Colin Welland
| Colin Welland | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Colin Edward Williams 4 July 1934 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 2 November 2015 (aged 81) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Actor, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1962–1998 |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Sweeney (in 1962) |
| Parent(s) | Jack and Norah Williams |
| Awards |
BAFTA Award (1970) Academy Award (1982) |
Colin Welland (4 July 1934 – 2 November 2015), born Colin Edward Williams, was a British actor and screenwriter. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his script for Chariots of Fire (1981). He won a BAFTA Award for his performance as the empathetic teacher Mr Farthing in the 1969 film Kes.
Born in 1934 in Liverpool, Welland grew up in the Kensington area of Liverpool before moving to Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, while still a young child. His parents were John Arthur (Jack) and Norah Williams. He attended Newton-le-Willows Grammar School and after National Service he studied at Goldsmiths College and Bretton Hall College of Education, where he gained a teaching diploma and qualified as a teacher.
He then taught art at Manchester Road Secondary Modern school in Leigh, Lancashire, where he was known as "Ted" Williams because of his Teddy Boy curly hair style. Afterwards he became an assistant stage manager at Manchester Library Theatre.
As an actor, Welland appeared as PC David Graham in the BBC Television series Z-Cars from 1962 to 1978. He was a sympathetic schoolteacher in a BAFTA-winning performance in the film Kes (1969), and a detective in the Richard Burton film Villain (1971). He appeared as a villain in one 1975 episode of The Sweeney, and was in the series' first cinema spin-off Sweeney! (1977) as Frank Chadwick, an editor of a newspaper. His other film appearances include Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills (1979) as the character Willie, and Dancin' thru the Dark (1990). He was also in the television series Cowboys (1980), a comedy about a dodgy builder, with Roy Kinnear.
...
Wikipedia