Colin Gordon

Colin Gordon (27 April 1911 – 4 October 1972) was a British actor born in Ceylon.
Biography
He was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church, Oxford. He made his first West End appearance in 1934 as the hind legs of a horse in a production of Toad of Toad Hall. From 1936 to 1939 he was a director with the Fred Melville Repertory Company in Brixton. He served in the army during the Second World War for six years.
Career
Gordon had a long career in British cinema and television from the 1940s to the 1970s, often playing government officials. His films include The Pink Panther and Casino Royale (both with Peter Sellers, alongside whom he made five films). In the ITC series The Prisoner (1967) he portrayed Number Two twice, in "A. B. and C." and later in "The General".
Gordon was a regular in another ITC production, The Baron, playing civil servant Templeton-Green opposite Steve Forrest. He also starred in The Invisible Man (1958 TV series) episode "Play to Kill", (series 1, episode 6, 1959); was the host and occasional narrator of the 1969 London Weekend Television series The Complete and Utter History of Britain, (which arose from a pre-Monty Python collaboration between Michael Palin and Terry Jones); and was the airport commandant in the 1967 Doctor Who story The Faceless Ones. He was also in Bachelor Father and made two notable guest appearances in Steptoe and Son, once in "The Holiday" and again in the 1972 episode "Live Now, P.A.Y.E Later" as a tax inspector whom Harold and Albert manage to get drunk when he calls with a query about the old man's income tax return. In 1961 he appeared as the doctor in "The Lift" episode of Hancock's Half Hour. In 1970 he appeared in the UFO episode "The Cat with Ten Lives". He also appeared as Walpole Gibb in the ATV/ITC series Hine in 1971.
Selected filmography
Jim the Penman (1947) as Roberts
Bond Street (1948) as Clerk in Travel Agency
The Winslow Boy (1948) (uncredited)
It's Hard to Be Good (1948) as Neighbour with Baby (uncredited)
Edward, My Son (1949) as Ellerby
Helter Skelter (1949) as Chadbeater Longwick
Golden Arrow (1949) as Connelly
Traveller's Joy (1949) as Tom Wright
The Third Visitor (1951) as Bill Millington
The Long Dark Hall (1951) as Pound
Circle of Danger (1951) as Col. Fairbairn
Laughter in Paradise (1951) as Station Constable
The Man in the White Suit (1951) as Hill
The Lady with a Lamp (1951)
Green Grow the Rushes (1951) as Roderick Fisherwick
Mandy (1952) as Woollard (Junior)
The Hour of 13 (1952) as MacStreet
Folly to Be Wise (1952) as Prof. James Mutch
Grand National Night (1953) as Buns Darling
Innocents in Paris (1953) as Customs Officer
The Heart of the Matter (1953) as Secretary (uncredited)
Up to His Neck (1955) as Lt. Cmdr. Sterning
Little Red Monkey (1955) as Harry Martin, reporter
John and Julie (1955) as Mr. Swayne
Escapade (1955) as Deeson, reporter
Jumping for Joy (1956) as Max, 1st Commentator
Keep It Clean (1956) as Peter, Marquess of Hurlingford
The Green Man (1956) as Reginald Willoughby-Cruft
A Touch of the Sun (1956) as Cecil Flick
Up in the World (1956) as Fletcher Hetherington
The Extra Day (1956) as Sir George Howard
The Key Man (1957) as Larry Parr
The One That Got Away (1957) as Army Interrogator
The Safecracker (1958) as Dakers
Virgin Island (US: Our Virgin Island, 1958) as The Commissioner
The Doctor's Dilemma (1958) as Newspaper Man
The Crowning Touch (1959) as Stacey
Alive and Kicking (1959) as Bird Watcher
The Mouse That Roared (1959) as BBC Announcer
Bobbikins (1959) as Dr. Phillips
Please Turn Over (1959) as Maurice
Carry On Constable (1960) (uncredited)
The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960) as Benge
The Big Day (1960) as George Baker
Make Mine Mink (1960) (uncredited)
His and Hers (1961) as TV Announcer
Seven Keys (1961) as Mr. Barber
House of Mystery (1961) as Burdon
Very Important Person (1961) as Briggs
Don't Bother to Knock (1961) as Rolsom
Three on a Spree (1961) as Mitchell
Crooks Anonymous (1962) as Drunk
Night of the Eagle (1962) as Lindsay Carr
Strongroom (1962) as Mr. Spencer
In the Doghouse (1962) as Dean
The Devil's Agent (1962) as Count Dezsepalvy
The Boys (1962) as Gordon Lonsdale
The Running Man (1963) as Solicitor
Heavens Above! (1963) as Prime Minister
Bitter Harvest (1963) as Charles
The Pink Panther (1963) as Tucker
The Counterfeit Constable (1964) as Le dentiste W. Martin
The Liquidator (1965) as Vicar
The Psychopath (1966) as Dr. Glyn
The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) as Noakes
The Trygon Factor (1966) as Dice
The Family Way (1966) as Mr. Hutton
Casino Royale (1967) as Casino Director
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968) as Mr. Hartford
Subterfuge (1968) as Kitteridge
Mischief (1969) as Mr. Crawford
The Body Beneath (1970) as Graham Ford
References
External links
1911 births
1972 deaths
English male film actors
English male television actors
People educated at Marlborough College
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
20th-century English male actors
British Army personnel of World War II
British expatriates in British Ceylon