Michael Latimer
Acting
Biography
Michael James Latimer (6 September 1941 – 25 June 2011) was a British television stage and film actor who later in his career turned to writing, directing and producing. Latimer was born in Calcutta, where his father had a business, and was educated at the Leys School in Cambridge from 1955 to 1959, where he was a middle-distance runner and played rugby for the English Schoolboys Team. Upon leaving school, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) for two years, and on leaving began acting in cabaret revues. He stood in for Peter Cook in Beyond the Fringe when the original cast took the show to New York. He appeared in various repertory and West End productions. His television appearances included The Avengers (1966–67), Sexton Blake (1968), Man at the Top (1972), Van der Valk (1972–73), in which he played Johnny Kroon alongside Barry Foster as Van der Valk, Special Branch (1973), Marked Personal (1973), Village Hall (1974), Crown Court (1974–76), The Sweeney (1975), Quiller (1975), The New Avengers (1977), Spectre (1977), Z-Cars (1978), The Professionals (1978), Maggie and Her (1979), Hammer House of Horror (1980) and Rumpole of the Bailey (1988). His film roles include A Man for All Seasons (1966), Prehistoric Women (1967) opposite Martine Beswick, Mosquito Squadron (1969), Man of Violence (1969), Got It Made (1974) and Sweeney! (1977). Latimer was the stage director for the first Johnny Nash and Bob Marley tours of the United Kingdom in 1972. He set up his own production company, Bedrock Productions; this had three top twenty hits in the German music charts for Hansa and Ariola Records. His writing for television included The Rovers (1970), the BBC play The Interview and also four episodes of Sons and Daughters (1983). He taught at RADA, London Academy of Performing Arts (LAPA) and at drama school in Australia. As a director he worked on television commercials in Australia and directed some 37 theatre productions in the United Kingdom, including Daniel Magee's play Paddywack (1994) with James Nesbitt at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone Latimer died at Trinity Hospice in Clapham, London, in 2011, aged 69.
Known For
A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).
The Avengers
Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes.
Rumpole of the Bailey
The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.
The Professionals
Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.
The Sweeney
The New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series broadcast during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series The Avengers and was developed by Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production, the show picks up the adventures of John Steed and his team of Avengers fighting evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners: Mike Gambit, a top agent, crack marksman and trained martial artist, and Purdey, a former trainee with The Royal Ballet who was an amalgam of many of the best talents from Steed's previous female partners.
The New Avengers
Van der Valk is a British television series that was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network. It starred Barry Foster in the title role as Dutch detective Commissaris "Piet" van der Valk. Based on the characters and atmosphere of the novels of Nicolas Freeling, the first series was shown in 1972.
Van der Valk
Each self-contained episode features a different kind of horror, varying from witches, werewolves, ghosts, devil worship and voodoo, but also includes non-supernatural themes such as cannibalism, confinement and serial killers.
Hammer House of Horror
The World of Hammer is a thirteen-part British documentary series created and written by Robert and Ashley Sidaway for Channel 4. Initially broadcast from 12 August to 4 November 1994, the series is narrated by English actor and frequent Hammer collaborator Oliver Reed.
The World of Hammer
Featuring dramatised versions of true stories that shocked mainstream Victorian society.
Victorian Scandals
Public relations consultant Harry Shaw has to face the challenge of starting afresh in his mid-forties. Disillusioned with the values of city life, he returns to his father's farm in Yorkshire to think over his future.
This Year Next Year
A depiction of the conflict between King Henry VIII of England and his Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, who refuses to swear the Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry Supreme Head of the Church in England.
A Man for All Seasons
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's non-Sherlock Holmes stories embodying the author's interest in boxing, the supernatural, and medical matters.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
When one of Regan's snouts complains that his girlfriend's recent suicide was murder, the flying squad detective feels compelled to investigate. He uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the heart of the government, and finds himself fitted up, suspended and under the scrutiny of Special Branch.
Sweeney!
Leader of a tribe of amazon women, Queen Kari, has vanquished a rival tribe and rules them with savage ruthlessness and cruel arrogance. A hunter stumbles onto the enclave and falls for one of the slaves, so unleashing the anger and envy of the possessive, sadistic Queen.
Slave Girls
An occult criminologist investigates a businessman who dabbles in the black arts while trying to survive against a powerful demon and an evil cult.
Spectre
In Norway a military plane crashes under mysterious circumstances: in his last message the pilot reported many lights falling from the sky. NATO wants to play down the incident, but the famous TV moderator George Abbot and the no less persistent journalist Milker sense a sensational story about UFOs and start snooping around in the area with help of pilot "Bird" McNamara. Inspired by the suspiciously rigorous isolation of the whole area around the crash point and cases of an unknown disease they have a closer look at the military's activities...
Project Alien
Today, Henry's usually dull journey to work is eventful enough to catapult him into the headlines.
Henry Intervening
The escapades of Ginger Meggs, local larrikin. He's trying to win the heart of Minnie Peters, but the pressures of school, his rival Eddie Coogan and bully Tiger Kelly make life tough for him. Besides, there's fishing to be done.
Ginger Meggs
Moon is a mercenary who joins forces with two crooked cops in an attempt to steal $90 million in gold from an Arab country decimated by political chaos. Sex, violence and mayhem accompany the group of double-crossing heavies who covet the purloined loot. A bevy of females willingly submit to seduction, and a sadistic, homosexual murderer trails Moon and his malevolent gang for the gold.
Man of Violence
Drama set in Norfolk, England. An aristocratic girl whose world falls apart three days before her wedding. She discovers the hideous truths about the people closest to her - and her upbringing and background leave her unable to cope.