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Peter Howell (actor)
Peter Howell (actor)
Peter Howell (actor)
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Peter Norman Bulmer Howell (25 October 1919 – 20 April 2015) was an English actor. Howell was active in film, television, radio and theatre.[1]

Key Information

Biography

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Early life

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Born in London, England, he was educated at Winchester College and began studying law at Christ Church, Oxford, but left in 1939 after being called up for military service in World War II. He served as a second-lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade, but was invalided out with dysentery during the North Africa Campaign in 1943. Shortly after, he made his professional stage debut with the Old Vic company. His West End plays included The Affair, The Doctor's Dilemma, Little Boxes, and Conduct Unbecoming.[2]

Career

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Howell's most recognised role was as Dr. Peter Harrison in television hospital drama series Emergency Ward 10 from 1958 to 1964, making brief returns to the series in 1966 and for the show's final episode in 1967. He made guest appearances in The Avengers, The Prisoner, Bill Brand, the Doctor Who serial The Mutants and Yes Minister.[3][4] He played the prison governor in the 1979 film Scum.[5][6]

On BBC Radio 4, Howell played Ducem Barr in the episode The General from The Foundation Trilogy during 1973, Saruman in the 1981 adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and had a recurring role as the Right Reverend Cyril Hood, Bishop of Felpersham, in the long-running drama The Archers from 1987 to 2006.[7][3] He also played the role of Sir William Lucas in the 1980 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride & Prejudice, a miniseries also featuring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.[8]

Personal life and death

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Howell married Susan Cheshire in 1957, and they remained together until her death in 1992. They had three daughters, Polly, Tamara and Camilla, and a son, Benji. He was a close friend of fellow actor Sir Ian McKellen, who was godfather to his daughter Tamara.[9][10]

Howell was an active member of the Labour Party who campaigned for a number of social issues. He was also a longtime member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, and opposed their planned 1968–69 England cricket tour of apartheid-era South Africa, which was eventually cancelled. He helped to raise funds for the building of Watermans Arts Centre near his home in Chiswick, west London.[3]

Howell died at Denville Hall, a home for retired actors in Northwood, London, on 20 April 2015 after a short illness, aged 95.[11][12]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1960 Tarzan the Magnificent Dr. Blake
1960 Watch Your Stern Admiral's Secretary
1960 No Kidding Father of Angus
1961 The Hellfire Club William Pitt – Earl of Chatham
1961 Raising the Wind Prof. Lumb
1962 Two Letter Alibi Carlton
1963 Incident at Midnight Inspector Macready
1964 The Devil-Ship Pirates The Vicar
1979 Scum Governor
1984 John Wycliffe: The Morning Star Dr. John Wycliffe
1985 AD Atticus TV Mini-Series, 2 episodes, Uncredited
1987 Bellman and True The Bellman
1993 Shadowlands College President
1994 Princess Caraboo Clerk of the Court
1996 The Innocent Sleep Sir Frank
2004 The Libertine Bishop (final film role)

References

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Peter Howell (actor)

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Peter Norman Bulmer Howell (25 October 1919 – 20 April 2015) was an English actor whose six-decade career featured authoritative roles across stage, screen, radio, and television, most notably as Dr. Peter Harrison in the long-running ITV medical drama Emergency – Ward 10 (1957–1967). Educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he initially studied law before training at RADA, Howell transitioned to acting during wartime service and became a fixture in British theatre, performing with the Old Vic and in West End productions such as The Affair (1961), Conduct Unbecoming (1969), and The Elephant Man (1980). On television, he portrayed characters in series including The Prisoner (1967), Yes, Minister (1982), and Crown Court (1983), while his film credits encompassed the prison governor in Scum (1979) and a bishop in The Libertine (2004); in radio, he voiced Saruman in a 1981 adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and played the Bishop of Felpersham in The Archers (1987–2006). Howell also served on the Equity union committee and advocated for social causes, including opposition to apartheid-linked cricket tours and support for equalizing the age of consent for homosexuals. Married to actress Susan Cheshire from 1957 until her death in 1992, he was survived by their four children.

Early Life and Education

Childhood and Family Origins

Peter Norman Bulmer Howell was born on 25 October 1919 in , , to Owen Howell, a solicitor, and his wife Norah, née Mally. The family maintained financial comfort amid the economic turbulence of , including the , which contrasted with broader societal hardships. Howell grew up with a , Gillian, whose pursuit of provided early familial exposure to . This environment, rooted in a professional middle-class household, fostered initial inclinations toward performance over traditional paths like his father's legal career, though such influences manifested gradually in his youth.

Formal and Initial Career Aspirations

Howell received his secondary education at , a leading English public school renowned for its academic rigor and historical significance. He subsequently matriculated at , in the late 1930s to study , reflecting his initial ambition for a conventional legal career that promised financial stability and social respectability. This choice was driven primarily by paternal expectations, as his father, a solicitor, favored the security of the profession over more uncertain pursuits. Beneath this prescribed path, Howell encountered through familial ties, as his sister Gillian trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), exposing him to the allure of performance. This introduction sowed seeds of divergence from law, contrasting the empirical advantages of his elite education—access to networks and assured prospects—with the volatile and rejection rates endemic to , where success hinges on talent, timing, and persistence rather than credentials alone. Howell's tenure at proved personally dissatisfying, potentially amplifying his receptivity to alternatives beyond rote professional conformity. Such elite schooling, while equipping him with intellectual foundations, underscored a causal reality: privileged origins facilitate exploration of riskier vocations, yet demand individual agency to forgo stability for intrinsic fulfillment.

World War II Service

Peter Howell was commissioned as a second-lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade and deployed to the , where British forces, including rifle regiments, engaged in prolonged against Axis positions from 1941 onward. His unit operated under the challenging conditions of the theater, marked by extreme heat, supply shortages, and high disease prevalence that contributed to attrition rates exceeding combat losses in many phases. In 1943, Howell contracted during operations in , leading to his invalidation from the army; this bacterial infection, often exacerbated by contaminated water and poor sanitation, represented 23.3% of acute intestinal cases in the Africa-Middle East theater from 1942 to 1945, resulting in widespread medical evacuations rather than frontline fatalities. The discharge underscored the empirical toll of non-battle injuries on personnel, with recovery periods frequently extending into civilian life and imposing lasting physical strain from and nutritional deficits common in such outbreaks.

Professional Career

Entry into Acting and Theatre Beginnings

Following his invalidation from in 1943 due to contracted during the campaign, Peter Howell shifted from prospective legal studies—interrupted by wartime —to , prompted by his sister Gillian's enrollment at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). RADA, facing a shortage of male performers amid the Second World War, recruited Howell for supporting roles in its productions, providing his initial exposure to professional stage work without formal training. Howell made his professional theatre debut that same year with the company, relocated to the (now the ) after their original venue was bombed. He appeared in minor roles alongside in productions such as Richard III, marking the start of a career characterized by versatile character parts in classical and contemporary repertory. This entry leveraged wartime exigencies and familial encouragement, enabling Howell to forgo returning to law for a path defined by individual initiative in post-war reconstruction of British theatre. Postwar, Howell left to broaden experience, joining a reconstituted company under director Peter Glenville, where he earned notice as Guildenstern in . His foundational work established a trajectory as a reliable West End presence, spanning over five decades in ensemble roles that underscored adaptability across Shakespearean and modern plays, verifiable through archival production records and contemporary reviews. Involvement with Actors' Equity early in his career further supported his navigation of repertory circuits, prioritizing steady theatrical engagements.

Television Appearances

Howell first achieved widespread recognition on television as Dr. Peter Harrison, a pre-registration house officer, in the ITV hospital drama Emergency – Ward 10, appearing regularly from 1958 to 1964 with subsequent brief returns. The series, broadcast twice weekly and drawing audiences of up to 15 million viewers at its peak in the early 1960s, depicted routine medical emergencies and interpersonal dynamics in a London hospital ward, positioning Howell's character as a steady, unflappable professional amid the era's post-war emphasis on public health narratives in British broadcasting. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Howell frequently portrayed authoritative figures in genre and period dramas. In The Avengers episode "Death at Bargain Prices" (aired 1965), he played Professor Popple, a scholarly expert entangled in espionage intrigue. He appeared as the Professor in The Prisoner episode "The General" (1967), embodying an academic manipulated by experimental education technology in the series' allegorical critique of conformity. In the BBC historical miniseries Elizabeth R (1971), Howell depicted Lord Howard, a key advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, contributing to Glenda Jackson's award-winning portrayal amid the network's push for prestige drama during ITV competition. Howell's science fiction credits included the role of the Investigator, an impartial Earth official probing colonial unrest, in the Doctor Who serial The Mutants (broadcast April-May 1972), where his performance underscored themes of imperialism and environmental decay in the BBC's Third Doctor era. He also guest-starred as the prison governor in an episode of the BBC sitcom Porridge (1974), representing institutional rigidity in the show's depiction of Slade Prison life. Later, in Yes Minister series 3 episode "Equal Opportunities" (1982), Howell played the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, satirizing bureaucratic hierarchies in the acclaimed political comedy. These roles established Howell as a versatile supporting actor suited to authoritative, no-nonsense personas across medical, spy, historical, and satirical formats spanning ITV and BBC productions.

Film Roles

Howell's prominent film role came in (1979), directed by , where he portrayed the borstal Governor, a sanctimonious figure enforcing a regime of ritualized violence and religious hypocrisy within Britain's youth detention system. The film, adapted from Roy Minton's banned 1977 teleplay, exposed empirical failures in reform—such as unchecked staff brutality leading to inmate deaths and suicides, based on real institutional reports—through unflinching depictions that critiqued the system's inefficacy in rehabilitation. Howell's achieved nuanced villainy by conveying the Governor's self-righteous detachment, contributing to the film's acclaim for highlighting causal links between authoritarian overreach and systemic abuse, though detractors argued its graphic content risked glorifying violence and fostering anti-authority sentiments without evidence that such portrayals spurred policy reforms. Initially refused certification by the amid debates over , was released uncut in 1979 after legal challenges, grossing modestly at the box office but attaining cult status and sparking discussions on versus free expression in depicting social ills. Earlier credits included supporting parts in comedies like Watch Your Stern (1960), a , and No Kidding (also 1960), both low-budget Ealing-style productions that emphasized British institutional absurdities without deeper social critique. In Tarzan the Magnificent (1960), Howell appeared amid adventure tropes, contributing to the film's routine reception as escapist fare rather than substantive drama. Later, he featured in Bellman and True (1987), a thriller involving heists and moral ambiguity, and Shadowlands (1993), Richard Attenborough's adaptation of C.S. Lewis's , where his role supported explorations of and loss but received limited notice amid the . Howell concluded his screen work with a minor appearance in The Libertine (), Michael Hoffman's period drama on John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, starring ; the film earned mixed reviews for its hedonistic portrayal of Restoration excess, with box office returns of approximately $10 million worldwide against a $25 million budget, underscoring challenges in adapting libertine themes without alienating audiences. His film contributions overall balanced authoritative antagonists evoking institutional critiques—effective in 's case for mirroring documented reformatory flaws—with risks of reinforcing narratives that prioritize systemic condemnation over verifiable causal analyses of behavioral reform.

Later Stage Work and Retirement

Howell sustained involvement in performance arts into the early 2000s through recitations at the annual Festival, continuing this tradition every summer well into his eighties, which spanned the late 1990s and early 2000s. These engagements reflected a shift toward less physically demanding formats while preserving his commitment to live audience interaction after decades of more rigorous roles. Parallel to these activities, Howell's professional output included his long-running radio portrayal of the Bishop of Felpersham in , from 1987 until 2006, marking one of his final sustained commitments. His last credited film appearance came in 2004 as the Bishop in The Libertine, directed by Laurence Dunmore. Retirement followed these mid-2000s endeavors, after approximately 60 years of active work spanning stage, screen, and radio. This self-paced withdrawal aligned with the inherent physical toll of on an individual then in his mid- to late-eighties, prioritizing sustainability over continued high-volume output amid declining stamina typical of advanced age, rather than any documented industry exclusion or personal ideological factors.

Personal Life

Marriage and Immediate Family

Howell married Susan Cheshire in 1957, and the union endured until her death in 1992. The couple had four children: three daughters named , Tamara, and Camilla, and one son named . These children all outlived Howell, reflecting the durability of the family unit formed during his career. No prior or subsequent marriages are documented in available records.

Broader Interests and Civic Engagement

Howell was a dedicated supporter of Equity, the British actors' , serving on its committee and actively fundraising, including efforts to establish a Thames-side near his home in . He also maintained longstanding membership in the Labour Party, attending constituency meetings and organizing for various social causes, reflecting a commitment to and progressive policies within the and beyond. His interest in penal reform manifested in the role of the governor in the 1979 film , a portrayal motivated by a desire to expose systemic abuses in youth detention facilities, thereby contributing to public discourse on borstal conditions at a time when such institutions faced scrutiny for violence and inadequate oversight. While the film's controversy—stemming from its graphic depiction of institutional brutality—amplified awareness of these issues, leading to broader debates that preceded the eventual phase-out of borstals by the mid-1980s, direct causal links to policy shifts remain unestablished, underscoring the challenges in measuring the tangible impact of cinematic advocacy amid entrenched bureaucratic resistance. During his decade-long portrayal of Dr. Peter Harrison in the television series (1957–1967), Howell received numerous fan letters soliciting personal medical advice, positioning him in an informal advisory capacity despite lacking formal qualifications in care, which illustrated both the reach of media-driven public trust and the inherent limitations of actors influencing specialized domains without expertise. This engagement highlighted potential pitfalls of endorsements in policy-sensitive areas like health, where anecdotal appeals often outpace evidence-based outcomes.

Death and Legacy

Final Years and Health

Following his retirement from screen acting after the role in The Libertine (2004), Howell resided primarily in , , leading a more private existence while occasionally engaging in local arts initiatives, such as fundraising for the Watermans Arts Centre. In later years, he moved to , a care home dedicated to retired professional actors in Northwood, . Howell's health in his final period was marked by frailty, confining him to bed in the lead-up to his death. He passed away peacefully in his sleep on 20 April 2015 at , aged 95. No specific or details were publicly disclosed in contemporary reports.

Posthumous Recognition

Following Howell's death on 20 April 2015, obituaries in highlighted his versatility as a across and screen for over five decades, noting his ability to embody authoritative figures while occasionally achieving prominence in science fiction roles. These accounts emphasized his reliable presence in British television, from medical dramas to historical productions, without overstating broader cultural impact. Similar coverage in local outlets like ChiswickW4.com referenced his long career but focused on personal tributes rather than transformative influence. Sir Ian McKellen, a close friend and godfather to Howell's daughter Tamara, issued a personal tribute on his website, portraying Howell as a committed Labour Party activist appalled by social injustice, including advocacy for gay rights and opposition to apartheid, though these efforts were grounded in personal conviction rather than empirically measurable societal shifts. McKellen recalled Howell's iconic role as Dr. Peter Harrison in , where fans sought medical advice from the character, reflecting Howell's immersive style but also illustrating the limits of fictional portrayals in real-world application—queries often exceeded the actor's expertise, underscoring entertainment's boundaries over practical guidance. While McKellen's account, from a shared progressive worldview, celebrates this activism, conservative commentators have critiqued such actor-led social engagements as performative, with causal effects on policy or culture remaining anecdotal and unquantified beyond niche advocacy circles. Howell's enduring legacy persists primarily within British media fandom, particularly among enthusiasts for his role as John Hudson in "The Caves of Androzani" (1984), where clips and discussions maintain visibility on fan sites and archives. This niche appreciation underscores his in stern authority figures—doctors, bishops, officials—which provided steady work but reinforced stereotypes of rigid establishment archetypes, limiting diversification into more varied characterizations. Empirical data on viewership metrics or citation analyses show confined influence to entertainment history, with no evidence of broader societal reform attributable to his performances; portrayals of institutional power, even in progressive narratives, did not demonstrably alter public behaviors or policies, aligning with critiques that yields symbolic rather than causal outcomes.
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