David Swift (actor)
| David Swift | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 April 1931 Liverpool, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 8 April 2016 (aged 85) London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1961–2004 |
| Spouse(s) | Paula Jacobs (m. 1953–2016) |
| Children | Matthew Swift Julia Swift |
David Bernard Swift (3 April 1931 – 8 April 2016) was an English actor.
He was best known for his role as Henry Davenport in the topical comedy Drop the Dead Donkey.
He was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, the second of the four children of Abram Sampson Swift and Lily Rebecca (née Greenman), who owned a furniture shop in Bootle. He was educated at Clifton College and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied law. He then embarked on a career as a businessman with his father-in-law, J.P. Jacobs, whose company supplied all the elastic to Marks & Spencer.
Swift made his professional debut on stage after being appointed as an assistant stage manager at Dundee Repertory Theatre in 1963. He made his television debut in 1964 as Theo Clay in the soap opera Compact. He appeared in many small-screen roles in the 1970s and 1980s, whilst in the theatre he appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1978 production of Henry VI, Part 1 at the Aldwych Theatre, and won acclaim for his performance as Frank Doel in the Ambassadors Theatre's 1981-2 production of 84, Charing Cross Road. In addition he played Montclair in the film of The Day of the Jackal (1973). Swift appeared as Dingley alongside Richard Beckinsale in the BBC situation comedy Bloomers (1979) and also appeared in several episodes of Going Straight (1978), the sequel to Porridge. Prior to this he had made a guest appearance, again with Beckinsale, in the ITV comedy Rising Damp in which he played a suicidal tenant in the episode "Good Samaritans". But it was the role of irascible newsreader Henry Davenport in the topical comedy Drop the Dead Donkey, written by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, for which Swift became best known. He also made occasional appearances as God in the Radio 4 comedy Old Harry's Game, also written by Hamilton.
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