William Squire

{{Infobox person

| name = William Arthur Squire

| image = Actor William Squire.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|4|29|df=y}}

| birth_place = Neath, Glamorgan, Wales

| death_date = {{death date and age|1989|5|3|1917|4|29|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1951–1988

| spouse = {{plainlist|

Betty Dixon
Juliet Harmer (1967–1989)

}}

William Arthur Squire (29 April 1917 – 3 May 1989) was a Welsh actor of stage, film and television.

Career

As a stage actor, Squire performed at Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Old Vic, and notably replaced his fellow-countryman Richard Burton as King Arthur in Camelot at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway. One of his first film appearances was in the 1956 film Alexander the Great, which starred Burton in the title role.{{cite web |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/17416/alexander-the-great |title=Alexander the Great |date=n.d. |access-date=19 April 2013 |work=Turner Classic Movies |publisher=Warner Bros. Discovery}}

Squire had many roles in television and movies over his career, including Thomas More in the 1969 film version of Maxwell Anderson's play Anne of the Thousand Days; Sir Daniel Brackley in the 1972 television adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow; the voice of Gandalf in the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings; and the Shadow in the 1979 Doctor Who serial The Armageddon Factor.{{cite web |url=https://televisionheaven.co.uk/biographies/william-squire |title=William Squire |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240520222905/https://televisionheaven.co.uk/biographies/william-squire |archive-date=20 May 2024 |url-status=live |date=10 April 2024 |access-date=20 May 2024 |first=Marc |last=Saul |work=Television Heaven}}{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fc285db |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311194216/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fc285db |archive-date=11 Mar 2016 |url-status=dead |work=British Film Institute (BFI) |date=n.d. |title=William Squire |access-date=20 May 2024}} According to the website Television Heaven, Squire's best-known role was the spy chief code-named Hunter in the British series Callan. Squire's Hunter was the fourth, and longest-lasting, in the main series, taking over the role from Derek Bond.{{cite web |url=https://televisionheaven.co.uk/articles/the-callan-file |title=The Callan File |work=Television Heaven |date=17 February 2019 |access-date=20 May 2024 |first=Laurence |last=Marcus}}

In a set of Encyclopædia Britannica-produced educational films about William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Squire played the role of Macbeth.{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c8f131b|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323221856/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c8f131b|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 March 2019|title=Macbeth - A Director's Interpretation (1966)|website=BFI}} This was in keeping with his long career as a Shakespearean actor, which included roles in the classic 1960s TV series, An Age of Kings.{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7d75d4e6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323221900/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7d75d4e6|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 March 2019|title=An Age of Kings Part 7 Signs of War (1960)|website=BFI}}

On 15 June 1967, the St. John's College choir at University of Cambridge recorded A Meditation on Christ's Nativity. Squire read several poems, including The Annunciation by John Donne and A Dialogue by George Herbert, and 1 John 1:1-10 from the New English Bible for the album.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/1258891-The-Choir-Of-St-Johns-College-Cambridge-Directed-By-George-Guest-2-Readings-By-William-Squire-A-Medi |title=A Meditation On Christ's Nativity |author1=The Choir Of St. John's College |author2=William Squire |year=1968 |publisher=Argo Records |type=Vinyl |location=Cambridge, England}}{{Cite web |url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99109727613506421 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240520230349/https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99109727613506421 |archive-date=20 May 2024 |url-status=live |title=A Meditation on Christ's Nativity |work=Princeton University |access-date=20 May 2024 |date=n.d. |author1=The Choir Of St. John's College |author2=William Squire}}

In the late 1960s Squire narrated a series of radio advertisements for Findus Foods under the pseudonym Frobisher Collingwood. The advertisements were played on Radio Caroline. According to Squire's son Nick, the idea to use a pseudonym was a joke between Squire and his friend Hugh Bredin, who wrote the advertisements, with the name itself being a combination of two telephone exchanges in London at the time.{{cite web |url=http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/odds88.htm |title=A Word From Our Sponsor 2: Frobisher Collingwood |work=The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame |date=February 2018 |access-date=20 May 2024}}

Personal life

Squire was born on 29 April 1917 in Neath, Glamorgan, to William Squire and his wife Martha (née Bridgeman).{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2FYJ-8QR |title=England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008 |date=1 October 2014 |access-date=20 May 2024 |via=FamilySearch |page=1752, Volume 11A |url-access=registration}}

He was first married to the actress Betty Dixon. He later married the actress Juliet Harmer in 1967.

There is a park bench on Hampstead Heath dedicated to him.

Squire died on 3 May 1989 in London, England.{{cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ4-5S56 |title=England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007 |date=26 October 2021 |access-date=20 May 2024 |via=FamilySearch |page=1782, Volume 14 |url-access=registration}}

Filmography

Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
class="wikitable"
1951	The Long Dark Hall	Sgt. Cochran
rowspan="3" \|1956	The Man Who Never Was	Lt. Jewell
Alexander the Great	Aeschenes
The Battle of the River Plate	Ray Martin
rowspan="2" \|1958	Dunkirk	Captain	rowspan="2" \| Uncredited
Innocent Sinners	Father Lambert
1967	A Challenge for Robin Hood	Sir John
1968	Where Eagles Dare	Capt. Lee Thomas
1969	Anne of the Thousand Days	Thomas More
rowspan="2" \|1978	The Lord of the Rings	Gandalf	Voice
The Thirty Nine Steps	Harkness
1988	Testimony	Khatchaturyan