Valentine Dyall
Encyclopedia
Valentine Dyall was an English
character actor
, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall
. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio
horror series Appointment With Fear.
In his early career, he appeared in one movie with his father, the spy thriller Yellow Canary
(1943), which starred Anna Neagle
and Richard Greene
. His part was that of a German U-boat commander attempting to kidnap a British agent from a ship in the Atlantic, Franklin Dyall
playing the ship's captain. He also played the Duke of Burgundy in Olivier's wartime film of Henry V
and had a small role as a German officer in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
.
Dyall also made guest appearances in several episodes of The Goon Show
, parodying his familiar radio persona, including "The Canal" where he played "The Man in Grey" (due to a very cheap dry cleaners). Much later he worked in the radio version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
playing Gargravarr, and on the television
and LP versions, where he played the voice of the computer
Deep Thought.
He played the witch Jethrow Keane in The City of the Dead (1960). He appeared in Robert Wise
's 1963 film The Haunting
as Mr.Dudley, the sinister caretaker of the haunted Hill House.
Dyall played the central character Lord Fortnum, who turns into a bed-sitting room following a nuclear war, in Spike Milligan
and John Antrobus
' stage play The Bed-Sitting Room, which opened at the Mermaid Theatre
on 31 January 1963.
He voiced the character of evil mastermind Dr. Noah in the 1967 James Bond
parody Casino Royale
and appeared as Lorrimer in the BBC Miss Marple
episode The Body in the Library
(1984). Dyall also made regular appearances in all three seasons of the series Secret Army as Dr. Pascal Keldermans.
He co-hosted the Dusty Springfield
BBC
musical variety series Decidedly Dusty in 1969. The BBC wiped their archives of this and many of their 1960s musical variety programmes (allegedly in the 1970s, just before the dawn of home video) and no other video copies have surfaced, although there are bootleg-quality fan-made audio recordings that have survived.
He portrayed the Black Guardian
in several Doctor Who
serials (The Armageddon Factor in 1979, and the linked trilogy of Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment in 1983) and also voiced the major role of Captain Slarn in the Doctor Who radio serial Slipback
(1985). He also played Norl in the episode "City at the Edge of the World" in the series Blake's 7
. In 1983 he attended Doctor Who's 20th Anniversary celebrations at Longleat
alongside many other cast and crew from the series.
Dyall's last role, in the year of his death, was as Marcade in Love's Labour's Lost
, in the BBC Television Shakespeare
.
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...
character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall
Franklin Dyall
Franklin Dyall was an English actor.He appeared in 26 films between 1916 and 1948...
. Dyall was especially popular as a voice actor, due to his very distinctive sepulchral voice, he was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
horror series Appointment With Fear.
In his early career, he appeared in one movie with his father, the spy thriller Yellow Canary
Yellow Canary (film)
Yellow Canary is a 1943 British drama film starring Anna Neagle, Richard Greene and Albert Lieven. Neagle plays a British Nazi sympathiser who travels to Halifax, Canada trailed by spies from both sides during the Second World War.-Plot:...
(1943), which starred Anna Neagle
Anna Neagle
Forming a professional alliance with Wilcox, Neagle played her first starring film role in the musical Goodnight Vienna , again with Jack Buchanan. With this film Neagle became an overnight favourite...
and Richard Greene
Richard Greene
Richard Marius Joseph Greene was a noted English film and television actor. A matinee idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, which ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1960.It has been...
. His part was that of a German U-boat commander attempting to kidnap a British agent from a ship in the Atlantic, Franklin Dyall
Franklin Dyall
Franklin Dyall was an English actor.He appeared in 26 films between 1916 and 1948...
playing the ship's captain. He also played the Duke of Burgundy in Olivier's wartime film of Henry V
Henry V (1944 film)
Henry V is a 1944 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The on-screen title is The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France . It stars Laurence Olivier, who also directed. The play was adapted for the screen by Olivier, Dallas...
and had a small role as a German officer in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is a 1943 film by the British film making team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger under the production banner of The Archers. It stars Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr and Anton Walbrook. The title derives from the satirical Colonel Blimp comic strip by David...
.
Dyall also made guest appearances in several episodes of The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
, parodying his familiar radio persona, including "The Canal" where he played "The Man in Grey" (due to a very cheap dry cleaners). Much later he worked in the radio version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
playing Gargravarr, and on the television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and LP versions, where he played the voice of the computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
Deep Thought.
He played the witch Jethrow Keane in The City of the Dead (1960). He appeared in Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
's 1963 film The Haunting
The Haunting (1963 film)
The Haunting is a 1963 British psychological horror film by American director Robert Wise and adapted by Nelson Gidding from the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn. The film centers around the conflict between...
as Mr.Dudley, the sinister caretaker of the haunted Hill House.
Dyall played the central character Lord Fortnum, who turns into a bed-sitting room following a nuclear war, in Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
and John Antrobus
John Antrobus
John Antrobus is an English playwright and script writer. He has written extensively for stage, screen, TV and radio, including the epic World War II play, Crete and Sergeant Pepper at the Royal Court...
' stage play The Bed-Sitting Room, which opened at the Mermaid Theatre
Mermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre at Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars, in the City of London and the first built there since the time of Shakespeare...
on 31 January 1963.
He voiced the character of evil mastermind Dr. Noah in the 1967 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
parody Casino Royale
Casino Royale (1967 film)
Casino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...
and appeared as Lorrimer in the BBC Miss Marple
Miss Marple (TV series)
Miss Marple is a British television series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. It starred Joan Hickson in the title role, and aired from 1984 to 1992. All twelve original Miss Marple Christie novels have been dramatised. The screenplays were written by T. R...
episode The Body in the Library
The Body in the Library (1984 TV film)
The Body in the Library is a 1984 television film adaption of Agatha Christie's 1942 detective novel The Body in the Library which was co-produced by the BBC and the A&E Network. The film uses an adapted screenplay by T. R. Bowen and was directed by Silvio Narizzano...
(1984). Dyall also made regular appearances in all three seasons of the series Secret Army as Dr. Pascal Keldermans.
He co-hosted the Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
musical variety series Decidedly Dusty in 1969. The BBC wiped their archives of this and many of their 1960s musical variety programmes (allegedly in the 1970s, just before the dawn of home video) and no other video copies have surfaced, although there are bootleg-quality fan-made audio recordings that have survived.
He portrayed the Black Guardian
Black Guardian
The Black Guardian is a character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was played by Valentine Dyall....
in several 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...
serials (The Armageddon Factor in 1979, and the linked trilogy of Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment in 1983) and also voiced the major role of Captain Slarn in the Doctor Who radio serial Slipback
Slipback
Slipback is a radio audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced by the BBC and first broadcast in six episodes on BBC Radio 4 from 25 July to 8 August 1985, as part of a children's magazine show called Pirate Radio Four...
(1985). He also played Norl in the episode "City at the Edge of the World" in the series Blake's 7
Blake's 7
Blake's 7 is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC for its BBC1 channel. The series was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer and creator of the Daleks for the television series Doctor Who. Four series of Blake's 7 were produced and broadcast between 1978...
. In 1983 he attended Doctor Who's 20th Anniversary celebrations at Longleat
Longleat
Longleat is an English stately home, currently the seat of the Marquesses of Bath, adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of Warminster in Wiltshire and Frome in Somerset. It is noted for its Elizabethan country house, maze, landscaped parkland and safari park. The house is set...
alongside many other cast and crew from the series.
Dyall's last role, in the year of his death, was as Marcade in Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...
, in the BBC Television Shakespeare
BBC Television Shakespeare
The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985.-Origins:...
.
Selected filmography
- Hotel ReserveHotel ReserveHotel Reserve is a spy film starring James Mason as an innocent man caught up in pre-Second World War espionage. It was based on Eric Ambler's novel Epitaph for a Spy.-Plot:...
(1944) - Latin QuarterLatin Quarter (film)Latin Quarter is a 1945 British thriller, directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derrick De Marney, Joan Greenwood and Beresford Egan. The film is an adaptation of the play L'Angoisse by Pierre Mills and C. Vylars...
(1945) - I Know Where I'm Going!I Know Where I'm Going!I Know Where I'm Going! is a 1945 romance film by the British-based film-makers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, and features Pamela Brown, Finlay Currie and Petula Clark in her fourth film appearance....
(1945) - Brief EncounterBrief EncounterBrief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey...
(1945) - Pink String and Sealing WaxPink String and Sealing WaxPink String and Sealing Wax is a 1945 British drama film directed by Robert Hamer and starring Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Gordon Jackson.-Cast:* Mervyn Johns as Edward Sutton* Googie Withers as Pearl Bond* Gordon Jackson as David Sutton...
(1945) - Night Boat to DublinNight Boat to DublinNight Boat to Dublin is a 1946 British thriller film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Robert Newton, Raymond Lovell, Guy Middleton, Muriel Pavlow and Herbert Lom.-Plot:...
(1946) - Woman HaterWoman HaterWoman Hater is a 1948 British romantic comedy film directed by Terence Young and starring Stewart Granger, Edwige Feuillère and Ronald Squire. Lord Datchett invites a French film star to stay as his house but pretends to be one of his employees while he tries to romance her with the help of his...
(1948) - Man on the RunMan on the RunMan on the Run is a 1949 British drama film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, Edward Chapman, Kenneth More and Laurence Harvey.-Synopsis:...
(1949) - Salute the ToffSalute the ToffSalute the Toff is a 1952 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley and Carol Marsh. The film was based on the 1941 novel of the same name by John Creasey, the sixth in the series featuring upper-class sleuth Richard Rollison, also known as "The Toff"...
(1952) - Hammer the ToffHammer the ToffHammer the Toff is a 1952 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley and Patricia Dainton. The film was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by John Creasey, the 17th in the series featuring upper-class sleuth Richard Rollison, also known as "The Toff"...
(1952) - Paul Temple ReturnsPaul Temple ReturnsPaul Temple Returns is a 1952 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley, Patricia Dainton and Peter Gawthorne. It was the fourth and last in the series of Paul Temple films, although the character was revived for the BBC television series Paul Temple in 1969.-Cast:*...
(1952) - Suspended AlibiSuspended AlibiSuspended Alibi is a 1957 British crime film directed by Alfred Shaughnessy and starring Patrick Holt, Honor Blackman and Lloyd Lamble.-Cast:* Patrick Holt as Paul Pearson* Honor Blackman as Lynn Pearson* Valentine Dyall as Inspector Kayes...
(1957) - Identity UnknownIdentity Unknown (1960 film)Identity Unknown is a 1960 British drama film directed by Frank Marshall and starring Richard Wyler, Pauline Yates and Patricia Plunkett. Two reporters develop a relationship while investigating an aircraft accident.-Cast:* Richard Wyler - John...
(1960) - The City of the Dead (1960)
- The HauntingThe Haunting (1963 film)The Haunting is a 1963 British psychological horror film by American director Robert Wise and adapted by Nelson Gidding from the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn. The film centers around the conflict between...
(1963)