David Markham

{{Short description|British actor (1913–1983)}}

{{for multi|the Canon of Windsor|David Frederick Markham|the educator and historian|J. David Markham}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = David Markham

| image =

| caption =

| birth_name = Peter Basil Harrison

| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|04|03|df=y}}

| birth_place = Wick, Worcestershire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|1983|12|15|1913|04|03|df=y}}

| death_place = Hartfield, East Sussex, England

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1938–1983

| spouse = {{marriage|Olive Dehn |1937}}

| children = 4, including Kika and Petra Markham

| relatives = Roger Lloyd-Pack (son-in-law)

}}

David Markham (3 April 1913 – 15 December 1983) was an English stage and film actor for over forty years.{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/402/david-markham|title=David Markham - Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f4da797|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311143114/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f4da797|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 March 2016|title=David Markham|publisher=}}

Markham was born Peter Basil Harrison in Wick, Worcestershire and died in Hartfield, East Sussex.

In 1937 he married Olive Dehn (1914–2007), a BBC Radio dramatist.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/mar/31/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries|title=Obituary: Olive Dehn|first=Anne|last=Karpf|date=31 March 2007|work=The Guardian}} They had four daughters: Sonia, an illustrator; Kika (b. 1940), an actress, widow of actor Corin Redgrave; Petra (b. 1944), an actress; and Jehane, a poet and dramatist, widow of actor Roger Lloyd-Pack.Nicholas Tucker, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100802030442/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/olive-dehn-446337.html "Obituary. Olive Dehn: Poet and children's writer"], The Independent, 7 April 2007

In World War II, he was imprisoned as a conscientious objector, before being allowed to do forestry work.Jonathan Croall: Don't You Know There's a War On?, 1988

Markham appeared occasionally in cinema and often on television.{{cite web|url=http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=11104|title=David Markham|website=www.aveleyman.com}} He appeared in Carol Reed's film The Stars Look Down (1939) and in François Truffaut's films Two English Girls (1972), in which he plays a fortuneteller with his daughter Kika, and Day for Night (1973).{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/david-markham-p45566|title=David Markham - Movies and Filmography - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}} He played the father of Robin Phillips in two films, Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969) and Tales From The Crypt (1972).

Markham portrayed Prime Minister H. H. Asquith (a close look-alike) in the 1981 BBC Wales drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George, alongside his daughter Kika Markham, who played Lloyd George's secretary, lover and later second wife – Frances Stevenson.