Paul Daneman

{{Infobox person

| name = Paul Frederick Daneman

| image = Actor Paul Daneman.jpg

| caption = Daneman photographed by Anthony Buckley, 1969

| birth_date = 29 October 1925

| death_date = {{death date and age|28 April 2001|29 October 1925|df=y}}

| occupation = Actor, writer

| spouse = Susan Courtney (m. 1952, div.)

| children = 3

}}

Paul Frederick Daneman (29 October 1925 – 28 April 2001) was an English film, television, and theatre actor. He was successful for more than 40 years{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1317727/Paul-Daneman.html|title=Paul Daneman|date=29 April 2001|publisher=|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}} on stage, film and television.

Early life

Paul Daneman was born in Islington, London. He attended the Haberdashers' Aske's School in Elstree, Hertfordshire, and Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and studied stage design at Reading University where he joined the dramatic society. His passion for the stage ignited during World War II when entertaining troops in the RAF, in which he served with Bomber Command from 1943 until 1947. After the war he abandoned a career as a painter in order to go to RADA.

Career

After training at RADA, Daneman joined Bristol Old Vic, Birmingham Rep, and the Old Vic for four years. At the British premiere in August 1955 he created the role of Vladimir in Waiting For Godot, at the Arts Theatre in Westminster.Beckett, p. 5

Daneman film credits included Time Without Pity (1957), Zulu (1964), How I Won the War (1967) and Oh! What a Lovely War (1969).{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f04c354|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702190423/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f04c354|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 July 2016|title=Paul Daneman|publisher=}}

Daneman's television credits include: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Four Just Men, Persuasion, The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre 1961 playing the character Rex Lander, Danger Man, Out of the Unknown, The Saint, Spy Trap, Blake's 7, The Professionals and Rumpole of the Bailey.{{cite web|url=https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=27518|title=Paul Daneman|website=www.aveleyman.com}} The BBC's 1960 landmark production An Age of Kings, a fifteen-part drama that combined Shakespeare's histories of the kings of England and presented them in chronological order, featured Daneman as Richard III.{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7d75e377|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607214709/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7d75e377|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 June 2020|title=An Age of Kings Part 12 The Morning's War (1960)|publisher=}} In the early 60s he toured West Africa and Australia. From 1968 to 1970 he starred in the ITV sitcom Never a Cross Word.

Daneman played the husband of Wendy Craig in the original series of the BBC sitcom

Not in Front of the Children before being replaced by Ronald Hines.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishclassiccomedy.co.uk/not-front-children|title=Not In Front Of The Children - British Classic Comedy|date=15 February 2017|publisher=}} He also played Bilbo Baggins in the 1968 BBC Radio dramatisation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/TheHobbit1Of8AnUnexpectedParty|title="The Hobbit" Full Cast Radio Drama|last=BBC Radio Production|date=5 August 1968|publisher=|via=Internet Archive}} In that same year he appeared in the Sherlock Holmes detective series episode "The Sign of Four" as two brothers with Peter Cushing as Sherlock.{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80492927|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805052158/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80492927|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 August 2018|title=The Sign of Four (1968)|publisher=}}

While recovering from a heart attack, Daneman wrote the sitcom Affairs of the Heart. In 1995 Daneman published If I Only Had Wings, a novel inspired by his experiences in the Royal Air Force during World War II.{{cite web|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12169121.Paul_Daneman/|title=Paul Daneman|website=HeraldScotland}}

Personal life

Daneman was married twice. He married his first wife Susan Courtney in 1952, and they adopted a daughter, but divorced. He and his second wife, Meredith Kinmont (whom he married in 1965), had two daughters, including the soprano Sophie Daneman.[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/may/01/guardianobituaries Obituary, The Guardian] Meredith, a former student of the Royal Ballet School, was an author and biographer of Dame Margot Fonteyn.

Death

Aged 75, Daneman died in 2001. His body was buried at East Sheen Cemetery in south-west London.

Filmography

Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" \| Film
1955	Fun at St. Fanny's	Fudge, the porter
1956	Peril for the Guy	Professor Picton
1957	Time Without Pity	Brian Stanford
1961	The Fourth Square	Henry Adams
1961	The Clue of the New Pin	Rex Lander
1962	Locker Sixty-Nine	Frank Griffiths
1964	Zulu	Sergeant Robert Maxfield
1967	How I Won the War	Skipper
1969	Oh! What a Lovely War	Czar Nicholas II

Notes

References

{{cite book | last= Beckett| first=Samuel | year=1965 | title=Waiting for Godot | url= https://archive.org/details/waitingforgodot00beck| url-access= registration| location=London | publisher= Faber and Faber| isbn=0-571-05808-6}}