David Neal (actor)

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David Neal
Born
David Henry Neal

(1932-02-13)13 February 1932
Died27 June 2000(2000-06-27) (aged 68)
Years active1962-1997[1]

David Neal (13 February 1932 – 27 June 2000)[2] was a British television actor, active from the 1960s into the 1990s. He is chiefly remembered for a range of supporting roles in major productions.

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Although very rarely cast in a lead role, David Neal had significant supporting roles in episodes of a range of popular British television series, including Softly, Softly, Z-Cars, Doctor Who, Inspector Morse, Poirot, The Bill, Wycliffe and Noah's Castle.[3] He also did radio voice work.[4]

Classical acting

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David Neal worked in a broad range of roles during his career. In 1970 he took a major supporting role (Cinna) in the all-star feature film of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (which starred Charlton Heston, Christopher Lee, Richard Chamberlain, Diana Rigg and Sir John Gielgud).[5] A few years later (in 1979) he secured another significant supporting role as Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York in both Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 in the BBC's major 'complete works of Shakespeare' series of television films.[6] He later appeared in Jonathan Miller's productions of Timon of Athens and Antony and Cleopatra for the same series.[6]

The Flockton Flyer

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Although Neal is not remembered for lead roles, an exception is the 1970s' children's television production The Flockton Flyer, written by Peter Whitbread, in which he played the principal character, Bob Carter.[7] The programme ran to two series, with an associated paperback novel.[8] He later played the lead role of the father in the 1980 TV series Noah's Castle with Simon Gipps-Kent and Mike Reid.[9]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1969 The Cut-Throats German Officer in Convoy
1970 Julius Caesar Cinna the Conspirator
1978 Superman 7th Elder (Krypton Council)
1980 Flash Gordon Captain of Ming's Air Force
1993 M. Butterfly Judge
1995 Feast of July Mitchy Mitchell

References

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  1. ^ "David Neal | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  2. ^ Dates of birth and death recorded at Movie Tome Archived 27 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "David Neal". www.aveleyman.com.
  4. ^ "BBC Radio 7 - HE Bates' My Uncle Silas, The Revelation". BBC.
  5. ^ "Julius Caesar (1970)". BFI. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016.
  6. ^ a b "David Neal". BFI. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018.
  7. ^ "Flockton Flyer, The – Nostalgia Central". nostalgiacentral.com. 23 June 2014.
  8. ^ See The Flockton Flyer details at TV Ark.
  9. ^ "Noah's Castle Episode 1 (1980)". BFI. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020.
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