Wyllie Longmore

{{Infobox actor

| name = Wyllie Longmore

| image = Wyllie Longmore_resize.png

| birth_date = {{birth-date|1940}}

| birth_place = Stirling, St. Ann, Jamaica

| death_date = {{death date and given age|2023|01|04|82|df=y}}

| education = Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, Sidcup, Bexley, London

| known_for = {{flatlist|

Coronation Street
Love Actually

}}

Wyllie Longmore (1940 – 4 January 2023) was a Jamaican-born British actor who appeared on Coronation Street{{Cite news |date=6 January 2023 |title=Wyllie Longmore dies at age of 82; All you need to know about 'Coronation Street', 'Love Actually' actor |work=The Economic Times |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/uk/wyllie-longmore-dies-at-age-of-82-all-you-need-to-know-about-coronation-street-love-actually-actor/articleshow/96800215.cms |access-date=10 January 2023}} as Dr McKinnon and Love Actually as associate of the Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant.

Early life

Wyllie Longmore was born in the small village of Stirling in St. Ann parish, Jamaica in 1940 and moved to the United Kingdom in 1961 when he was 21.{{Cite web |title=Theatre news: Wyllie Longmore, actor and Arden co-founder, dies at 82 |url=https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/news/wyllie-longmore-actor-and-ard-15230 |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=British Theatre Guide |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=McLoughlin |first=Lisa |date=6 January 2023 |title=Corrie star Wyllie Longmore dies aged 82 following cancer battle |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/coronation-street-wyllie-longmore-dies-aged-82-cancer-b1051333.html |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}{{Cite web |last1=Gibb |first1=Jessica |last2=Leaver |first2=Joel |date=6 January 2023 |title=Coronation Street actor Wyllie Longmore dies after cancer battle, daughter says |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/wyllie-longmore-dead-coronation-street-28891619 |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=mirror |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Meier |first1=Paul |title=Jamaica 15 |url=https://www.dialectsarchive.com/jamaica-15 |website=IDEA: International Dialects of English Archive |access-date=16 December 2024}} Longmore trained at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Sidcup in the London Borough of Bexley, before moving to Manchester.{{Cite web |last=Chapman |first=Stephen |date=6 January 2023 |title=Royal Exchange leads tributes to actor Wyllie Longmore |url=https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/manchester-news/2023/01/royal-exchange-leads-tributes-actor-wyllie-longmore |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=Prolific North |language=en}} Longmore's father thought he was going to a teacher training college rather than an acting school.

Death

Longmore died of cancer on 4 January 2023, aged 82.{{Cite web |last=Gibb |first=Jessica |date=6 January 2023 |title=Coronation Street and Love Actually actor Wyllie Longmore dies |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/coronation-street-love-actually-actor-25914412 |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=Manchester Evening News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Hallam |first=Katy |date=6 January 2023 |title=Coronation Street star dies after battle with cancer |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/coronation-street-star-wyllie-longmore-25913409 |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=BirminghamLive |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Kitson |first=Calli |date=6 January 2023 |title=Corrie and Love Actually star Wyllie Longmore dies after cancer diagnosis |url=https://metro.co.uk/2023/01/06/coronation-street-star-wyllie-longmore-dies-18054820/ |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=Metro |language=en}}{{Cite journal |date=6 January 2023 |title=Coronation Street's Wyllie Longmore dies aged 82 |url=https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2023/0106/1345289-coronation-streets-wyllie-longmore-dies-aged-82/ |language=en}}

Career

= Stage =

After graduation Longmore joined the Leeds Theatre-in-Education Company, and through this met theatre director David Thacker who gave him his first stage role as the nobleman Ross in Macbeth performing at The Old Vic in Waterloo, London. However many of Longmore's stage performances were in Manchester, playing Cutler in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Royal Exchange Theatre, and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, and Jesse in I Just Stopped By To See The Man, both at Bolton Octagon. He won two Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards for his stage acting, winning an award for his performance in My Children! My Africa! by South African playwright Athol Fugard directed by Ian Forrest at the Octagon Theatre in 1995.{{Cite web |title=Wyllie Longmore {{!}} BBA Shakespeare |url=https://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/people/wyllie-longmore |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk}} Longmore also set up The Arden Drama School in Manchester, set up in association with The Royal Exchange Theatre where he was Head of Acting at the school, and until 1981 he taught in the Drama Department at Manchester University.

= Screen =

Longmore most famous screen role was on the soap opera, Coronation Street, starting in 1992, Longmore played Dr McKinnon, his character treated Don Brennan played by Geoffrey Hinsliff following Brennan's car accident. He also had a role in Love Actually (2003) as the associate of the Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant. As well as performing in Coronation Street and Love Actually, Longmore appeared in The Bill, Between the Lines, Casualty, Merseybeat, Waking the Dead and Cold Feet.