Mark Dignam : Family, Dollis Hill, Selected filmography, Radio Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Dignam

English actor

Mark Dignam
in The Saint (1968)
Born	(1909-03-20)20 March 1909 Ealing, London, England
Died	29 September 1989(1989-09-29) (aged 80) London, England
Occupation	Actor

Cuthbert Mark Dignam (20 March 1909 – 29 September 1989) was an English actor.^[1]^[2]

Born in London, the son of a salesman in the steel industry, Dignam grew up in Sheffield, and was educated at the Jesuit College, where he appeared in numerous Shakespearean plays.

He learned his craft touring Britain and America with Ben Greet's Shakespeare company.^[3] His range extended from the Louis Macneice radio play, The Dark Tower in the 1940s to the TV thriller, The XYY Man in the late 1970s.^[4]^[5]

Along with Philip Guard and John Bryning, Dignam can be heard on the fade-out of the Beatles' song "I Am the Walrus", during which is played a 1967 BBC radio broadcast of King Lear, with Dignam in the role of the Earl of Gloucester.^[6]

Dignam was married three times, divorced twice (his character in The XYY Man frequently complains about the expense of maintaining multiple ex-wives).^[7]

Family

His brother Basil was also a well-known character actor and his sister-in-law was the actress Mona Washbourne.^[8]

Dollis Hill

Dignam lived in Dollis Hill, north-west London, from 1967 until his death in 1989.^[9]^[10]

Selected filmography

Train of Events (1949) − Bolingbroke (segment "The Actor")
Murder in the Cathedral (1951) − First Knight
The Maggie (1954) − The Laird
Doctor in the House (1954) − Examiner at Microscope (uncredited)
Beau Brummell (1954) − Mr. Burke
Lease of Life (1954) − Mr. Black
The Passing Stranger (1954) − Inspector
Carrington V.C. (1955) − Prosecutor
The Prisoner (1955) − The Governor
Escapade (1955) − Sykes
They Can't Hang Me (1955) − Prison Governor
The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955) − Innkeeper (uncredited)
Sink the Bismarck! (1960) − Captain (Ark Royal)
The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960) − Prosecuting Counsel
No Love for Johnnie (1961) − Earnley Constituent (uncredited)
In Search of the Castaways (1962) − Rich Man at Yacht Party
Lancelot and Guinevere (1963) − Merlin
Siege of the Saxons (1963) − King Arthur
Tom Jones (1963) − Lieutenant
Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963) − The Bishop
The Eyes of Annie Jones (1964) − Orphanage director
Clash by Night (1964) − Sydney Selwyn
A Jolly Bad Fellow (1964) − The Master
Game for Three Losers (1965) − Attorney General
The Taming of the Shrew (1967) − Vincentio
Frozen Flashes (1967) − Sir John
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) − Gen. Airey
Isadora (1968) − (uncredited)
Hamlet (1969) − Polonius
The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder (1969–1971) − Lord Nettlefold
There's a Girl in My Soup (1970) − Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Jude the Obscure (1971) − Vicar
Dead Cert (1974) − Clifford Tudor
Memoirs of a Survivor (1981) − Newsvendor
The Chain (1984) − Ambrose
On the Black Hill (1988) − Reverend Latimer (final film role)

Radio

The Dark Tower (1946)^[11]

References

^ "Mark Dignam". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018.
^ "Mark Dignam - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
^ Wearing, J. P. (15 May 2014). The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810893047 – via Google Books.
^ "BBC Radio 4 - The Dark Tower". BBC.
^ "The Xyy Man Part 1 Law and Order (1977)". BFI. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019.
^ "Recording, mixing, editing: I Am The Walrus, Your Mother Should Know". The Beatles Bible. 29 September 1967. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
^ McFarlane, Brian (16 May 2016). The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781526111968 – via Google Books.
^ "Basil Dignam - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos". AllMovie.
^ Walters, Max (4 May 2013). "Campaign launched to save Old Oxgate Farm in Dollis Hill". Kilburn Times.
^ "At Oxgate Farm - Spitalfields Life".
^ "The Dark Tower". Genome. BBC. 21 January 1946.