Richard Edward Pasco (18 July 1926 – 12 November 2014) was a British stage, screen and television actor.
Early life Pasco was born in Barnes, Surrey, the only child of insurance company clerk Cecil George Pasco (1897–1982) and milliner Phyllis Irene (1895–1989; née Widdison). He was educated at the King's College School, Wimbledon. He became an apprentice stage manager at the Q Theatre before studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama, where he won the gold medal. He then spent three years with the Birmingham Repertory Company.
Career One of his earliest screen appearances was as Teddy in Room at the Top (1959). His other films include Yesterday's Enemy (1959), Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960), The Gorgon (1964) and Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966), all for Hammer Studios.
During his lengthy stage career, which began in 1943, he worked with the Old Vic, the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Pasco played the part of Frank Rice in the original stage production of John Osborne's play The Entertainer (1957) with Laurence Olivier. One of his most memorable performances was in John Barton's 1973 production of Richard II for the RSC (alternating the title role and that of Bolingbroke, (pronounced 'Bullen-brook'), with Ian Richardson). During the 1974 New York run, an episode of CBS's Camera Three featured Pasco and Richardson alternating the roles in some of the play's key scenes. Pasco can also be heard performing the role of Richard in its entirety on the Marlowe Society recording of the complete play. Among his radio successes were his performances of BBC Radio 4's Morning Story for BBC Pebble Mill producer David Shute. He portrayed Lieutenant-Commander Ericson in the 1980 BBC Radio adaptation of Nicholas Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea. His TV credits include the role of Brutus in Julius Caesar and the "melancholy" Jaques in As You Like It (1979) by William Shakespeare in the BBC's Shakespeare cycle. He also participated in Barton's televised series of "Playing Shakespeare" workshops. Pasco played the leading part of Stephen Sorrell in the 1984 TV mini-series Sorrell and Son.
His later work includes Mrs. Brown (1997), the Inspector Morse episode "Dead on Time", A Dance to the Music of Time (1997), and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1998).
Personal life and death Pasco married Greta Watson in 1954. The marriage, producing one child, ended in 1964. He married actress Barbara Leigh-Hunt in 1967.
Pasco died aged 88 on 12 November 2014.PASCO
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1957 Kill Me Tomorrow Dr. Fisher 1959 Room at the Top Teddy 1959 Yesterday's Enemy 2nd Lt Hastings 1959 The Man Who Finally Died Joe Newman TV series1959 Dial 999 (TV series) ('Deadly Blackmail', episode) Willard Billed as 'Willard', but his character's name is never spoken.1960 Sword of Sherwood Forest Edward, Earl of Newark 1964 Hot Enough for June Plakov 1964 The Gorgon Paul Heitz 1966 Rasputin, the Mad Monk Dr. Zargo 1979 Julius Caesar Brutus TV movie1980 The Watcher in the Woods Tom Colley 1984 Arch of Triumph Veber 1997 Mrs Brown Doctor Jenner 1997 A Dance to the Music of Time Sir Magnus Donners TV series
References
Obituary - The Scotsman Obituary - The Guardian
External links Richard Pasco at the British Film Institute Richard Pasco bio on Samling Foundation Archived from the original on 6 July 2009