PETER COPLEYPeter Copley, who died on 7 October, 2008, aged 93, was a British character actor recognisable from more than 100 appearances on television.He was also a respected stage actor with a lifetime of theatre performances and he made several dozen films with roles ranging from vicars to villains.In 1932 he chose a career treading the boards over one sailing the seas with the Royal Navy and within two years he was landing small parts in films.He also became known in America because of the distribution of spy films like Golden Salamander (1950), Foreign Intrigue (1956) and Victim (1961). He was also in the the Beatles movie Help! (1965). In later life this exposure helped him to be cast in international epics like Speilberg's Empire of the Sun (1987) and Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005).Highlights of his television career included various roles in the The Avengers and The Saint in the 1960s, the first episode of cult sci-fi series Survivors (1975) and the Doctor Who strand Pyramids of Mars (1975).As well as his acting, he was also a part-time lawyer who handled cases in the 1960s. This experience often helped him play figures in the British administration, from doctors, priests and academics to army colonels.He worked consistently on stage and screen into his nineties and in his final role he played an ancient wizard in a television adaptation of Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic (2008).
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