edwards | 2 Episodes "In the public interest" (1978) and "The Ojuka Situation (1983) |
| 1979–1983 | Terry and June Terry and June Terry and June is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The programme is largely a continuation of Happy Ever After, and stars Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-class suburban couple, Terry and June Medford... |
Jack | 3 Episodes "Flying Carpets" (1979), "Uncle Terry, Auntie June (1980) and "Tea and no sympathy" (1983) |
| 1983 | Storyboard | George Taylor | 1 Episode "Woodentop" |
| 1984 | Chocky Chocky This article is about the novel; see also the TV series Chocky Chocky is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham, first published in 1968 by Michael Joseph. The BBC produced a radio adaption by John Tydeman in 1967... |
Alan | Featured in the entire series |
| 1984 | The Lenny Henry Show The Lenny Henry Show The Lenny Henry Show is a comedy sketch show featuring Lenny Henry. In its first incarnation it ran for two seasons on BBC 1, in 1984 and 1985. Each season had six episodes. A 40-minute special was aired in December 1987... |
As himself in several sketches | 1 Episode |
| 1987 | Casualty Casualty (TV series) Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The... |
Dr Gregory Newman | Several episodes |
| 1990 | The Chief | Assistant Chief Constable Peter Leech | Appeared in the entire second series |
| 1991 | Forever Green | Brian Allerton | 1 Episode (Series 2 Episode 3) |
| 1991 | EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End... |
Kevin Masters | Multiple episodes |
| 1992 | Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Ken Harrison | 1 Episode "Kissing the gunner's daughter" |
| 1992 | A Touch of Frost A Touch of Frost (TV series) A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield.... |
Caretaker | 1 Episode "Conclusions" |
| 1993 | Spender Spender Spender is a BBC television drama set in Newcastle upon Tyne, written by Ian La Frenais and Jimmy Nail, who also starred. The series was produced by Martin McKeand . The series was broadcast on BBC between 1991 and 1993... |
Bob Bamford | 1 Episode "Kid" |
| 1994 | Martin Chuzzlewit | Bullamy | Appeared in the entire series |
| 1994 | Open Fire | Detective Chief Superintendent Haylor | TV Play |
| 1996 | Kavanagh QC Kavanagh QC Kavanagh QC is a British television series made by Carlton Television for ITV between 1995 and 2001. It has been shown on ITV3 as recently as August 2011; series 1–6 are available on Region 2 DVDs.... |
Sam Lomax | 1 Episode "A stranger in the family" |
| 1996 | Pie in the Sky | David Arthur Melchett | 1 Episode "Coddled Eggs" |
| 1997 | Supply and Demand | Superintendent Harper | Appeared in entire series |
| 1994–1997 | The Knock The Knock The Knock was a primetime UK drama series, created by Anita Bronson and broadcast on ITV from 1994 to 2000, which portrayed the activities of customs officers from Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.... |
Detective Superintendent Ray Parker | 3 Episodes in Series one and three |
| 1997 | Inspector Morse Inspector Morse (TV series) 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. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes.... |
Sergeant Hargreaves | 1 Episode "Death is now my neighbour" |
| 2000 | Longitude | Inn keeper | TV play - McCormack's last recorded TV appearance |
Filmography
| Year | Film Title | Role (If Known) | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Death Line Death Line Death Line is a 1972 British horror film, distributed as Raw Meat in the United States. The film stars Donald Pleasence as Inspector Calhoun, and was directed by the American filmmaker Gary Sherman.-Plot:... |
Policeman 1 | aka "Raw Meat" in the US. Was killed with a spade by a tube train cannibal |
| 1981 | The Winter's Tale The Winter's Tale The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W... |
Dion | AKA for US video release " The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: The Winter's Tale" |
| 1991 | Let Him Have It Let Him Have It Let Him Have It is a 1991 British film, which was based on the true story of the case against Derek Bentley, who was hanged for murder under controversial circumstances on 28 January 1953. While Bentley did not directly play a role in the murder of PC Sidney Miles, he received the greater... |
Army Recruitment Doctor | AKA for French cinema release "Âge de vivre" |
| 1995 | First Knight First Knight First Knight is a 1995 American medieval film based on Arthurian legend, directed by Jerry Zucker. It stars Richard Gere as Lancelot, Julia Ormond as Guinevere, Sean Connery as King Arthur and Ben Cross as Malagant.... |
Sir Mador | |
| 2004 | Raw Meat | Cameraman | Filmed during 2003, the year before McCormack's death |
Personal life
Colin met the young actress and movement specialist Wendy Allnutt (born 1 May 1946) while they were studying together at the Central School of Speech and Drama in 1963, and they married shortly after they graduated. Colin and Wendy remained together happily married for 36 years until his death. Wendy survives him, as do their two children Katherine and Andrew.Throughout his busy stage and television career Colin still found time to cultivate a lifelong interest, expertise and extensive knowledge in historic churches and medieval architecture.
Final weeks
In late 2003 McCormack was playing Lord Capulet in a tour of Hong Kong with the Royal Shakespeare Company's Romeo and Juliet when he first started to feel unwell. On his return to England he consulted doctors and learned that he had cancer.Typical of his application and dedication as an actor he actually took a script, for a planned Spanish theatrical season at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury, into hospital with him to study during his treatment. He was still studying the script the day before he died on 19 June 2004 in the Royal Middlesex Hospital.