# Ian Ogilvy

Ian Raymond Ogilvy (born 30 September 1943) is an English actor, playwright and novelist.

## Early life

Ogilvy was born in Woking, Surrey, England, to Francis Fairfield Ogilvy, brother of advertising executive David Ogilvy, and actress Aileen Raymond (who had previously been married to actor John Mills). His grandfather, Francis John Longley Ogilvy, was born in Argentina and a self-taught Gaelic-speaker who was a classics scholar and a failed financial broker. He was educated at Sunningdale School, Eton College, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

## Career
### Return of the Saint

He is best known as the star of the television series Return of the Saint (1978–79), in which he assumed the role of Simon Templar from Roger Moore (1962–69).
The role led to his being considered a leading contender for the role of James Bond in the early 1980s, when Moore announced his intention to leave the role. He never played the part (in part due to Moore's reconsidering his resignation on several occasions), although he did play a Bond-like character in a series of North American TV commercials broadcast in the early 1990s. At least once, in an episode of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, "Dragon's Wing II", he played a Bond-like British agent, complete with white dinner jacket.
He recorded a series of readings of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels in the early 1980s, which were released on audio cassette by the Listen for Pleasure label.

### Other notable roles

Ogilvy has had an extensive career in the theatre playing leading roles in many London West End productions, including Design for Living, Happy Family, Three Sisters, Rookery Nook by Ben Travers, Run for Your Wife, The Millionairess by Shaw, The Waltz of the Toreadors, and others. He has also worked widely in the American theatre. Among his films, Ogilvy had a major part in the 1970 epic film Waterloo.
He co-starred with Boris Karloff in The Sorcerers (1967); with James Mason, Bobby Darin, and Geraldine Chaplin in Stranger in the House (also 1967); with Vincent Price in Witchfinder General (also known as The Conqueror Worm, 1968); with Tom Courtenay and Candice Bergen in The Day the Fish Came Out (1967): with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn in Death Becomes Her (1992); with Peter Cushing in two films for horror specialists Amicus and with Richard Dreyfuss and Nia Vardalos in My Life in Ruins (2009) – among others.
He was a friend of the film-maker Michael Reeves and starred in all three of Reeves's films: Revenge of the Blood Beast (1966), The Sorcerers and Witchfinder General. He also had a role in the short-lived 1990s American soap opera, Malibu Shores. He has had roles in over one hundred television shows, often appearing as a guest star. He appeared in the television series Upstairs, Downstairs (as Lawrence Kirbridge).
He guest-starred in The Avengers in the 1968 episode "They Keep Killing Steed" as Baron Von Curt, and on the BBC in Somerset Maugham's The Door of Opportunity, opposite Marianne Faithfull.
In 1976, he featured in the pilot episode of the television comedy series Ripping Yarns, co-produced by former Monty Python members Michael Palin and Terry Jones. He also appeared in I, Claudius (1976, as Drusus), and guest-starred in 6 episodes of Murder, She Wrote and 4 episodes of Diagnosis Murder. He appeared as Edgar Linton in a film version of Wuthering Heights (1970) and as Owen Gereth in BBC dramatisation of The Spoils of Poynton (also 1970).
In the 1990s, he guest-starred in the American television series Babylon 5, in the episode "In the Kingdom of the Blind" (1998). The series' star, Bruce Boxleitner, is the former husband of Ogilvy's second wife, actress Kathryn Holcomb. A couple of years after Kathryn's divorce from Bruce Boxleitner, she introduced actress Melissa Gilbert to him, and they were married from 1995 to 2011. In 2000 he guest starred in Dharma and Greg series, Season 3 Episode 15, "The trouble with troubadours", as the sarcastic British hotel night manager.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1979 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

### Writing career

Ogilvy is also a playwright and novelist, currently working on a series of children's books: Measle and the Wrathmonk, Measle and the Dragodon, Measle and the Mallockee, Measle and the Slitherghoul, and Measle and the Doompit. The books have been translated into at least 15 languages.
He has written and published two novels – Loose Chippings and The Polkerton Giant – and two plays: A Slight Hangover and Swap!, which ran in Poland in its third successful year. His memoir, Once a Saint, was published by Little Brown/Constable, in May 2016.
His book of film reviews, Withering Slights, based on his Facebook page, was published by Spiteful Puppet in 2020.

## Personal life

Ogilvy was married to Diane Hart from 1968 to 1983; they had one child. He married Kathryn Holcomb in 1992, and later became a naturalised United States citizen.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1966 | The She Beast | Philip | |
| 1967 | Stranger in the House | Desmond Flower | |
| 1967 | The Sorcerers | Mike Roscoe | |
| 1967 | The Day the Fish Came Out | Peter | |
| 1968 | Witchfinder General | Richard Marshall | |
| 1970 | Wuthering Heights | Edgar Linton | |
| 1970 | The Invincible Six | Ronald | |
| 1970 | Waterloo | William Howe De Lancey | |
| 1973 | No Sex Please, We're British | David Hunter | |
| 1973 | And Now the Screaming Starts! | Charles Fengriffen | |
| 1974 | From Beyond the Grave | William Seaton | |
| 1988 | Maigret | Daniel Portman | |
| 1992 | Invasion of Privacy | Brian | |
| 1992 | Eddie Presley | Captain Starch | |
| 1992 | Death Becomes Her | Chagall | |
| 1994 | Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter | Jennings | |
| 1996 | The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson | Gary | |
| 1999 | Fugitive Mind | Dr. Grace | |
| 2007 | After Midnight | Dennis | |
| 2009 | My Life in Ruins | Stewart Tullen | |
| 2014 | We Still Kill the Old Way | Richie Archer | |
| 2016 | We Still Steal the Old Way | Richie Archer | |
| 2017 | The Saint | Xander, The Fixer | |
| 2018 | Mistrust | Ian | Cameo |
| 2022 | Renegades | Major Frederick Peck | |
| TBA | Cold Sun | Sir Peter Bromville | Pre-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1964 | ITV Play of the Week | Tom Olliphant | Episode: "Celebration Dinner" |
| 1964 | The Hidden Truth | David Easton | Episode: "Sweets to the Sweet" |
| 1965 | Theatre 625 | Franz | Episode: "Ironhand" |
| 1965 | The Man in Room 17 | Pedro Da Silva | Episode: "Safe Conduct" |
| 1966 | The Liars | Rupert | All 13 episodes |
| 1966 | The Wednesday Play | Viscount Ballantyne | Episode: "The Connoisseur" |
| 1966 | Orlando | Moz | 5 episodes |
| 1967 | Half Hour Story | Ed | Episode: "What Will You Do About Christmas?" |
| 1967 | Boy Meets Girl | André | Episode: "Goodnight Pelican" |
| 1967 | ITV Playhouse | Lord Windermere | Episode: "Lady Windermere's Fan" |
| 1968 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | Peter | Episode: "Child's Play" |
| 1968 | Detective | Inspector Appleby | Episode: "Lesson in Anatomy" |
| 1968 | The Avengers | Baron Von Curt | Episode: "They Keep Killing Steed" |
| 1969 | Out of the Unknown | Herbie | Episode: "Liar!" |
| 1969 | Armchair Theatre | David Baurmarez-Smith | Episode: "The Brophy Story" |
| 1969 | Strange Report | Toby | Episode: "Report 2493: Kidnap - Whose Pretty Girl Are You?" |
| 1970 | The Wednesday Play | Sam | Episode: "Wine of India" |
| 1970 | The Spoils of Poynton | Owen Gereth | All 4 episodes |
| 1970 | W. Somerset Maugham | Alban Torel | Episode: "The Door of Opportunity" |
| 1970 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | Prince of Egypt | Episode: "Helen" |
| 1971 | Seasons of the Year | Hector Robinson | Episode: "English Family Robinson" |
| 1972 | Man of Straw | Wolfgang Buck | 3 episodes |
| 1972 | Upstairs, Downstairs | Lawrence Kirbridge | 6 episodes |
| 1972 | BBC Play of the Month | Arthur Gower | Episode: "Trelawny of the Wells" |
| 1973 | BBC Play of the Month | Candide | Episode: "Candide" |
| 1973 | Armchair 30 | The Man | Episode: "Alfred Potter's Story" |
| 1974 | Zodiac | Martin Seacombe | Episode: "Saturn's Rewards" |
| 1974 | The Haggard Falcon | Dominic Allardyce | All 4 episodes |
| 1974 | Affairs of the Heart | Morris Townsend | Episode: "Catherine" |
| 1974 | The Gathering Storm | Edward VIII | TV film |
| 1975 | A Man in the Zoo | John Cromartie | TV film |
| 1975 | Comedy Premiere | Nigel Benson | Episode: "For Richer for Poorer" |
| 1975 | BBC Play of the Month | Rev. Gavin Dishart | Episode: "The Little Minister" |
| 1975 | Moll Flanders | Humphrey Oliver | TV film |
| 1976 | Ripping Yarns | Grayson | Episode: "Tomkinson's Schooldays" |
| 1976 | I, Claudius | Drusus | 2 episodes |
| 1978 | BBC Play of the Month | Thomas Aimwell | Episode: "The Beaux Stratagem" |
| 1978–1979 | Return of the Saint | Simon Templar | 24 episodes |
| 1982 | Q.E.D. | Lord Sidney Sarandon | Episode: "Infernal Device" |
| 1982–1983 | Tom, Dick and Harriet | Richard Maddison | 12 episodes |
| 1985 | Anna Karenina | Stiva | TV film |
| 1985 | Time for Murder | Max Donaldson | Episode: "Mister Clay, Mister Clay" |
| 1986 | The Two Ronnies | James Pommfrit | Episode: #12.5 |
| 1986 | Robin of Sherwood | Lord Edgar | Episode: "Rutterkin" |
| 1986 | Maggie | Denholm Sinclair | TV film |
| 1988 | Menace Unseen | Duncan Free | All 3 episodes |
| 1988 | Maigret | Daniel Portman | TV film |
| 1989 | Murder, She Wrote | Harold Baines | Episode: "Appointment in Athens" |
| 1990 | Campion | Jimmy Sutane | 2 episodes |
| 1990 | B.L. Stryker | Jason Stone | Episode: "Grand Theft Hotel" |
| 1990–1991 | Generations | Reginald Hewitt | 52 episodes |
| 1990 | Murder, She Wrote | Peter Baines | Episode: "The Sicilian Encounter" |
| 1990 | Over My Dead Body | Inspector Miles Cottrell | Episode: "A Passing Inspection" |
| 1991 | P.S. I Luv U | Archibald Bond | Episode: "Smile, You're Dead" |
| 1992 | Murder, She Wrote | Peter Templeton | Episode: "The Monte Carlo Murders" |
| 1992 | Carol Leifer: Gaudy, Bawdy & Blue | Interviewer | TV film |
| 1993 | It Had to Be You | Colin | Episode: "London Calling" |
| 1993 | Murder, She Wrote | Lawson Childress | Episode: "Murder in White" |
| 1994 | The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. | Furlong | Episode: "Bounty Hunters' Convention" |
| 1994 | Burke's Law | Romeo | Episode: "Who Killed Romeo?" |
| 1994 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Shredder Stonham | Episode: "Rampage" |
| 1994 | Phenom | Poindexter Bond | Episode: "Just a Family of Doolans Sittin' Around Talkin'" |
| 1994 | Kung Fu: The Legend Continues | Sterling | Episode: "Dragonswing II" |
| 1994 | Murder, She Wrote | Wade Foster | Episode: "Murder of the Month Club" |
| 1996 | Hope & Gloria | David Kirkwood | Episode: "A Sentimental Education" |
| 1996 | The Faculty | Marion | Episode: "Opportunity Knockers" |
| 1996 | Malibu Shores | Marc Delacourt | 7 episodes |
| 1996 | The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest | Dr. Smallwood | Episode: "Village of the Doomed" |
| 1997 | Murphy Brown | Duncan Briggs | Episode: "How to Marry a Billionaire" |
| 1997 | Caroline in the City | Lionel Spencer | 2 episodes |
| 1997 | JAG | Jeffrey Mason | Episode: "The Good of the Service" |
| 1998 | Babylon 5 | Lord Jano | Episode: "In the Kingdom of the Blind" |
| 1998 | Early Edition | Clive Harbison | Episode: "Show Me the Monet" |
| 1999 | Love Boat: The Next Wave | Jack Campbell | Episode: "Other People's Business" |
| 1999 | Melrose Place | Leo Turnlow | Episode: "Saving Ryan's Privates" |
| 1999 | Baywatch | Miles Clayton | Episode: "Water Dance" |
| 1999 | Diagnosis Murder | Jerry Lane | 2 episodes |
| 1999 | Horse Sense | Miles | TV film |
| 2000 | Dharma & Greg | Geoffrey | Episode: "The Trouble with Troubador" |
| 2002 | The Parkers | Seymour | Episode: "And the Winner Is..." |
| 2010 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Johnny Restarick | Episode: "They Do It with Mirrors" |