Tony Beckley

Tony Beckley was an English actor who graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and spent the 1960s and 1970s in film and television, frequently cast as villains. Born in Southampton, he worked with provincial repertory companies before breaking into television with guest parts in Sergeant Cork, The Saint and Z-Cars. His first screen role came in Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight (1965), as Ned Poins. Peter Collinson directed him in several pictures, including The Long Day's Dying (1968) and The Italian Job (1969), where he was Camp Freddie. He took his only lead as the psychotic Kenny Wemys in The Fiend (1972), and other credits include The Lost Continent (1968), Get Carter (1971), Sitting Target (1972), Gold (1974) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). When a Stranger Calls (1979) was his final film. On television he played Harrison Chase in the Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Doom (1976), and he acted in the West End.