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David Healy

David Healy

Actor · 1929 – 1995 · Manhattan, New York, USA

A rotund, jovial New Yorker, David Healy obligingly played every manner of stereotypical American in British films and on television for more than thirty years. The son of an Australian father and an American mother, he spent much of his youth in Texas. Studying at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, he majored in drama and befriended another young acting hopeful, named Larry Hagman. David first arrived in England as a member of the U.S. Air Force and soon wound up, along with Hagman, in the cast of a touring show written by John Briley. This later grew into The Airbase (1965), a 25-minute BBC sitcom (with David as Staff Sergeant Tillman Miller), which took a humorous look at British-American cultural differences at an RAF base. Considering his job prospects to be rather more lucrative in Britain -- in keeping with the 'bigger fish, smaller pond' theory - David soon found himself in almost continuous demand for any part which required an affable or imperious American. His long gallery of characters included diplomats, businessmen, bureaucrats, spooks, military brass, and so on. There were rare occasions, when he acted against type and played 'Britishers' -- a notable point in case being a likeable Dr. Watson, opposite charismatic Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes, in The Sign of Four (1983). His comedic side was showcased in guest appearances with Dick Emery and Kenny Everett and a with couple of turns in Jeeves and Wooster (1990). Though married and settled in Surrey, David took job offers on both sides of the Atlantic. He was glimpsed as a cleric in Patton (1970) and in Robert Aldrich's doomsday thriller Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977); well-cast as Teddy Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977); and he had recurring roles in TV's favourite soapie of the day, Dallas (1978). British TV audiences saw him guesting in just about every major crime series, from The Saint (1962) and Department S (1969), to The Persuaders! (1971). Simultaneously, from 1967, David pursued a successful career as a stage actor in classical plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. In 1975, he re-visited his roots, playing Falstaff at a Shakespeare festival in Dallas. Ever versatile, David found another calling in musicals, appearing in "Kismet", "Call Me Madam" and "The Music Man". He received much praise for his interpretation of Runyonesque gambler Nicely-Nicely Johnson (played definitively on screen by Stubby Kaye) in "Guys and Dolls", performing show-stopping encores of "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat". - IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis

Series24

  • TV6.9

    Dallas

    1978 · 248 votes

  • TV7.4

    The Saint

    1962 · 136 votes

  • TV5.2

    BBC Play of the Month

    1965 · 8 votes

  • TV6.6

    American Playhouse

    1982 · 8 votes

  • TV6.7

    Tales of the Unexpected

    1979 · 54 votes

  • TV6.7

    Charlie's Angels

    1976 · 241 votes

  • TV6.9

    Vega$

    1978 · 25 votes

  • TV5.2

    Harry O

    1974 · 12 votes

  • TV7.7

    The Persuaders!

    1971 · 135 votes

  • TV7.3

    Blake's 7

    1978 · 51 votes

  • TV7.7

    UFO

    1970 · 62 votes

  • TV8.1

    Jeeves and Wooster

    1990 · 132 votes

  • TV7.1

    Out of the Unknown

    1965 · 8 votes

  • TV7.0

    Return of the Saint

    1978 · 10 votes

  • TV6.5
  • TV10.0

    Espionage

    1963 · 1 votes

  • TV6.2

    Space Precinct

    1994 · 23 votes

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.1

    Hammer House of Horror

    1980 · 73 votes

  • TV5.5

    Department S

    1969 · 17 votes

  • TV7.8

    Jason King

    1971 · 12 votes

  • TV7.6

    Till Death Us Do Part

    1966 · 28 votes

  • TV6.8

    Father Brown

    1974 · 10 votes

  • TV7.3

    Paul Temple

    1969 · 4 votes

Movies22

  • Movie6.6

    You Only Live Twice

    1967 · 2.6K votes

  • Movie7.3

    Labyrinth

    1986 · 2.9K votes

  • Movie6.4

    Diamonds Are Forever

    1971 · 2.4K votes

  • Movie5.4

    Supergirl

    1984 · 732 votes

  • Movie7.4

    Patton

    1969 · 1.3K votes

  • Movie6.3

    Phase IV

    1974 · 309 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Endless Night

    1972 · 67 votes

  • Movie6.4

    The Ninth Configuration

    1980 · 175 votes

  • Movie6.1

    It Had to Be You

    2000 · 37 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Twilight's Last Gleaming

    1977 · 82 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Lust for a Vampire

    1971 · 89 votes

  • Movie5.4

    Double Image

    1986 · 9 votes

  • Movie

    Turnaround

    1987 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Isadora

    1968 · 39 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Assignment K

    1968 · 9 votes

  • Movie4.8

    Ooh...You Are Awful

    1972 · 19 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Scott Joplin

    1977 · 12 votes

  • Movie

    Lace 2

    1985

  • Movie6.5

    The Sign of Four

    1983 · 26 votes

  • Movie7.1

    Only When I Larf

    1968 · 5 votes

  • Movie6.3

    The Double Man

    1967 · 23 votes

  • Movie7.2

    Madame Sin

    1972 · 12 votes