John Thaw

John Edward Thaw (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor in television, stage and cinema, best known for his television roles starring as Detective Inspector Jack Regan in The Sweeney (1975—78) and as Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse in Inspector Morse (1987—2000).

For four consecutive years Thaw was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for playing Morse, winning in 1990 and 1993.[1] In 1988, he was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film Cry Freedom and in 2001 was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship.[2]

Early life

Born in Gorton, Manchester, to John Edward ("Jack") Thaw, a tool-setter at the Fairey Aviation Company aircraft factory, later a long-distance lorry driver, and Dorothy (née Ablott).[3] Dorothy left when he was seven years old. He and his younger brother, Raymond Stuart (Ray) had a difficult childhood due to their father's long absences. Thaw grew up in Gorton and Burnage, attending the Ducie Technical High School for Boys, gaining just one O-Level. He entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at the age of 16 (two years underage), and won the Academy's Vanburgh Award.[4][5] Ray emigrated to Australia in the mid-1960s.[6]

Career

In 1960, Thaw made his stage début in A Shred of Evidence at the Liverpool Playhouse and was awarded a contract with the theatre. His first film role was a bit part in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) starring Tom Courtenay and he also acted on stage opposite Laurence Olivier in Semi-Detached (1962). In 1963/64, he appeared in several episodes of the BBC series Z-Cars as a detective constable. Between 1964 and 1966, he starred in two series of the ABC Weekend Television/ITV production Redcap, playing the hard-nosed military policeman Sergeant John Mann. He was also a guest star in an early episode of The Avengers. In 1967 he appeared in Bat Out of Hell and in the Granada TV/ITV series, Inheritance, alongside James Bolam and Michael Goodliffe; TV plays including The Talking Head, and episodes of series such as Budgie, where he played against type as an effeminate failed playwright with a full beard and a Welsh accent.[citation needed]

Thaw was cast in the police drama series The Sweeney (1975–1978) alongside Dennis Waterman and Garfield Morgan, playing the hard-bitten, tough-talking Flying Squad detective Jack Regan. It established him as a major star in the United Kingdom. He followed this with the sitcom Home to Roost (1985–1990), which co-starred Reece Dinsdale, about a divorced father whose teenage son moves back in with him after choosing as a child to live with his mother. The show ran for four series.

Thaw's role as Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse in Inspector Morse (1987–93, with later specials until 2000), cemented his fame. Alongside his put-upon Detective Sergeant Robert "Robbie" Lewis (Kevin Whately), Morse became a high-profile character—"a cognitive curmudgeon with his love of classical music, his drinking, his classic Jaguar and spates of melancholy".[7] According to The Guardian, "Thaw was the definitive Morse, grumpy, crossword-fixated, drunk, slightly anti-feminist, and pedantic about grammar."[8] Inspector Morse became one of the UK's most popular TV series; at its peak in the mid-'90s, ratings hit 18 million people, about one third of the British population.[9][10] He won "Most Popular Actor" at the 1999 National Television Awards and won two BAFTA awards for his role as Morse.

He subsequently played liberal working-class Lancastrian barrister James Kavanagh in Kavanagh QC (1995–99, and a special in 2001). Thaw also appeared in two sitcoms—Thick as Thieves (London Weekend/ITV, 1974) with Bob Hoskins and Home to Roost (Yorkshire/ITV, 1985–90). Thaw is mainly known in America for the Morse series, as well as the BBC series A Year in Provence (1993) with Lindsay Duncan.

He appeared in a number of films for director Richard Attenborough, including Cry Freedom, where he portrayed the conservative South African justice minister Jimmy Kruger (for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor), and Chaplin where he played the English music hall impresario Fred Karno alongside Robert Downey Jr. (Chaplin).[11]

Thaw also appeared in the TV adaptation of the Michelle Magorian book Goodnight Mister Tom (Carlton Television/ITV). It won "Most Popular Drama" at the National Television Awards, 1999.[12]

During the 1970s and 1980s, Thaw appeared in productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre.[13][14]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1981 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the foyer of the National Theatre in London.[citation needed]

Personal life

In 1964, Thaw married Sally Alexander,[15] a feminist activist and stage manager, later professor of history at Goldsmiths, University of London. They divorced four years later.[16] He met actress Sheila Hancock in 1969 on the set of So What About Love?[17] She was married to fellow actor Alexander "Alec" Ross. They became friends, but she refused to have an affair as she did not want to disrupt her daughter's life.[17] Following the death of her husband (from oesophageal cancer) in 1971, Thaw and Hancock married on 24 December 1973 in Cirencester.[17][18] They remained together until his death in 2002 (also from oesophageal cancer).[19]

He had three daughters (all actresses): Abigail from his first marriage to Sally Alexander, Joanna from his second marriage to Sheila Hancock, and he also adopted Sheila Hancock's daughter Melanie Jane, from Hancock's first marriage to Alec Ross.[16][20] His granddaughter Molly Whitmey made a cameo in the Endeavour episode Oracle (series 7, episode 1, broadcast 9 February 2020) as the younger version of her grandmother Sally Alexander.[21]

Thaw was a committed socialist[22] and a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party.[23] He was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in March 1993 by Queen Elizabeth II.[24] In September 2006, Thaw was voted by the general public as number 3, after David Jason and Morecambe and Wise, in a poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars for the past 50 years.[25]

Illness and death

A heavy drinker until going teetotal in 1995,[17] and a heavy smoker from the age of 12,[20] Thaw was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in June 2001.[26][27] He underwent chemotherapy in hope of overcoming the illness, and at first had appeared to respond well to the treatment. However, just before Christmas 2001 he was informed that the cancer had spread and the prognosis was terminal.[28]

He died on 21 February 2002,[20] seven weeks after his 60th birthday, the day after he signed a new contract with ITV,[29] and the day before his wife's birthday. At the time of his death he was living at his country home, near the villages of Luckington and Sherston in Wiltshire,[30] and was cremated in Westerleigh, near Yate in South Gloucestershire, in a private service.[31] A memorial service was held on 4 September 2002 at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, attended by 800 people including Charles, Prince of Wales, Richard Attenborough, Tom Courtenay and Cherie Blair.[32]

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1961 The Younger Generation Customer / Max / Edward / Charlie / Peter / Denny / Martin
1961-1964 ITV Play of the Week Various 3 episodes
1962 Probation Officer Stan Liddell 1 episode
Smashing Day Stan TV film
Nil Carborundum ACI Neville Harrison
1963 BBC Sunday-Night Play Charlie Episode: "So Long Charlie"
ITV Television Playhouse Barritt Episode: "The Lads"
Z Cars Detective Constable Elliot 4 episodes
1963–1965 The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theater Alan Roper / David Jones "Five to One" / "Dead Man's Chest"
1964 The Avengers Captain Trench Episode: "Espirit De Corps"
1964–1966 Redcap Sergeant John Mann 2 series
1966 Bat Out of Hell Mark Paxton 5 episodes
Drama 61-67 Harry Fox Episode: "The Assassin at the Door"
1966-

1973

BBC Play of the Month Various 3 episodes
1967 Inheritance Will Oldroyd Miniseries
1969 The Borderers Sir Richard Episode: "Dispossesed"
Strange Report Inspector Jenner Episode: "Revenge - When a Man Hates"
1969-1973 ITV Saturday Night Theatre Various 4 episodes
1971 ITV Sunday Night Drama Him Episode: "Turn of the Year: Parcel"
Budgie Denzil Davies Episode: "Sunset Mansions, or Whatever Happened to Janey-Baib?"
The Onedin Line Carby Episode: "Mutiny"
1971-1972 Armchair Theatre Tony/Peter 2 episodes
1972 Pretenders Fast Jack Episode: "The Paymaster"
The Frighteners Wood Episode: "Old Comrades"
ITV Playhouse Williams Episode: "Refuge for a Hero"
The Adventures of Black Beauty Jack Desmond Episode: "The Hostage"
1973 The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Lt. Holst Episode: "The Sensible Action of Lieutenant Holst"
The Protectors Mario Carpiano Episode: "Lena"
1974 Armchair Cinema DI Jack Regan Episode: "Regan"
Thick As Thieves Stan
The Capone Investment Tom
1975–1978 The Sweeney Det. Insp. Jack Regan
1976 The Morecambe & Wise Show Guvnor Christmas special
1978 Play for Today Dinny Matthews Episode: Dinner at the Sporting Club
1980 Drake's Venture Francis Drake TV film
1984 Killer Waiting Major Peter Hastings
Mitch Mitch
BBC Television Shakespeare Hubert de Burgh Episode: The Life and Death of King John
1985–1990 Home to Roost Henry Willows 4 series
1987–2000 Inspector Morse Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse 33 television films
1987 The Return of Sherlock Holmes Jonathan Small Episode: The Sign of Four
1989 Bomber Harris Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris TV film
1991 Stanley and the Women Stanley Duke Miniseries
1992 A Year in Provence Peter Mayle
1995 Screen One George Jones Episode: "The Absence of War"
1995–2001 Kavanagh QC James Kavanagh, Q.C. 6 series
1998 Goodnight Mister Tom Tom Oakley TV film
1999 Plastic Man Joe McConnell
The Second World War in Colour Narrator Documentary
2000 Monsignor Renard Monsignor Augustine Renard Miniseries
2001 The Glass Jim Proctor

Film

Year Title Roles
1962 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Bosworth (uncredited)
1963 Five To One Alan Roper
1965 Dead Man's Chest David Jones
1968 The Bofors Gun Featherstone
1970 Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition Dom
The Last Grenade Terry Mitchell
1972 Dr. Phibes Rises Again Shavers
1977 Sweeney! Detective Inspector Jack Regan
1978 Sweeney 2
1981 Killing Heat Dick Turner
1987 Cry Freedom Jimmy Kruger
1988 Business As Usual Kieran Flynn
1992 Chaplin Fred Karno
1996 Masculine Mescaline The Man

Theatre

Year Title Role Notes
1958 Cymbeline
As You Like It
The Cherry Orchard
Pillars of Society
The Taming of the Shrew
A Winter's Tale
The Lady's Not For Burning
Twelfth Night
Macbeth
1959 Hobson's Choice
Paradise Lost
Antigone
Alcestis
Faust
1960 The Knight of the Burning Pestle (press night) Michael Open Air Theatre, Avonbank Gardens, Stratford-upon-Avon
A Shred of Evidence
The Wind and the Rain John Williams Liverpool Playhouse
Staircase
1961 The Fires Raisers
Chips With Everything
Two into One
1964 The Father
1962 Women Beware Women (press night) Sordido New Arts Theatre
1962-1963 Semi-Detached Robert Freeman Saville Theatre
1967 Around the World in 80 Days
Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs
1969 So What About Love? Dicky Criterion Theatre
1970 Random Happenings in the Hebrides
1971 The Lady from the Sea A Stranger Greenwich Theatre
1972 Chinamen
The New Quixote
Black and Silver
The Two of Us
1973 Collaborators
1976 Absurd Person Singular
1977 The Two of Us
1978-1980 Night and Day Dick Wagner Phoenix Theatre, London
1981 Serjeant Musgrave's Dance Serjeant Musgrave National Theatre – Dorfman, National Theatre, London
1982-1983 Henry VIII Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-Upon-Avon
1983 The Time of Your Life (press night) Nick The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Twelfth Night (press night) Sir Toby Belch Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Henry VIII (press night) Cardinal Wolseley Theatre Royal, Newcastle
1984 Twelfth Night (press night) Sir Toby Belch Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne
The Time of Your Life (press night) Nick Gulbenkian Studio, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Pit, London
Henry VIII (press night) Cardinal Wolseley Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne
Pygmalion Alfred Doolittle Shaftesbury Theatre
1985 Where There's a Will (press night) Barbican Theater
1986 Two into One
1988 All My Sons
1993-1994 The Absence of War Right Hon. George Jones MP National Theatre, London
2001 Peter Pan

Honours and awards

Year Award Category Work Result
1977 Evening Standard British Film Award Best Actor Sweeney! Won
1988 BAFTA Best Actor in a Supporting Role Cry Freedom Nominated
1990 BAFTA TV Best Actor Inspector Morse Won
1991 Nominated
1992 Nominated
1993 Won
1995 Aftonbladet TV Prize, Sweden Best Foreign TV Personality – Male (Bästa utländska man) Won
1998 National Television Award Special Recognition Award Inspector Morse Won
Most Popular Actor Won
1999 Goodnight, Mister Tom Won
2000 Monsignor Renard Nominated
2001 Inspector Morse and Academy Fellowship Won
2002 Buried Treasure Nominated

In 1994, Thaw was awarded with CBE. A memorial bench is dedicated to Thaw within the grounds of St Paul's Covent Garden.[33]

References

  1. ^ "Actor". Bafta. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
  2. ^ "Awards Search". Bafta. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
  3. ^ "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/76933. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ ""Inspector remorse; Thaw's pain over lost childhood.." The Free Library. 1998 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday". The Free Library. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  5. ^ "John Thaw - Obituary". The Scotsman. 25 February 2002. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  6. ^ Dibben, Kay (10 March 2002), "Mother's rejection that haunted my brother John Thaw – Brisbane man tells of family heartache", The Sunday Mail
  7. ^ "John Thaw: Forever Morse". BBC News. 21 February 2002. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  8. ^ "No one else should play Inspector Morse, says his creator Colin Dexter". The Guardian. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  9. ^ McCann, Jaymi (22 October 2017). "Inspector Morse's legacy: John Thaw's daughter makes Endeavour appearance". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Great Britain population mid-year estimate – Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  11. ^ McCarthy, Todd. "Chaplin". Variety. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  12. ^ Goodnight Mister Tom synopsis Archived 24 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine. ITV. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  13. ^ "Twelfth Night (1983)". University of Warwick. 2016. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  14. ^ Young, Hugo (28 September 1993). "Hugo Young: the lethargy of Labour in the absence of war". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  15. ^ Shut It!
  16. ^ a b McGowan, Bob; Avery, Catherine (22 September 2002). "Mystery of John Thaw fortune". Express on Sunday.
  17. ^ a b c d Driscoll, Margarette (19 December 2004). "The Morse Saga – Interview". The Sunday Times.
  18. ^ Lee, David (22 February 2002). "Friends' tribute to Morse star Thaw". The Scotsman.
  19. ^ Guinness, Daphne (11 November 2004). "Morse: More Sad, More Angry Than You Ever Knew". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  20. ^ a b c "John Thaw – Obituary". The Times. 23 February 2002.
  21. ^ "It's a family affair: John Thaw's daughter Abigail stars in Endeavour's new series 7 with daughter Molly playing her mother Sally..." Ox In A Box. 4 February 2020.
  22. ^ "John Thaw: Forever Morse". BBC News. 21 February 2002.
  23. ^ Sengupta, Kim (5 September 2002). "Prince and Cherie Booth at Thaw memorial". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022.
  24. ^ "No Mystery Here". The Buffalo News. 19 March 1993.
  25. ^ "Who dares WINS, Rodders! – David Greatest TV Star for 50 Years". News of the World. 10 September 2006.
  26. ^ "John Thaw Has Throat Cancer". London Evening Standard. 19 June 2001.
  27. ^ "John Thaw Pledges Comeback as He Reveals Cancer Battle". The Guardian. 20 June 2001.
  28. ^ "Thaw's Cancer Setback". Herald Sun. 6 January 2002.
  29. ^ "Thaw signed new contract". Wales on Sunday. 7 April 2002. Archived from the original on 24 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via The Free Library.
  30. ^ "Sold Down the River". Western Daily Press. 19 April 2006.
  31. ^ Cowling, James (27 February 2002). "Actor Thaw Remembered for 'Generosity and Kindness'". Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Counties Publications.
  32. ^ "Charles joins Thaw memorial". BBC News. 4 September 2002.
  33. ^ "London's Famous Bench Dedications". Londonist.com. 21 October 2016. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.

Bibliography

  • Hancock, Sheila (2004). The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-7020-2
  • John Thaw: The Biography. Stafford Hildred and Tim Ewbank. London: Andre Deutsch. ISBN 0-233-99475-0