Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Gareth Hunt
Alan Leonard Hunt (7 February 1942 – 14 March 2007), known as Gareth Hunt, was a British television actor best remembered for playing footman Frederick Norton in Upstairs, Downstairs and Mike Gambit in The New Avengers.
Alan Leonard Hunt was born in Battersea, London, in 1942. His father was killed in the Second World War when he was two years old, and he was brought up by his mother, Doris, and his stepfather. At the age of 15, he joined the Merchant Navy. After six years, he jumped ship in New Zealand and worked in a car plant for a year before he was caught and served three months in a military prison.
Hunt was then deported back to Britain, and while taking a BBC design course he held a variety of jobs, including stagehand, road digger, butcher's assistant and door-to-door salesman. Having had an interest in acting since his early years, he subsequently trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Following that, he did rep across the United Kingdom and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre in the early 1970s. Among the many stage productions he appeared in were Twelfth Night, Oh! What a Lovely War and West Side Story.
Hunt began his television career in 1968, playing Private Kitson in one episode of the UK series Frontier. In 1972, he played a policeman in For the Love of Ada, the same year he appeared in A Family at War and The Organisation. In 1974, he had roles in the Doctor Who story Planet of the Spiders and Bless This House, and the following year played Thomas Woolner in The Love School.
In 1974, Hunt appeared in the Upstairs, Downstairs episode "Missing Believed Killed" as Trooper Norton, batman to James Bellamy. The character was a minor one; however, his performance led producers John Hawkesworth and Alfred Shaughnessy to ask him to come back as a regular for the fifth series in 1975. Hunt continued playing Frederick Norton, who had by now become the footman, until the eleventh episode of the fifth series, "Alberto".
In 1975, he made appearances in The Hanged Man, Softly, Softly and Space: 1999.
In 1976, the year after leaving Upstairs, Downstairs, Hunt starred alongside Joanna Lumley and Patrick Macnee in The New Avengers. The show's producers said Hunt was cast because of his part in Upstairs, Downstairs. He played secret agent Mike Gambit and starred in the show until its end after two series in December 1977.
In 1979 he appeared in the films Licensed to Love and Kill, in which he portrayed secret agent Charles Bind, and The World Is Full of Married Men. During the late 1970s and 1980s Hunt made appearances in Sunday Night Thriller, Minder and Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense. He appeared alongside Julia McKenzie in That Beryl Marston...! in 1981, and also in the films Funny Money (1983) and Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984) as well as the children's film Gabrielle and the Doodleman. In 1988 he played many parts in the Pet Shop Boys' film It Couldn't Happen Here.
Hub AI
Gareth Hunt AI simulator
(@Gareth Hunt_simulator)
Gareth Hunt
Alan Leonard Hunt (7 February 1942 – 14 March 2007), known as Gareth Hunt, was a British television actor best remembered for playing footman Frederick Norton in Upstairs, Downstairs and Mike Gambit in The New Avengers.
Alan Leonard Hunt was born in Battersea, London, in 1942. His father was killed in the Second World War when he was two years old, and he was brought up by his mother, Doris, and his stepfather. At the age of 15, he joined the Merchant Navy. After six years, he jumped ship in New Zealand and worked in a car plant for a year before he was caught and served three months in a military prison.
Hunt was then deported back to Britain, and while taking a BBC design course he held a variety of jobs, including stagehand, road digger, butcher's assistant and door-to-door salesman. Having had an interest in acting since his early years, he subsequently trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Following that, he did rep across the United Kingdom and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre in the early 1970s. Among the many stage productions he appeared in were Twelfth Night, Oh! What a Lovely War and West Side Story.
Hunt began his television career in 1968, playing Private Kitson in one episode of the UK series Frontier. In 1972, he played a policeman in For the Love of Ada, the same year he appeared in A Family at War and The Organisation. In 1974, he had roles in the Doctor Who story Planet of the Spiders and Bless This House, and the following year played Thomas Woolner in The Love School.
In 1974, Hunt appeared in the Upstairs, Downstairs episode "Missing Believed Killed" as Trooper Norton, batman to James Bellamy. The character was a minor one; however, his performance led producers John Hawkesworth and Alfred Shaughnessy to ask him to come back as a regular for the fifth series in 1975. Hunt continued playing Frederick Norton, who had by now become the footman, until the eleventh episode of the fifth series, "Alberto".
In 1975, he made appearances in The Hanged Man, Softly, Softly and Space: 1999.
In 1976, the year after leaving Upstairs, Downstairs, Hunt starred alongside Joanna Lumley and Patrick Macnee in The New Avengers. The show's producers said Hunt was cast because of his part in Upstairs, Downstairs. He played secret agent Mike Gambit and starred in the show until its end after two series in December 1977.
In 1979 he appeared in the films Licensed to Love and Kill, in which he portrayed secret agent Charles Bind, and The World Is Full of Married Men. During the late 1970s and 1980s Hunt made appearances in Sunday Night Thriller, Minder and Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense. He appeared alongside Julia McKenzie in That Beryl Marston...! in 1981, and also in the films Funny Money (1983) and Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984) as well as the children's film Gabrielle and the Doodleman. In 1988 he played many parts in the Pet Shop Boys' film It Couldn't Happen Here.