Frank Middlemass

Although there was no theatrical background in the family, acting was all he wanted to do, despite being destined for the civil service. His mother allowed him to play the odd boys role with the local repertory company in Newcastle. He belonged to a small theatre group which had attached to it an 'Academy of Dramatic Art', run by Madame St. John. When he left school, he worked in a Newcastle office of an investment trust until war broke out. He joined the army at twenty, but ,because of poor eyesight, he was attached to RASC division in France. He spent 72 hours on the beach at Dunkirk where he was seriously wounded in both legs. At the end of the war, he was posted to Egypt where he kept being promoted until he was offered a post in the war office, but took demob as Lt Colonel. While with friends for a weekend in Penzance, he went to a local repertory theatre and was so impressed by the quality of the acting that he asked the company's director for a job. However, there were no vacancies. He tried again a few months later and became stage manager at £7 a week, He was there for two years. His first part was as a policeman in a play by Michael Pertwee. He went to three other repertory companies, then joined London's Old Vic and toured round the world with them appearing many times with Vivien Leigh. He had a few small parts in such as Otley, Barry Lyndon and The Island with Michael Caine. On television, he was best known as the Headmaster in To Serve Them All of My Days and as Robin Ellis's uncle in Poldark, while on radio he played the 4th Dan Archer in the radio serial The Archers.