Philip Madoc 1934 - 2012

[Nick Armstrong]

Very sad to see the passing today of this great actor. What a voice! I went back to see the Young Vic "Measure for Measure" three times, not least to hear and see his magnificent performance as the Duke. Can't help feeling that, like Nicol Williamson who died a month or two ago, he was sadly underused and under-rated.

[DracoM]

Absolutely. I remember him on Children's Hour serials form Wales. 'Counterspy'?

[subcontrabass]

. 'Counterspy'?

With theme tune by Igor Stravinsky

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

some very nice pictures of Mr Madoc here

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A great actor and the "feed" for two of the best punchlines in sitcomdom: "Don't tell him, Pike!" (Dad's Army) and "Blimey! No wonder his eyes bulge out!" (Porridge). He was suitably seedy before getting exterminated in the second of the Peter Cushing Dr Who & the Daleks film. He was underrated by television directors (he, not Jacobi, should've been Cadfael), but no matter the quality of what he appeared in, he gave a mesmerising performance.

[Chris Newman]

After Richard Burton passed away Philip Madoc was the proud owner of the loveliest and richest speaking voice in Britain. My first childhood memory of him was as the terrifying Huron chief Magua in the BBC series 'The Last of the Mohicans'. Indeed, when I later came across Richard Burton I could have believed he and PM were the same persona. There were many parts he played in Dr Who. It was that powerful voice that gave him so much presence. He was briliant as Lloyd George, though like everyone else, I shall treasure his facial expression in that brilliant cameo where as the German Submarine Commander being held under arrest by the Home Guard in Dad's Army he asked Pike "Vot iss your name, boy?", to which the pompous Captain Mainwaring piped up with "Don't tell him, Pike...." Apparently, the very sensitive Arthur Lowe was quite put out by that classic episode because Madoc out-acted him (and everyone else) without even trying; whilst most of the cast found it well nigh impossible to keep straight faces the very serious-minded AL was spitting blood.

[Flay]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktz80NQdRWw&feature=related

[Norfolk Born]

He can be heard tonight on Radio4 Extra, playing Cadfael.

[Anna]

I hadn't heard this news until now. I loved Philip Madoc in everything he did and as mentioned above, it was the voice. He did quite a bit of work with S4C, the last was a Welsh language drama about South Walian gangsters about 4 years ago. I do remember him however in The Life & Times of David Lloyd George. A sad loss.

[marthe]

I, too, remember Philip Madoc from Last of the Mohicans, an all but forgotten dramatisation of Cooper's romance and adventure story set in the frontier of British North America. It was broadcast over here during the early 1970s as a PBS Masterpiece Theatre presentation.

[amateur51]

Like others, I knew of Philip Madoc primarily as a TV actor, but I was lucky enough to see him at the local theatre here The Tricycle in Kilburn,about 3 years ago, as the Narrator in a production of Under Milk Wood so you can imagine that that voice was well-used there. He was tremendous!

[DracoM]

YES!
At school I did a thing on Stravinsky and was astonished to come across the sig tune that had so petrified and excited me about ten years earlier!

Well-remembered!

[Nick Armstrong]

This made the hair stand up on my neck....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF-4ynZIgs8&feature=youtu.be

[salymap]

Thanks for that caliban. He had such a beautiful voice. RIP.

[Lateralthinking1]

Caliban - I was very impressed by his reading of Dylan Thomas in your clip. Actors don't tend to leave the same impression on me as musicians, writers, broadcasters, comedians and politicians. I was therefore surprised to find that the guy in that famous Dad's Army episode was the same as the one who played Lloyd George.

I do remember the television series on the latter. Being young, I had decided that Lloyd George was a bit of a political hero. There was disappointment that there was quite a lot of emphasis on his romantic exploits and that in political affairs he was various shades of black and white.

That shouldn't have a bearing on Madoc's performance. Those who were lucky enough to see a wide range of his performances will know better than me how fine an actor he was during his lifetime. I am sure that he gave many people a great deal of pleasure and clearly he will be very sadly missed. - Lat.