Maurice Colbourne

Maurice Colbourne
Born	Roger Middleton (1939-09-24)24 September 1939 Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	4 August 1989(1989-08-04) (aged 49) Dinan, Brittany, France
Alma mater	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–1989
Spouse	Chan Lian Si ​ (m. 1989)​
Children	1

Maurice Colbourne (24 September 1939 – 4 August 1989) was an English stage and television actor who starred as Tom Howard in the BBC television series Howards' Way. He is also known for roles in other television series such as Gangsters, The Onedin Line, The Day of the Triffids and Doctor Who. He was usually cast as a villain in his career.

Early life

Maurice Colbourne was born Roger Middleton in Sheffield, three weeks after Britain and France declared war on Germany upon the outbreak of the Second World War, and studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He took his stage name from that of an earlier film actor called Maurice Colbourne (24 September 1894 – 22 September 1965), who shared the same birthday (in a different year) as his.

Career

In 1972, he co-founded, together with Michael Irving and Guy Sprung, the Half Moon Theatre near Aldgate, east London. This was a successful, radical theatre company, performing initially in an 80-seat disused synagogue in Half Moon Passage, E1. In 1985, the company moved to a converted chapel in Mile End Road, near Stepney Green. He performed in many productions at Half Moon Theatre, including In the Jungle of the Cities, Will Wat, If Not, What Will?, Heroes of the Iceberg Hotel, Sawdust Caesar, Dan Dare and Chaste Maid in Cheapside. He also directed several productions, including Silver Tassie, Alkestis, The Shoemakers and Pig Bank. He returned in 1979 to perform in Guys and Dolls.

He first became well known when he played the lead in a BBC drama series, Gangsters, from 1975–78, and afterwards appeared regularly on television. This included a guest appearance in a 1977 episode of Van der Valk, "Everybody Does It". He played Charles Marston, the love interest of Lady Fogarty, in the seventh series of The Onedin Line screened from 22 July to 23 September 1979. He played a mercenary in an episode of the Return of the Saint called "Duel in Venice". He played the character Jack Coker in the BBC's television miniseries adaptation of John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids (1981). He also twice appeared in Doctor Who as the character Lytton (in Resurrection of the Daleks (1984) and Attack of the Cybermen (1985)).

Colbourne played lead character Tom Howard in 61 episodes of the successful BBC television drama Howards' Way from 1985 to 1989. During a break in filming of the fifth series, he died suddenly aged 49 from a heart attack while renovating a holiday home in Dinan, Brittany, France. The programme continued to the end of series five and for a sixth series, to tie up the storylines, with Colbourne's character being written out of the scripts.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Cry of the Banshee	Villager
1970	Times For
1976	Escape from the Dark (aka The Littlest Horse Thieves)	Luke Armstrong
1977	The Duellists	Tall Second
1979	Bloodline	Jon Swinton
1980	Hawk the Slayer	Axe Man 1
1980	Dead Man's Kit	Lt Commander Kohbal
1981	Venom	Sampson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Play for Today	John Kline	Episode: Gangsters
1975	Churchill's People	Dr. Dredge	Episode: "A Bill of Mortality"
1976-8	Gangsters	John Kline
1977	Van der Valk	Nick Scholtz	Episode: "Everybody Does It"
1978	Return of the Saint	Jed Blacket	Episode: "Duel in Venice"
1979	The Onedin Line	Charles Marston	Six episodes
1980	Armchair Thriller	Lieutenant Commander Kobahl	Episode: "Dead Man's Kit"
	Shoestring	Priest	Episode: "The Dangerous Game"
	Strangers	John Rutter	Two episodes
1981	The Day of the Triffids	Jack Coker	Four episodes
1983	Johnny Jarvis	Jake
1984, 1985	Doctor Who	Commander Gustave Lytton	Serials "Resurrection of the Daleks" and "Attack of the Cybermen"
1985	Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil	SS Offficer
1985-9	Howards' Way	Tom Howard

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	In the Jungle of Cities	John Garga	Half Moon Theatre
	Alkestis	Herakles
	Will Wat, If Not, What Will?	John Ball
	Dan Dare	Sondar/Treen
	Punch Gorilla
	The Silver Tassie	Director
	Sawdust Caesar	Narrator/Genie of the Lamp/Third Conspirator
1973	Ripper!
	Heroes of the Iceberg Hotel	Policeman/Chairman
	The Shoemakers	Sajetan
	Get Off My Back
	Dick	Tom King
	A Chaste Maid in Cheapside	Director
1974	The Pig-Bank
	Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2	John Falstaff
	Saint Joan of the Stockyards	Meat Traders/Communist Leader
	The Hammers
	Stakeout/Homeworker
1979	Guys and Dolls	Nathan Detroit
1980	Tom Fool	Translator

External links

• Maurice Colbourne at IMDb 
• Maurice Colbourne on Stages of Half Moon