PAUL McDOWELL

3 May

(15 August 1931 - 2 May 2016)

Although better-known as a musician and singer with The Temperance Seven trad jazz band, Paul McDowell was also an actor, comedian, writer, painter and teacher.

The Temperence Seven began at art school in the 1950s, a 1920s style band dressed in Victorian garb which at its height had a No. 1 chart hit with ‘You’re Driving Me Crazy’. McDowell’s (mainly minor) film appearances included Brecht’s The Life Story of Baal, The Thirty-Nine Steps (with Robert Powell), Don Siegel’s Rough Cut, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, Peter Yuval’s Dead End City and Julian Doyle’s Chemical Wedding, an evocation of Aleister Crowley and McDowell’s last appearance in 2008. He contributed scripts for TV comedy shows starring Sheila Hancock, Harry Secombe, David Frost and The Two Ronnies, and appeared on TV in The World of Beachcomber, The Good Life, Porridge, Going Straight, Dave Allen at Large, Wodehouse Playhouse, Robin’s Nest, Kenny Everett, Blackadder, Only Fools and Horses, Mr Bean and The Two of Us etc. He also acted in TV dramas such as Scoop, Crown Court, Churchill’s People, Suez 1956, Churchill: The Wilderness Years, Angels, Frank Stubbs, EastEnders and many others.

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.

PAUL McDOWELL

ALAN YOUNG

GARRY SHANDLING