John Thaw
The actor John Thaw was born into modest working-class circumstances. His mother took off when he was seven; a dozen years passed before he saw her again. But he gained acceptance into one of the world's finest acting programs, at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London; one of his classmates was Tom Courtenay, with whom Thaw worked in Tony Richardson's film adaptation of Allan Sillitoe's landmark angry-young-man drama, "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner." Thaw's more substantial roles were to come on TV, however, and he was working in the genre for which he is most often associated--the crime drama--as early as the mid 1960s. One of his breakout roles was as an alcoholic constable on "Z-Cars," but he navigated his first star turn on "Redcap," in which he transplanted the angry young man onto the military police force. That was still a decade shy of his role as shady Detective Inspector Jack Regan on "The Sweeney," a show that imported the ambiguous, street-wise ethic of "Dirty Harry" and "Get Carter" to British television. Thaw is most beloved, however, for his extended, if not nearly as biting, portrayal of a curmudgeonly Oxford detective-aesthete in "Inspector Morris"; his performance made him the toast of the BAFTA Awards for over a decade. In the meantime, he managed to get some roles on the big screen. His working relationship with the epic-spinner Richard Attenborough resulted in Thaw's being cast in the civil-rights drama "Cry Freedom" and the biopic "Chaplin."
Photos
John Thaw
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
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No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Buried Treasure | Harry Jenkins (Character) | - | 2001 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Plastic Man | Unknown (Character) | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
Goodnight Mister Tom | Tom Oakley (Character) | - | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Into the Blue | Harry Barnett (Character) | - | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: Twilight of the Gods | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Daughters of Cain | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: The Way Through the Woods | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Absence of War | George Jones (Character) | - | 1995 |
61% |
|
Chaplin | Fred Karno (Character) | $8.3M | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: Absolute Conviction | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: Cherubim & Seraphim | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dead on Time | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: The Death of the Self | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Happy Families | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fat Chance | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Promised Land | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: Who Killed Harry Field? | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Second Time Around | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: Infernal Serpent | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: The Sins of the Fathers | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Driven to Distraction | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Ghost in the Machine | Unknown (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Last Enemy | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Secret of Bay 5B | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Last Bus to Woodstock | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Settling of the Sun | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Last Seen Wearing | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Sign of Four | Jonathan Small (Character) | - | 1987 |
73% |
|
Cry Freedom | Kruger (Character) | $4.9M | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Business as Usual | Kieran Flynn (Character) | $28.0K | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: The Wolvercote Tongue | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Inspector Morse: Service of All the Dead | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Dead of Jericho | Chief Inspector Morse (Character) | - | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Grass Is Singing | Dick Turner (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sweeney 2 | Det. Insp. Jack Regan (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sweeney! | Regan (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Regan | Det. Insp. Jack Regan (Character) | - | 1973 |
59% |
|
Dr. Phibes Rises Again | Shavers (Character) | - | 1972 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bofors Gun | Featherstone (Character) | - | 1968 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dead Man's Chest | David Jones (Character) | - | 1965 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Five to One | Alan Roper (Character) | - | 1963 |
73% |
|
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner | Bosworth (Character) | - | 1962 |
TV
Credit | ||||
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No Score Yet | 78% | Inspector Morse | Endeavour Morse (Character) | 1987-1993 1995-1998 2000 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Masterpiece Theatre | Unknown (Character) | 1999 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mystery! | Unknown (Character) | 1994 1997 1999 |
No Score Yet | 98% | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1987 |
No Score Yet | 87% | The Avengers | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1964 |