David Neal | |
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Born |
David Henry Neal 13 February 1932 Kettering, Northamptonshire, England, UK |
Died | 27 June 2000 Kettering, Northamptonshire, England, UK |
(aged 68)
Years active | 1965-1997 |
David Neal (13 February 1932 – 27 June 2000) was a popular British television actor, active in the 1960s through the 1990s. He is chiefly remembered for a prolific range of supporting roles in major productions.
Although very rarely cast in a lead role, David Neal had significant supporting roles in episodes of a great range of highly popular British television series, including Softly, Softly, Z-Cars, Doctor Who, Inspector Morse, Poirot, The Bill, Wycliffe and Noah's Castle. He also did radio voice work.
David Neal worked in a broad range of roles during his career. In 1970 he took a major supporting role (Cinna) in the all-star feature film of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (which starred Charlton Heston, Christopher Lee, Richard Chamberlain, Diana Rigg and Sir John Gielgud). A few years later (in 1979) he secured another significant supporting role as Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York in both Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 in the BBC's major 'complete works of Shakespeare' series of television films.
Although not remembered for lead roles, an exception is the 1970s' children's television production The Flockton Flyer, written by Peter Whitbread, in which David Neal starred as the principal character, Bob Carter. The programme ran to two series, with an associated paperback novel.