Peter Wyngarde

Peter Wyngarde
Wyngarde in 1976, by Allan Warren
Occupation	Film and television actor
Years active	1946–1994

Peter Wyngarde is an actor best known for playing the character Jason King, a bestselling novelist turned sleuth, in two British television series: Department S (1969–70) and Jason King (1971–72).

Peter Wyngarde's date of birth, his birth name and his family origins are all disputed.

The biography at IMDb, which is not supported by any primary sources but often used in other accounts of his life, states that he was born Peter Paul Wyngarde on 23 August 1933 at an aunt's home in Marseille, France. It says his British father Henry worked for the British Diplomatic Service resulting in the family living in various countries, including British Malaya and China, where as a child he is said to have been interned by the Japanese at the Lunghua civilian internment camp. He is claimed to be the nephew of French actor/director Louis Jouvet.

Sources indicate a likely different birth name, year of birth and family background. There is strong evidence that Peter Wyngarde was born as Cyril Goldbert, possibly in Singapore, which is the place of birth Wyngarde gave on a 1960 immigration application, although a 1956 Straits Times article about his mother does give Marseille as his birthplace. The author J. G. Ballard has written in his memoir and in interviews and private letters that he and his family knew Wyngarde as Cyril Goldbert in Shanghai during World War II. This is supported by other sources which show that many of the specifics of Cyril Goldbert's early life match the authorised version of Peter Wyngarde's life before moving to the UK. This includes the names of his parents and siblings, location of his upbringing, internment by the Japanese in Shanghai during World War II, and his travel itinerary to the UK.

About Wyngarde's date of birth there is considerable variation. Different sources quote or suggest 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930 or 1933. J. G. Ballard writes in his autobiography Miracles of Life that Cyril Goldbert, "the future Peter Wyngarde ... was four years older than me..." Ballard was born in November 1930, giving Cyril Goldbert an estimated birth year of 1926 by Ballard's judgement. Immigration records from Cyril Goldbert's arrival in the UK in 1945 say he was 18 at the time, with a birth year of 1927, and Wyngarde's first listing on the UK electoral roll in 1948 also suggests a date of birth in 1927, since only those aged 21 and over were included on the electoral roll at that time. These latter records appear to be the most authoritative, but records compiled in Shanghai in 1943 say Cyril Goldbert was born in 1928, travel records from Wyngarde's trip to the USA in 1960 say 1929, and an October 1956 article says he is 26 years old, suggesting a 1930 birthdate. More recently, Peter Wyngarde himself says he was born in 1933 and some sources use this date.