William Squire

For other people named William Squire, see William Squire (disambiguation).

William Arthur Squire
Born	(1917-04-29)29 April 1917 Neath, Glamorgan, Wales
Died	3 May 1989(1989-05-03) (aged 72) London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1951–1988
Spouses	Betty Dixon Juliet Harmer (1967–1989)

William Arthur Squire (29 April 1917 – 3 May 1989) was a Welsh actor of stage, film and television.

Career

As a stage actor, Squire performed at Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Old Vic, and notably replaced his fellow-countryman Richard Burton as King Arthur in Camelot at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. One of his first film appearances was in the 1956 film Alexander the Great, which starred Burton in the title role.

Squire had many roles in television and movies over his career, including Thomas More in the 1969 film version of Maxwell Anderson's play Anne of the Thousand Days; Sir Daniel Brackley in the 1972 television adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow; the voice of Gandalf in the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings; and the Shadow in the 1979 Doctor Who serial The Armageddon Factor. According to the website Television Heaven, Squire's best-known role was the spy chief code-named Hunter in the British series Callan. Squire's Hunter was the fourth, and longest-lasting, in the main series, taking over the role from Derek Bond.

In a set of Encyclopædia Britannica-produced educational films about William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Squire played the role of Macbeth. This was in keeping with his long career as a Shakespearean actor, which included roles in the classic 1960s TV series, An Age of Kings.

On 15 June 1967, the St. John's College choir at University of Cambridge recorded A Meditation on Christ's Nativity. Squire read several poems, including The Annunciation by John Donne and A Dialogue by George Herbert, and 1 John 1:1-10 from the New English Bible for the album.

In the late 1960s Squire narrated a series of radio advertisements for Findus Foods under the pseudonym Frobisher Collingwood. The advertisements were played on Radio Caroline. According to Squire's son Nick, the idea to use a pseudonym was a joke between Squire and his friend Hugh Bredin, who wrote the advertisements, with the name itself being a combination of two telephone exchanges in London at the time.

Personal life

Squire was born on 29 April 1917 in Neath, Glamorgan, to William Squire and his wife Martha (née Bridgeman).

He was first married to the actress Betty Dixon. He later married the actress Juliet Harmer in 1967.

There is a park bench on Hampstead Heath dedicated to him.

Squire died on 3 May 1989 in London, England.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	The Long Dark Hall	Sgt. Cochran
1956	The Man Who Never Was	Lt. Jewell
1956	Alexander the Great	Aeschenes
1956	The Battle of the River Plate	Ray Martin
1958	Dunkirk	Captain	Uncredited
1958	Innocent Sinners	Father Lambert	Uncredited
1967	A Challenge for Robin Hood	Sir John
1968	Where Eagles Dare	Capt. Lee Thomas
1969	Anne of the Thousand Days	Thomas More
1978	The Lord of the Rings	Gandalf	Voice
1978	The Thirty Nine Steps	Harkness
1978	Off to Philadelphia in the Morning	Daniel Parry
1979	Blake's 7	Kommissar
1979	Doctor Who	The Shadow	Episode "The Armageddon Factor"
1982	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Mr. Frankland	TV Mini-Series, "Episode #1.3"
1982	Marco Polo	Inn-Keeper	TV Mini-Series, "Episode #1.3"
1988	Testimony	Khatchaturyan

External links

• William Squire at IMDb
• William Squire at the Internet Broadway Database