MAURICE ROËVES

16 Jul

(19 March 1937 - 15 July 2020)

The actor Maurice Roëves, who has died aged 83, was born in Sunderland but, being raised in Glasgow, identified as Scots. After National Service, he joined his father’s flour mill. However, amateur drama groups ignited his interest in theatre, so he trained at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, then joined the Citizens’ Theatre and was cast in leading roles. Eventually he appeared in many television series beginning with Dr Finlay’s Casebook in 1966 and went on to play the lead in Scobie in September, a thriller set at the Edinburgh Festival. Later he did Doomwatch, A Family at War, The Sweeney, Jackanory, Inside the Third Reich (as Hitler), Doctor Who, Tutti Frutti, the Hillsborough TV movie, EastEnders, Surviving Disaster (as Matt Busby in Munich Air Crash) and, in 2020, Nicole Taylor's The Nest, his last work for TV. Apart from television, Roëves secured parts in several films, including Joseph Strick’s Ulysses, Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely War and Young Winston, When Eight Bells Toll, The Eagle Has Landed, Escape to Victory, Who Dares Wins, Ken Loach’s Hidden Agenda, The Big Man with Liam Neeson, The Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day-Lewis, Judge Dredd with Sylvester Stallone, Beautiful Creatures with Rachel Weisz, Hallam Foe with Jamie Bell, The Damned United with Michael Sheen, the remake of Brighton Rock, and, in 2016, Macbeth (as Monteith) with Michael Fassbender, Roëves' last film. From 2001 he was married to Vanessa Rawlings-Jackson. His first wife was the actress Jan Wilson, with whom he has a daughter, Anne.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

MAURICE ROËVES

ZIZI JEANMAIRE

KELLY PRESTON