ANDREW DOWNIEActor Andrew Downie appeared in some of British TV’s most popular shows, including Coronation Street, Dr Who and Upstairs Downstairs.Downie also enjoyed a successful stage career, as well as starring opposite Alec Guinness and John Mills in the 1960’s film Tunes of Glory.Born on 26 May, 1922, and brought up in the tenements of Edinburgh, he showed an early talent for performing, in particular singing, becoming a boy soprano and later a tenor.At the outbreak of the Second World War he was exempted from military service because he worked in the Edinburgh bacteriological laboratory, where he later assisted in trials for a new drug which was to become known as penicillin.In the evenings he joined the Home Guard, patrolling the Forth Bridge. His brother Fraser said Andrew often joked he only had two bullets in his gun to protect the bridge from a German attack.At the end of the war he won a scholarship to study singing at the Royal College of Music.His breakthrough as an actor was at the Edinburgh Festival in a now famous production of The Three Estates by Tyrone Guthrie. Downie was then cast, with his wife Marion, as the romantic leads in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado which were staged on Broadway and in London, as well as being toured in America.With the advent of broadcast television, he was soon a regular face on the small screen in such programmes as The Adventures of Robin Hood, the lead in the medical drama 24 Hour Call and the review show Dig This Rhubarb.Other TV credits included Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em, The Sweeney, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook.His son Fraser said in a tribute to him for The Stage publication, "Andrew’s professionalism and engaging smile endeared him to his professional colleagues. He was known for his broad talent in many fields. A great raconteur, he was always on hand with a witty tale for colleagues, family and friends.He died aged 86 on 15 April, 2009, and was survived by his wife and their two sons.
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