Dudley Sutton
Encyclopedia
Life
He served in the RAFRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
as a mechanic before enrolling in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
from which he was later expelled.
Known for his eccentricity, he became a cult figure after playing a gay biker in The Leather Boys
The Leather Boys
The Leather Boys is a 1964 British drama film about the rocker subculture in London featuring a gay motorcyclist. This film is notable as an early example of a film that violated the Hollywood production code, yet was still shown in the United States, as well as an important film in the genre of...
(1964). He married American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress Marjorie Steele in 1961; she had previously been married to the millionaire producer Huntington Hartford
Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford II was an American businessman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and art collector. The heir to the A&P supermarket fortune, he owned Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and had numerous other business and real estate interests over his lifetime including the Oil Shale Corporation...
. Sutton and Steele had one child together, later divorcing in 1965. On stage, he played the title role in the first production of Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
's Entertaining Mr Sloane
Entertaining Mr Sloane
Entertaining Mr Sloane is a play by the English playwright Joe Orton. It was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964.-Plot summary:Act 1...
(1963).
He has appeared in many films during his career, including Rotten to the Core (1965), Crossplot
Crossplot (film)
Crossplot is a 1969 film starring Roger Moore. Italian actress Claudia Lange was also featured in her largest English-speaking role. Bernard Lee, famous for his role as M in the James Bond films, also appeared.-Plot:...
(1969), The Devils
The Devils (film)
The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. It is based partially on the 1952 book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and partially on the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley's book...
(1971), Madame Sin
Madame Sin
Madame Sin is a 1972 British thriller film directed by David Greene and starring Bette Davis, Robert Wagner, Denholm Elliot and Gordon Jackson. The screenplay was written by Greene and Barry Oringer.-Plot summary:...
(1972), The Pink Panther Strikes Again
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
The Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth film in the Pink Panther series and picks up where The Return of the Pink Panther leaves off...
(1976), Fellini's Casanova
Fellini's Casanova
Fellini's Casanova is a 1976 Italian film by director Federico Fellini, adapted from the autobiography of Giacomo Casanova, the 18th century adventurer and writer....
(1976), Edward II (1991), and The Football Factory (2004).
Among the more notable of his many television appearances are his roles as Tinker Dill in Lovejoy
Lovejoy
Lovejoy is a TV series about the adventures of Lovejoy, a British antiques dealer and faker based in East Anglia, a less than scrupulous yet likeable rogue. The episodes were based on a series of picaresque novels by John Grant...
. In Lovejoy we realised his real name was Archie. His friendship with Lovejoy and expertise in the antique trade was the backbone of the show. The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
episode Golden Boy, as Mr Carter in the Beiderbecke Trilogy
The Beiderbecke Affair
The Beiderbecke Affair is a television series produced in the UK by ITV during 1985, written by the prolific Alan Plater, whose lengthy credits to British Television since the 1960s included the preceding 4 part mini series Get Lost! for ITV in 1981...
and as Oleg Kirov in Smiley's People
Smiley's People
Smiley's People is a spy novel by John le Carré, published in 1979. Featuring British master-spy George Smiley, it is the third and final novel of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy...
(1982). He also starred with Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...
and Richard Beckinsale
Richard Beckinsale
Richard Arthur Beckinsale was an English actor, best known for his roles as Lennie Godber in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge and Alan Moore in the British sitcom Rising Damp....
in a Christmas Special of Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...
1976 as Reg Urwin.
In 1999 he appeared in the BBC Radio play Cosmos the Mystic Dog. He also made an appearance in the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
for a short stint, playing Wilfred, a conman.
In 2003, Sutton found inspiration from the Internet "where apparently people say that every time you masturbate God kills a kitten
Every time you masturbate... God kills a kitten
"Every time you masturbate… God kills a kitten" is the caption of an image created by a member of the website Fark.com in 2002. The image features a kitten being chased by two Domos, and has the tagline "Please, think of the kittens".According to a New York Times Magazine article on Domo-kun, "Any...
". From that statement, Sutton developed a serious piece about "a young man's emotions and feelings, from the moment he's a baby tugging at his cock onwards."
In August 2003, he performed the one-man Killing Kittens show at Edinburgh's Underbelly. Sutton followed up Killing Kittens with a second autobiographical show Pandora's Lunchbox in 2006. Following an acclaimed performance as William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
in Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award...
's BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series The Romantics, Dudley Sutton joined the cast of Albion Rising at St. Giles in the Fields Church, London, in April 2007. He also played a small role in Dean Spanley
Dean Spanley
Dean Spanley is a 2008 New Zealand and British comedy-drama film, with fantastic elements, from Miramax Films, Atlantic Film Group and General Film Corporation , directed by Fijian New Zealander Toa Fraser...
, and is currently working on a studio recording of Albion Rising with London rock group Subterraneans
Subterraneans (band)
Subterraneans are an art-rock band from London, England. Fronted by former Angelhead vocalist and songwriter Jude Rawlins, they also feature former Wave guitarist Carl Homer, former Solstice bass player Robin Phillips, and Van der Graaf Generator drummer Guy Evans.-Film, Theatre and...
.
- Sutton had a small role in the British teenage drama Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
as Freddie's granddad.
- Also appeared in March 15, 2011 Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
Episode following a fall down an escalator in a shopping center
He lived in Mousehole
Mousehole
Mousehole is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 2½ miles south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay.The village is in the civil parish of Penzance...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
before moving to Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
.
Selected filmography
- CrossplotCrossplot (film)Crossplot is a 1969 film starring Roger Moore. Italian actress Claudia Lange was also featured in her largest English-speaking role. Bernard Lee, famous for his role as M in the James Bond films, also appeared.-Plot:...
(1969) - The London ConnectionThe London ConnectionThe London Connection is a 1979 film directed by Robert Clouse. It stars Jeffrey Byron and Larry Cedar.-Cast:* Jeffrey Byron as Luther Starling* Larry Cedar as Roger Pike* Roy Kinnear as Bidley* Lee Montague as Vorg* Mona Washbourne as Aunt Lydia...
(1979) - Katherine of Alexandria (2011)
- Outside BetOutside BetOutside Bet is an upcoming 2011 British drama film directed by Sacha Bennett and starring Bob Hoskins, Jenny Agutter and Philip Davis. It is due for release on 25 November 2011.-Partial cast:* Bob Hoskins - Percy 'Smudge' Smith...
(2011)
External links
- Official site
- Cheese Makes You Dream A short film starring Dudley Sutton and Tamsin GreigTamsin GreigTamsin Greig is an English actress principally known for two Channel 4 television comedy parts: Fran Katzenjammer in Black Books and Dr. Caroline Todd in Green Wing...
. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00869c6Treasure Another short film starring Dudley Sutton.