Frank Middlemass(1919-2006)
- Actor
Although there was no theatrical background in the family, acting was all he
wanted to do, despite being destined for the civil service. His mother allowed him
to play the odd boys role with the local repertory company in Newcastle. He
belonged to a small theatre group which had attached to it an 'Academy of Dramatic
Art', run by Madame St. John. When he left school, he worked in a Newcastle office of
an investment trust until war broke out. He joined the army at twenty, but ,because of
poor eyesight, he was attached to RASC division in France. He spent 72 hours on the
beach at Dunkirk where he was seriously wounded in both legs. At the end of the war,
he was posted to Egypt where he kept being promoted until he was offered a post
in the war office, but took demob as Lt Colonel. While with friends for a weekend in
Penzance, he went to a local repertory theatre and was so impressed by the quality of the acting
that he asked the company's director for a job. However, there were no vacancies.
He tried again a few months later and became stage manager at £7 a week, He was
there for two years. His first part was as a policeman in a play by Michael Pertwee. He went
to three other repertory companies, then joined London's Old Vic and toured round the
world with them appearing many times with Vivien Leigh. He had a few small parts
in such as Otley, Barry Lyndon and The Island with Michael Caine. On television, he was
best known as the Headmaster in To Serve Them All of My Days and as Robin Ellis's
uncle in Poldark, while on radio he played the 4th Dan Archer in the radio serial The
Archers.
