Patrick Holt
| Patrick Holt | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
31 January 1912 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK |
| Died | 12 October 1993 (aged 81) London, England, UK |
| Other names | Patrick Parsons |
| Occupation |
Film actor television actor |
| Years active | 1938–1990 |
| Spouse(s) |
Sandra Dorne (1954–1992) (her death) Sonia Holm (1947–1953) (divorced) |
Patrick Holt (31 January 1912 – 12 October 1993) was an English film and television actor.
Patrick Holt's real name was Patrick G. Parsons. Some of his childhood was spent in India with his uncle. Patrick was sent to Christ's Hospital, a famous charity school in Britain. He formed a close friendship with a boy in the same boarding house, the future film star Michael Wilding. There were those who thought Holt the better actor. He started his career in repertory theatres, and in 1939, landed a leading part on the London stage, but the Second World War broke out, and he joined the army. He saw service in Burma, Singapore and India, often on secret missions behind enemy lines, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war, he joined the J. Arthur Rank charm school and steadily established himself as a leading actor in 1950s "second features." Quinlan has called him "the Dennis Price of the B film."
Holt maintained his status as a leading man in second features into the early 1960s, although he sometimes also played supporting roles or cameos. As late as 1962, he appeared in three films, all of which had him in a leading role. However, he was one of many leading men & women of the 1950s (the others including Kenneth More, Richard Todd, John Gregson, Michael Craig, Sylvia Syms and Muriel Pavlow) who struggled to maintain their status as leads beyond the early 1960s. From 1963 onwards, Holt never played another leading film role.
However, by evolving into a character actor, he sustained his career into old age, working on stage and television as well as in the cinema, and he was still listed in the Spotlight casting directory at the time of his death. His first wife was the actress Sonia Holm. In 1954, he married Sandra Dorne, with whom he had occasionally co-starred. The marriage was happy, and he is said never to have recovered from her death on Christmas Day, 1992.
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