Simon Ward

Simon Ward
Born	(1941-10-19)19 October 1941 Beckenham, Kent, England, UK
Died	London, England, U.K.
Resting place	Cremated, Ashes scattered into the English Channel
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1964–2010
Spouse(s)	Alexandra Ward (1964 – 2012; his death) Three daughters - Sophie, Claudia and Kitty

Simon Anthony Fox Ward (19 October 1941 – 20 July 2012) was an English stage and film actor. He was known for his performance as the young Winston Churchill in the 1972 film Young Winston and for his roles as Sir Monty Everard in Judge John Deed and as Bishop Gardiner in The Tudors.

Early life

Simon Ward was born in Beckenham, Kent, the son of Winifred and Leonard Fox Ward, a car dealer. From an early age he wanted to be an actor. He was educated at Alleyn's School, London, the home of the National Youth Theatre, which he joined at age 13 and stayed with for eight years. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he made his professional stage debut with the Northampton Repertory in 1963 and his London theatrical debut one year later in The 4th of June. At RADA he met Alexandra Ward and they were married in 1964. After the Royal Academy, he worked in repertory in Northampton, Birmingham and Oxford and occasionally in London's West End.

Big break

His big break in theatre came in 1967 when he played in Joe Orton's Loot, which led to a number of small film and television roles. All of Ward's major film roles were in the 1970s.

Persistent rumours suggest his first film appearance was an uncredited role as one of the sociopathic students in Lindsay Anderson's If.... (1968). Although this has never been verified, his participation in the film is still listed in his IMDb's actor's credits.

In 1971, he played the title role of Winston Churchill in Young Winston. This was the role which brought him to national prominence and Ward starred in several high profile films during the mid-to-late 1970s.

The following year he played the Duke of Buckingham in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974), and also in 1974 he played author-veterinarian James Herriot in the successful film adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small. He played one of the lead roles (Lt. Crawford) in the 1976 World War I film Aces High, then starred as Lt. William Vereker in the 1979 film Zulu Dawn. He was also seen as a fictional Nazi functionary (the sympathetic one, with whom the audience is supposed to identify) in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973). Later film roles included Zor-El in Supergirl (1984).

Later career and death

In 1986, Ward starred in the title role of Ross, the first West End revival of Terence Rattigan's play since its original run in 1960. It toured the UK and, after a run at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto, opened at The Old Vic, featuring Marc Sinden as Dickinson, with David Langton, Roland Curram, Bruce Montague and Ernest Clark in supporting roles.

Simon Ward made few films after the 1970s, although he did have a major role in the Ralph Fiennes version of Wuthering Heights, made in 1992, alongside his daughter Sophie Ward.

In 1987 Ward suffered a serious head injury in a street attack that was never solved.

In 1995, at very short notice, he took over Stephen Fry's role in the play Cell Mates, after Fry walked out of the play near the start of its run.

In 2001–07, he appeared as Sir Monty Everard in the BBC television series Judge John Deed and in 2007–10 as Bishop Stephen Gardiner in The Tudors.

In 2010, Ward appeared in the title role in the British tour of Alan Bennett's play The Madness of George III.

Ward's third and youngest daughter, Kitty, is married to British stand-up comedian Michael McIntyre.

It was announced on 22 July 2012 that Ward had died after a long illness. His agent stated that he had died "peacefully" on Friday 20 July with his family at his side.

Filmography

Television

Title	Year	Role
Festival	1964
Theatre 625	1964	Dick Jervis
Thursday Theatre	1965	Tom Cherry
The World of Wooster	1966	Eustace
Thirteen Against Fate	1966	Alain Malou
The Wednesday Play	1966-1968	Donald Clenham / John Hardie
Jackanory	1967-1968	Storyteller
The Misfit	1970	Ted Allenby-Johnson
The Black Tulip	1970	Cornelius Van Bearle
Roads to Freedom	1970	Philippe
No Exit	1972	Mark Gray
Cinema: A Documentary	1972	Himself
ABC Afterschool Specials	1973	Various Characters
Great Mysteries	1973	Stephen Barrow
BBC2 Playhouse	1975
Call My Bluff	1976	Himself
The Rear Column	1980	Herbert Ward
Diamonds	1981	Bernard de Haan
An Inspector Calls	1982	Gerald Croft
Allô Béatrice	1984	Archibald
Supergirl: The Making of the Movie	1984	Himself
A Taste for Death	1988	Stephen Lampart
Around the World in 80 Days	1989	Flannigan
Lovejoy	1992	Edward Brooksby
Kurtulus	1994	Winston Churchill
Ruth Rendell Mysteries	1995	Will Harvey
Challenge	1996	Narrator
Real Women II	1999	Samuelson
Family Affairs	2005	Mr. Lee
Heartbeat	2006	Maxwell Hamilton
Judge John Deed	2003-2007	Sir Monty Everard
The Tudors	2009-2010	Bishop Gardiner

Film

Title	Year	Role
The Son	1966	Alain Malou
if....	1968	Schoolboy (uncredited)
I Start Counting	1969	Conductor
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed	1969	Dr. Karl Holst
Quest for Love	1971	Jeremy
Young Winston	1972	Winston Churchill
Hitler: The Last Ten Days	1973	Captain Hoffman
The Three Musketeers	1973	Duke of Buckingham
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1973 film)	1973	Arthur
The Four Musketeers	1974	Duke of Buckingham
All Creatures Great and Small	1975	James Herriot
Children of Rage	1975	Yaacov
Valley Forge	1975	Major Andre
Aces High	1976	Lt. Crawford
Deadly Strangers	1976	Stephen Slade
de	1977	Herbert Menis
Holocaust 2000	1977	Angel Caine
The Four Feathers	1978	William Trench
Dominique	1979	Tony Calvert
Zulu Dawn	1979	Lt. Vereker
The Last Giraffe	1979	Jock Leslie-Melville
La Sabina	1979	Philip
The Rear Column	1980	Ward
The Monster Club	1981	George
Manpower	1983	Narrator
Supergirl	1984	Zor-El
The Corsican Brothers	1984	Chateau-Renaud
Leave All Fair	1985	John Jeune (Young John)
L'étincelle	1986	Mike
Double X: The Name of the Game	1992	Edward Ross
Wuthering Heights	1992	Mr. Linton
Atrapa-la	2000	Doug

External links

• Simon Ward at the Internet Movie Database
• Simon Ward at Find a Grave