Terrence Hardiman

Terrence Hardiman was an English actor who frequently played figures of authority. Born in Forest Gate, Essex, he read English at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he performed with Cambridge's Marlowe Society and the university's Amateur Dramatic Club. After Cambridge he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company on tour, taking principal parts that included Starveling in Peter Brook's 1970 staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream. On television he became known for Nazi-era officers in Secret Army, Colditz and Wish Me Luck, as well as Enemy at the Door, and for the barrister Stephen Harvesty QC in Crown Court from 1972 to 1983. Other roles took in police inspectors in Prime Suspect, Juliet Bravo and Softly, Softly, Father Abbot Radulfus in Cadfael, and the title part in The Demon Headmaster. He appeared in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi as prime minister Ramsay MacDonald.