Michael Latimer

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 middledistance 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 196667 Sexton Blake 1968 Man at the Top 1972 Van der Valk 197273 in which he played Johnny Kroon alongside Barry Foster as Van der Valk Special Branch 1973 Marked Personal 1973 Village Hall 1974 Crown Court 197476 The Sweeney 1975 Quiller 1975 The New Avengers 1977 Spectre 1977 ZCars 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 Magees play Paddywack 1994 with James Nesbitt at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone Latimer died at Trinity Hospice in Clapham London in 2011 aged 69