# Norman Rodway

Norman John Frank Rodway (7 February 1929 – 13 March 2001) was an Anglo-Irish actor.

## Early life

Rodway was born at the family home, Elsinore (named after the castle where Shakespeare's Hamlet is set), on Coliemore Road, Dalkey, Dublin, to Lillian Sybil (née Moyles) and Frank Rodway, who ran a shipping agency. His parents were English, and had moved to Dublin two years before he was born because his father had been posted there for work. He was educated at St Andrew's Church of Ireland National School and the High School, then studied at Trinity College Dublin, where he was elected a Scholar in classics in 1948. He worked as an accountant, teacher, and lecturer in Latin and Greek at Trinity before acting.

## Career

He made his stage debut in May 1953 at the Cork Opera House. There, he portrayed General Mannion in The Seventh Step. He made his first appearance in London's West End in 1959, as The Messenger in Cock-A-Doodle Dandy, and moved to England the following year. In 1962, he portrayed the young James Joyce in Stephen D, based on Joyce's writings. Rodway joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966. His theatrical parts included Bassov in Summerfolk, and the title roles in Butley and Richard III.
Although he was primarily a stage actor, he also performed in radio, television and film productions. With his expressive voice (described by Jack Adrian as "rich and dark and thumpingly Celtic"), he made many radio broadcasts for the BBC. Major television roles included Cummings in Reilly, Ace of Spies, and Charles Brett in The Bretts. He also appeared in series such as Miss Marple, Rumpole of the Bailey and Inspector Morse. He acted with Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight (1965) and I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), and with Patrick McGoohan in an episode of Danger Man, "The Man Who Wouldn't Talk". He often acted as the villain, including Adolf Hitler in The Empty Mirror (1999). He played the role of Apemantus in both television and audiobook productions of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens.

## Personal life

He was married four times. His first wife was actress Pauline Delaney, and his second was casting director Mary Selway. He was stepfather to Tara FitzGerald by his third marriage to Sarah Callaby (née Fitzgerald); Rodway and Callaby had a daughter, Bianca. He was married to Jane Rodway from 1991 to his death.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1959 | This Other Eden | Conor Heaphy | |
| 1961 | Johnny Nobody | Father Healey | |
| 1961 | Murder in Eden | Michael Lucas | |
| 1961 | A Question of Suspense | Frank Brigstock | |
| 1962 | The Webster Boy | Donald Saunders | |
| 1962 | Ambush in Leopard Street | Kegs | |
| 1962 | The Devil's Agent | Machine Gunner at border | Uncredited |
| 1962 | The Quare Fellow | Lavery | |
| 1965 | Four in the Morning | Husband | |
| 1965 | Chimes at Midnight | Henry 'Hotspur' Percy | |
| 1967 | The Penthouse | Dick | |
| 1967 | I'll Never Forget What's'isname | Nicholas | |
| 1975 | The Hiding Place | Van Der Veen | |
| 1976 | The Story of David | Joab | TV movie |
| 1981 | Dragonslayer | Greil | Dub only |
| 1981 | John Bunyan | The Preacher | |
| 1982 | Who Dares Wins | Ryan | |
| 1985 | Coming Through | William Hopkin | TV film |
| 1986 | Tai-Pan | Aristotle Quance | |
| 1990 | King of the Wind | Capt. 'Blueskin' Blake | |
| 1996 | Mother Night | Werner Noth | |
| 1996 | The Empty Mirror | Adolf Hitler | |
| 2000 | County Kilburn | Mr. Bollox | |
| 2001 | A. Hitler | Hitler | (final film role) |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1963 | Sergeant Cork | John D'Arcy | Episode: "The Case of the Fenian Men" |
| 1964 | The Massingham Affair | Mr. Gilmore | 4 episodes |
| 1965 | The Sullavan Brothers | Father Blaise | 1 episode |
| 1973 | The Protectors | Colin Grant | Episode: "For the Rest of Your Natural..." |
| 1976 | Thriller | Peter Ingram | Episode: "A Midsummer Nightmare" |
| 1976 | The Sweeney | Philip Edmunds | Episode: "Lady Luck" |
| 1978 | Out | Det. Insp. Bryce | 5 episodes |
| 1981 | BBC Television Shakespeare | Apemantus | Episode: "Timon of Athens" |
| 1983 | Reilly: Ace of Spies | Cummings | 10 episodes |
| 1984 | Cockles | Jacques du Bois | 6 episodes |
| 1987–1989 | The Bretts | Charles | 19 episodes |
| 1988 | Rumpole of the Bailey | Morry Machin | Episode: "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation" |
| 1989 | Inspector Morse | Roland Marshall | Episode: "Deceived by Flight" |
| 1993 | Jeeves and Wooster | Major Plank | Episode: "Totleigh Towers (or, Trouble at Totleigh Towers)" |
| 1998 | As Time Goes By | James | Episode: "An Old Flame" |

## Sources

* Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television (vol. 26), 2000
* Who’s Who in Theatre, 1981

## Footnotes

* ↑ "From 'Reilly Ace of Spies' to Shakespeare". The Irish Times.
* ↑ "Norman Rodway". BFI. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019.
* ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Timon of Athens (1981)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
* ↑ "Norman Rodway". 10 May 2001 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
* ↑ Barker, Dennis (17 March 2001). "Obituary: Norman Rodway". The Guardian.