Rupert Davies
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Rupert Davies (22 May 1916 – 22 November 1976) was a British actor. He remains best known for playing the title role in the BBC's 1960s television adaptation of Maigret, based on the Maigret novels written by Georges Simenon.
Davies was born in Liverpool. After a service in the British Merchant Navy, during the Second World War he was a Sub-Lieutenant Observer with the Fleet Air Arm. In 1940 the Swordfish aircraft in which he was flying ditched in the sea off the Dutch Coast. Davies was captured and interned in the famous Stalag Luft III POW camp. He made three attempts to escape. All failed. It was during his captivity that he began to take part in theatre performances, entertaining his fellow prisoners.
On his release, Davies resumed his career in acting almost immediately, starring in an ex Prisoner Of War show, 'Back Home', which was hosted at the Stoll Theatre, London.
After the war Davies became a staple of British television appearing in numerous plays and series, including Quatermass II, Ivanhoe, Emergency - Ward 10, Danger Man, The Champions, Doctor at Large (1971), Arthur of the Britons and War and Peace (1972). He also provided the voice of "Professor Ian McClaine" in the Gerry Anderson series Joe 90.
In 1964 he became the first person to be awarded Pipe Smoker of the Year.
Davies also played supporting roles in many films, appearing briefly as George Smiley in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965). He also appeared in several horror films in the late 1960s, including Witchfinder General (1968) and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), as well as such international blockbusters as Waterloo (1970) and Zeppelin (1971).
He died of cancer in London in 1976, leaving a wife, Jessica, and two sons, Timothy and Hogan, and is buried at Pistyll Cemetery, near Nefyn in North Wales.
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Known for
Play for Today
Bartley Humbolt
BBC Play of the Month
Commissaire Maigret
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Simon Dexter
The Champions
Voss
Maigret
Chief Inspector Maigret
Ready Steady Go!
Self
The Wednesday Play
Councillor Wally Cross
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
George Smiley
Curse of the Crimson Altar
The Vicar (uncredited)
Danger Man
Colonel Graves
Interpol Calling
Coetzee
The Many Faces of Dracula
Monsignor (archive footage)
Thirty-Minute Theatre
Lomov
The Angel with the Trumpet
Policeman
Sunday Night Theatre
Day-watchman
Sunday Night Theatre
Mr. Page
Sunday Night Theatre
Thompson
Sunday Night Theatre
Wing Commander
Sunday Night Theatre
Alec Roper
Sunday Night Theatre
Oderbruch
Sunday Night Theatre
Thomas Cromwell
Sunday Night Theatre
Maurice Szeps
Sunday Night Theatre
Frontier guard
Sunday Night Theatre
Walters
Sunday Night Theatre
Gabriel Mirabeau
The Third Man
Arthur Shillings
The Third Man
Insp. Arthur Shillings
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
Monsignor Ernst Mueller
The After Dinner Game
Bartley Humbolt
The Brides of Fu Manchu
Jules Merlin
Waterloo
Gordon
Five Golden Dragons
Comm. Sanders
Life In Emergency Ward 10
R.S.O. Hunter
Submarine X-1
Vice Admiral Redmayne (uncredited)
The Amazing Adventures Of Joe 90
Professor Ian 'Mac' McClaine (voice)
The Dark Avenger
Sir John
Ivanhoe
Brother Gareth
The Key
Baker
Man in a Suitcase
Mike Leigh: Making Plays
Self (archive footage)
Witchfinder General
John Lowes
The Thought of Tomorrow
Geoffrey Hansbury
Folio
Canoris
Festival
Chief of Police
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Monsignor (archive footage)
The Uncle
David Morton
Frightmare
Edmund Yates
Detective
Chief Inspector Jules Maigret
Detective
Chief Inspector Jules Maigret - Introduction
Father Brown
Colonel Arthur Druce
John Paul Jones
British Captain
The Invisible Man
Dushkin
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
Lemerie
The Traitor
Clinton
Health in Our Time
Violent Moment
Bert Glennon
War & Peace
Ilya Rostov
The Oblong Box
Joshua Kemp
Sea Fury
Bosun
Devil's Bait
Landlord
Arthur of the Britons
Cerdig
Zeppelin
Captain Whitney
Joe 90
Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine (voice)
The Firechasers
Prentice
Danger Tomorrow
Dr. Campbell
Sapphire
Ferris
Breakout
Morgan
Target for Killing
Kommissar Saadi
Lilli Palmer Theatre
King Arthur, the Young Warlord
Cerdig, Chief of the Saxons
Maigret at Bay
Commissaire Jules Maigret
Sailor of Fortune
Alphonso - Italian Ship's Engineer
The Criminal
Edwards
The Big Breaker
Councillor Wally Cross
The Night Visitor
Mr. Clemens
Quatermass II
Vincent Broadhead
Bobbikins
Armchair Theatre
Inspector Shawcross
Armchair Theatre
Banham
Armchair Theatre
Armchair Theatre
Det. Insp.
Armchair Theatre
Geoffrey Hansbury
Armchair Theatre
Ramon Cintos
Armchair Theatre
Miffin
The Man Outside
Maigret Plays Dirty
Maigret