Peter Wyngarde – In Memory Of The Man Who Would Be King [ 1926/1927 – 2018]

January 19, 2018

|In Ian Hendry, 1960s, Peter Wyngarde, The Crossfire (1967), Jeanette Sterke, Eric Portman

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Picture above: Peter Wyngarde, Jeanette Sterke and Ian Hendry – The Crossfire [1967]

Peter Wyngarde

A couple of years ago, I received an email from Tina Hopkins, Peter Wyngarde’s devoted friend and personal assistant.

Peter and Ian worked together back in the 60s, in a television play called The Crossfire which also featured Eric Portman, Jeannette Sterke and Roger Delgado. Set during the Algerian War, it was first broadcast as part of ITV’s Play Of The Week, on 7th February 1967.

And it was that play that first inspired Tina to get in contact with me, some five decades later, to see if I had a copy.

By lucky coincidence, I had been sent a message a year or so earlier, by someone who had found a copy of the play, which included Anglia TV’s famous ‘knight in armour on horseback’ opening.

I was also fortunate to be able to exchange a few emails with Peter. He remembered working with Ian, but could not recall any specific details from the production itself, but was hoping that the recording would help to jog his memory! I made a copy of The Crossfire and posted it off to them both.

Picture: Peter Wyngarde as the iconic Jason King

For someone who was so young at the time, in the early 70s, I didn’t realise that I was corresponding with THE Jason King, until a short while after when I read more about his life and career. And what a wonderful, colourful and varied life he has had, including being kept captive in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre – a Japanese internment camp in Shanghai, during the second world war.

A fellow detainee at that time, was J.G. Ballard, who famously retold the events in the biographically influenced, Empire of the Sun; subsequently made into a film by Steven Spielberg.

In an interview with Tina Hopkins from 2017, Peter reflected on that time in the Japanese interment camp, when still just a young boy. Tina wrote:

“However, when the Japanese forbade prisoners in one block from communicating with those in another, Peter was used as their runner to spread the radio news through the camp. But then one day he was caught by a guard, who broke both his feet with rifle butts to stop him ever running again. He was then thrown into solitary confinement for a month. When he came out, he could barely walk and had to rely on crutches. His feet still show the signs of that beating to this day.”

I understand that Peter was still active until relatively recently, appearing at special events and reunions, related to the various shows that he appeared in.

Robert C. contacted me via this website in the Spring of 2017 and mentioned that:

“Hope to meet Peter Wyngarde at Portmerion for The Prisoner’s 50th.

If I get the chance that is I will ask him about working on Crossfire with Ian Hendry”.

You can watch Peter in the The Crossfire below:

Video: The Crossfire [Anglia TV – 1967] – Peter Wyngarde, Eric Portman Ian Hendry, Jeanette Sterke.

Peter Wyngarde – In Memory

Video: Peter Wyngarde and Dennis Price in an episode of Jason King

Picture: Peter Wyngarde in a scene from the film Burn, Witch, Burn, 1962

Picture: Carol Cleveland and Peter Wyngarde in The Avengers, 1966

The Guardian’s original obituary was mean spirited and quite frankly, nasty. In my haste to publish an appreciation following a 24 hour domestic power cut, I used a source that I had always relied on previously. On this occasion, I should have been more careful as what I consider to be reputable paper was clearly lacking in editorial control. I have since removed that text from this article and apologise for any offence cause by it’s easier inclusion.

The Guardian subsequently published an appreciation by Toby Hadoke, it seems to to try and rectify their earlier mistake and also to add detail on a number of key omissions:

Appreciation: Peter Wyngarde obituary

Toby Hadoke, Tuesday 23rd January 2018 – The Guardian

The obituary of Peter Wyngarde overlooked a number of the talents and successes of this suave and charismatic performer who never lost his ability to inspire fascination.

Before Jason King he had an early television success as Will Shakespeare (1953) – a taxing part that earned him the admiration of the production’s pioneering producer/director Rudolph Cartier. By 1965, when lured to play the arrogant and dangerous Baron Grüner in an episode of Sherlock Holmes, he had enough clout for the producers to accede to his agent’s stipulation that on foreign sales prints he – uniquely – be inserted into the opening titles and credited alongside the leads Douglas Wilmer and Nigel Stock, both of whom he was also paid considerably more than).

His quirky tastes embraced cult shows which showcased his versatility and zeal – he is glorious in both of his episodes of The Avengers (1966-67) and a cunning and aloof Number Two in The Prisoner (1967). As the religious zealot Timanov in the 1984 Doctor Who story Planet of Fire he imbues a flawed character with a tremendous tragic dignity.

His non-speaking role in the film The Innocents (1961) is no glorified bit part. He is a memorably spooky, spectral presence and gets second billing, a year after his effective turn as a ruthless gang leader in The Siege of Sidney Street.

His extensive theatre work attracted many good notices from the outset and included Shylock and King John, via Jack Pinchwife (The Country Wife) and more than 200 performances as the lead in The King and I (Adelphi theatre and tour, 1973-74). He also directed productions at the Bristol Old Vic and the Yvonne Arnaud theatre, Guildford.

Picture: Peter Wyngarde and Sally Anne Howes, The King and I. British theatre tour [1973]

In later years he was gracious with fans and a writer of detailed and helpful letters crafted in attractive – if minute – handwriting, generously extolling the virtues of colleagues he admired such as Cartier, Wilfred Lawson and Patrick McGoohan: unpredictable talents all, who should give some clue as to where his sensibilities lay.

A perfectionist, he was doubtless sometimes difficult, but the scandal that dented his career should not overshadow the many fine qualities of a charming, seductive, watchable leading actor with an offbeat streak.

In closing…

My heartfelt condolences go to Tina Hopkins who spent much of her life devoted to Peter. I know she was very close to him and will be feeling a great sense of loss. And to Peter’s agent, Thomas Bowington.

Thomas Bowington describes Peter with great affection:

“He was one of the most unique, original and creative actors that I have ever seen. As a man, there were few things in life he didn’t know. I sometimes nicknamed him ‘the King’ because he simply knew everything. He was a mentor on everything you can think of, from sports cars to how to make a good cup of tea and how to do a tie and shirt.

He died at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital [in London], and even then he was saying that you shouldn’t button the upper button on a shirt. As a person he was the most exceptional person I met in my life and a great mentor and teacher.”

Our thoughts and condolences also go to Peter’s many friends and fans around the world.

For those wishing to find out more about the life of Peter Wyngarde, I can really recommend this excellent and authoritative interview from 2017, by Tina Hopkins:

The Ultimate Peter Wyngarde Interview by Tina Hopkins

Until next time,

Neil Hendry
Editor, Official Tribute To Ian Hendry