Michael Attwell
{{Short description|English actor (1943–2006)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Michael Attwell
| image = Kenny beale.jpg
| caption = As Kenny Beale in EastEnders
| birth_name = Michael John Attwell
| birth_date = {{birth date|1943|1|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = Watford, Hertfordshire, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2006|3|18|1943|1|16|df=y}}
| death_place = London, England
| othername =
| years_active = 1968–2006
| website =
| children = 3
}}
Michael John Attwell (16 January 1943 – 18 March 2006) was an English film and television actor. He is possibly best known for his role as Kenny Beale in the television soap opera EastEnders.
Career
Michael Attwell was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, on 16 January 1943.{{cite news|last=Hayward|first=Anthony|title=Michael Attwell, Actor and political cartoonist|work=The Independent|date=25 March 2006|accessdate=16 January 2024|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-attwell-6105684.html}}
After training at RADA (studying Stage Management[https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/michael-attwell/ Michael Atwell – RADA]), Attwell went into repertory theatre at Newcastle Playhouse. Among his theatrical appearances include playing Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls (both at Haymarket Theatre).[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/michael-attwell-6105684.html Obituaries: Michael Attwell], The Independent, 25 March 2006 (pg.41)
In 1979 and 1980, he played Razor Eddie a.k.a. Edward Winston Malone in two series of the comedy-drama Turtle's Progress. The character had originally been created for the ITV drama serial The Hanged Man, where he was played by Gareth Hunt.
In 1978, he played Bill Sikes in the revival of Lionel Bart's musical Oliver! at the Albery Theatre and in 1985 he played Bill Sikes again in the BBC's Sunday afternoon classic serial Oliver Twist.
His other TV credits include: Doctor Who (in the serials The Ice Warriors and Attack of the Cybermen), The First Churchills, Only Fools and Horses, Minder, Bergerac, C.A.T.S. Eyes, Wycliffe, Inspector Morse, Bugs, Silent Witness, Pie in the Sky, Casualty, The Bill, Hotel Babylon, and Are You Being Served?.
He appeared in the 1988 film Buster, based on the life of the Great Train Robber Buster Edwards.
To supplement his theatre income, Attwell produced cartoon strips for IPC and DC Thomson comics including Bunty, Buster, Whizzer and Chips and The Hotspur.[https://www.cartoons.ac.uk/cartoonist-biographies/y-z/MichaelAttwell_Zoke.html Michael Attwell (Zoke) – University of Kent] As well as acting, between 1981 and 1993 Attwell also had a considerable career as a political cartoonist for several British national newspapers including The Sun, The Sunday People and the News of the World. A self-taught artist, Attwell signed himself as Zoke, an amalgam of the names of his children Zoe and Jake.
In 2002 he played Kenneth in the West End run of Debbie Isitt's The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at The Ambassadors Theatre.{{Cite web |title=Theatre review: The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at New Ambassadors |url=https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/womanwhocooked-rev |access-date=2023-08-27 |website=British Theatre Guide |language=en-GB}}
Death
Attwell died in London on the 18 March 2006 aged 63 from complications following heart surgery.{{cite news|last=Shillcock|first=Francesca|title=Where are the cast of ITV's Wycliffe now?|work=Hello Magazine|date=28 January 2021|accessdate=16 January 2024|url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/20210128105629/itv-wycliffe-where-are-the-cast-now/}} His life and work was honoured at the British Academy Television Awards in 2006.
Filmography
= Film =
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Title !Role ! class="unsortable" |Notes |
| 1986
|Goblin |Voice |
| 1988
|Harry | |
| 1994
|W.I. Janes | |
| 2000
|Magnus | |
| 2000
|Sergeant Bristow | |
| 2001
|Duty Sergeant |Credited as Mike Attwell |
| 2001
|Bodywork |David Leer | |
= Television =
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Title !Role ! class="unsortable" |Notes |
| 1968
|Keith |4 episodes |
| 1968
|Ron |Episode: "You Can Only Buy Once" |
| 1969
|Henry St. John |3 episodes |
| 1979–1980
|Razor Eddie Malone |13 episodes |
| 1981
|Seconds Out |Julian |Episode: "Round 8" |
| 1982
|Harry Foss |Episode: "Bounty Hunter" |
| 1982
|Englishman |Episode: "It Never Rains..." |
| 1983
|Bloomfield |Bruce Bruton |Episode: "The Art of Finding Edina" |
| 1983
|Frank |Episode: "Almost Like a Holiday" |
| 1983
|Paul Squire Esq. |Unknown |Episode: #1.6 |
| 1983
|Dennis Jones |Episode: "Death à la Carte" |
| 1984
|Harry |Episode: "A Number of Old Wives Tales" |
| 1967–1985
|Ice Warrior Bates |6 episodes |
| 1985
|Up the Elephant and Round the Castle |Tonka |Episode: "Wakey Wakey" |
| 1985
|Hilary |Sam Chance |Episode: #1.4 |
| 1985
|Burglar |Episode: "The Hold-Up" |
| 1985
|PC Crosby |Episode: #1.11 |
| 1985
|Bill Sikes |9 episodes |
| 1986
|Stimson |Episode: "Rivals" |
| 1987
|Jack Lee |Episode: "Country Weekend" |
| 1987
|Never Say Die |Mr. Danvers |3 episodes |
| 1987
|Gentry |Slatter |Television film |
| 1988
|Kenny |9 episodes |
| 1988
|Krogh |Television film |
| 1989
|Headhunters' Leader |Episode: "Headhunters" |
| 1990
|Parsons |Episode: "The Infernal Serpent" |
| 1990
|The New Adventures of Black Beauty |Barrett |2 episodes |
| 1990
|Johnny Ivory |Episode: "The Rotherhithe Project" |
| 1991
|Oliver Rowntree |Episode: "Redemption" |
| 1991
|Jeff |Episode: "Flash Back" |
| 1989–1991
|Boon |Arthur Mitchell John Milne |2 episodes |
| 1993
|Pvt. Norman Pain |6 episodes |
| 1993
|Ray Cromer |8 episodes |
| 1993
|Phil |2 episodes |
| 1993
|Monsieur Valenod |2 episodes |
| 1993
|Horse Opera |Johnson |Television film |
| 1994
|Red Eagle |Bazarov (as Mike Attwell) |Television film |
| 1994
|Charlie McKinnon Robert Thurman |Episode: "Stalker" |
| 1995
|Roger |Episode: "Over the Hills" |
| 1995
|Bugs |Alan Moore |Episode: "Out of the Hive" |
| 1995
|Judah (as Mike Attwell) |2 episodes |
| 1996
|George Warleggan |Television film |
| 1996
|Assistant Commissioner Weldon |2 episodes |
| 1997
|Josef Quayle |2 episodes |
| 1997
|Kuzmenko |Episode: "Hostile Waters" |
| 1997
|Michael |Episode: "In the Smoke" |
| 1991–1997
|David Reed Sam Jones |2 episodes |
| 1997–1998
|DCC Stevens |10 episodes |
| 1999
|The Colour of Justice |William James Melish |Television film |
| 2000
|M. Dufosse |3 episodes |
| 2000
|Border Cafe |Edwardian Clive |8 episodes |
| 2000
|Geoff Wilson |Episode: #3.2 |
| 2001
|Mr. Smith |Episode: "Get Cartier" |
| 1989–2002
|Various |4 episodes |
| 2002
|Rev. Gascoigne |2 episodes |
| 2003
|Hugo |2 episodes |
| 2003
|Seven Wonders of the Industrial World |William Hope |Episode: "The Great Ship" |
| 2004
|Billy Clemens |Episode: "The Long Bank Holiday" |
| 2004
|Alan Gibson |Episode: "Of All the Harbours in All the Towns" |
| 2004
|Brian the Bouncer |2 episodes |
| 2004
|Bob Acott |Episode: "Buried Secrets" |
| 2006
|Missing |Mr. Greenside |Television film |
| 2006
|Derek Crisp |6 episodes |
| 2006
|Archie Stone |Episode: "The Sittaford Mystery" |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0041112|name=Michael Attwell}}
- [https://theatricalia.com/person/145x/michael-attwell Michael Attwell] at Theatricalia
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Attwell, Michael}}
Category:English male soap opera actors