Geoffrey Chater

English actor (1921–2021)

Geoffrey Chater
Born	Geoffrey Michael Chater Robinson (1921-03-23)23 March 1921 Barnet, Hertfordshire, England
Died	16 October 2021(2021-10-16) (aged 100) Iden, East Sussex, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950–2005

Geoffrey Michael Chater Robinson^[1] (23 March 1921 – 16 October 2021) was an English film, television and stage actor. He appeared in the crime drama series Callan, Foyle's War and Midsomer Murders.

Biography

Geoffrey Michael Chater Robinson was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire on 23 March 1921 and lived in Iden, East Sussex and London. His father, Lawrence Chater Robinson, was a composer of music for dance bands and his mother Peggy was an actress. It was seeing her perform at London St Martin's Theatre when he was 11 that made him want to follow her onto the stage.^[2]

Chater was educated at Marlborough College, and joined the Royal Fusiliers in 1940. He served as a captain in India and Burma, where he wrote and performed in revues for the troops during time off.^[2] He served in the British Army from 1940 to 1946.

After the Second World War, he focused on his career in the entertainment industry.^[2] He became an assistant stage manager at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, where in 1947, made his first professional appearance in A Midsummer Night's Dream. His West End debut was in 1952, as "Constable" in Master Crook.^[3] Later on he appeared in Howard Brenton's play Magnificence.^[4] He also had a minor role in a British TV serial Brideshead Revisited where he played a role of British Consul.^[5] He made his film debut in 1958 with The Strange World of Planet X. In Gandhi, he played the chairman of the enquiry into the Amritsar massacre. He also appeared in the film classics If.... (1968) and Barry Lyndon (1975) in supporting roles.

His career saw him take on roles from Shakespeare to Midsomer Murders. While he appeared in films and television roles, he avoided longer contracts so he could have time to devote to his first love of performing in the Theatre.^[2]

In 2017, Chater began giving poetry readings and he continued to read the lesson at his local church until lockdown was imposed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic on 23 March 2020, his 99th birthday.^[6]

He turned 100 on 23 March 2021 and died on 16 October 2021 in Iden, East Sussex.^[7]^[8]

Filmography

Film

The Strange World of Planet X (1958) - Gerard Wilson
Battle of the V-1 (1958) - Minister of Defence
Wonderful Things! (1958) - Solicitor
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) - Pat Holroyd
Two Letter Alibi (1962) - Inspector Warren
If.... (1968) - Chaplain: Staff
One of Those Things (1971) - Falck
10 Rillington Place (1971) - Old Bailey: Christmas Humphreys
Endless Night (1972) - Coroner
The Best Pair of Legs in the Business (1973) - Reverend Thorn
O Lucky Man! (1973) - Bishop / Vicar
Barry Lyndon (1975) - Doctor Broughton
Gandhi (1982) - Government Advocate
Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990) - Doctor Archibald

Television

Sherlock Holmes (1951) - Unknown
Jan at the Blue Fox (1952) - Mr. Trevor
The Birdcage Room (1954, TV film) - Mr. Blackfoot
ITV Television Playhouse (1955) - Dusty
ITV Play of the Week (1955-1963) - Various roles
My Friend Charles (1956) - Doctor George Kimber
Motive for Murder (1957) - Harry Manners
Armchair Theatre (1958-1971) - Various roles
The Third Man (1959) - Lord Farset
Scotland Yard (1960) - Detective Superintendent Lawrie
Saturday Playhouse (1960) - Raymond
On Trial (1960) - A.J. Newton
Walk a Crooked Mile (1961) - Arnold Hedges
Storyboard (1961) - Duroc
Family Solicitor (1961) - Mr. Tyler
Echo Four Two (1961) - Acting Superintendent Dean
Probation Officer (1961) - Sir Giles Enton
Drama 61-67 (1962-1963) - Various roles
No Hiding Place (1962-1965) - Various roles
Crying Down the Lane (1962) - Superintendent Lambe
Z Cars (1963) - Robson
The Plane Makers (1963) - Simon Stride
Ghost Squad (1963-1964) - Various roles
BBC Sunday-Night Play (1963) - The Captain
The Human Jungle (1963) - Householder
The Scales of Justice (1963) - Mr. Soames
Detective (1964) - Tony Garnish
Espionage ('Snow on Mount Kama', episode) (1964) - Colonel Gregory
Festival (1964) - Kindred
Story Parade (1964) - Prosecutor
The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (1964) - Major Vansuythen
Victoria Regina (1964) - Doctor Clark
Theatre 625 (1965-1967) - Various roles
Front Page Story (1965) - Bosley Morton
Emergency-Ward 10 (1965) - Commander Boyle RN
The Troubleshooters (1966-1967) - Charles du Cros
Vendetta (1966) - Don Gino
Adam Adamant Lives! (1967) - Commissioner Hobson
The Wednesday Play (1967) - Richard Browning
Softly, Softly (1967) - Framley
Sexton Blake (1967) - William Passer
The Avengers (1967-1968) - Jarvis/Seaton
City '68 (1967-1968) - Wainwright
ITV Playhouse (1967-1980) - Various roles
The Champions (1968) - Forster
The Saint (1968) - Carl Howard
The Expert (1968-1969) - Tom Caldicott
The Power Game (1969) - Arthur Stilton
ITV Sunday Night Theatre (1969) - Toby Pears
Department S (1969) - Peck
Rogues' Gallery (1969) - Sir Richard Manningham
W. Somerset Maugham (1969) - Mr. Grey
The Main Chance (1969-1975) - Roger Chapman
Big Brother (1970) - Sir Michael Clarke
Callan (1970-1972) - Bishop
Steptoe and Son (1970) - Peregrine
Biography (1970) - Hoppner
Fraud Squad (1970) - Brigadier Wildblood
Doomwatch (1971) - Mullery
Paul Temple (1971) - Sir Harold Malyon
Justice (1971) - Lord Rush
Jason King (1971) - Mr. Horner
Dad's Army (1972) - Colonel Pierce
The Dick Emery Show (1972-1975) - Various roles
Ooh La La! (1973) - Landernau
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries (1973) - Donald Cosgrove
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973) - Bank manager
Thriller (1973-1975) - Various roles
Special Branch (1974) - Sir Gerald Pastor
Fall of Eagles (1974) - Charles
General Hospital (1974) - Mr. Hillier
Shoulder to Shoulder (1974) - Holloway Prison Governor
Father Brown (1974) - Leonard Smythe
Moll Flanders (1975) - George Mace
Thriller (1975) Episode: "The Next Voice You See" - Sir Peter Hastings
Jackanory Playhouse (1975) - Chancellor
Village Hall (1975) - Leonard Beamish
The Poisoning of Charles Bravo (1975) - Mr. Gorst
Hogg's Back (1975) - Inspector
Crown Court (1976) - Professor Stuart Adams
Hadleigh (1976) - David Ringham
The Howerd Confessions (1976) - Mr. Parsley
Within These Walls (1976) - Judge Lionel Hunt
Romance (1977) - Sir Charles Verdayne
Devenish (1977) - Admiral Sir Percival Wallow
The Upchat Line (1977) - Mr. Peabody
The Cedar Tree (1978) - Walter Henderson
Strangers (1979) - Barker
Rings on Their Fingers (1979) - Mr. Lowther
Penmarric (1979) - Doctor Ormott
Prince Regent (1979) - Henry Addington
Play for Today (1979-1981) - Various roles
Premiere (1980) - Superintendent
Agony (1981) - Mr. Lucas
Bognor (1981) - Sir Erris Beg
The Good Soldier (1981) - Bagshawe
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981) - Lord Hailsham
Brideshead Revisited (1981) - Consul
Othello (1981) - Brabantio
Troilus & Cressida (1981) - Nestor
Shelley (1982) - Mr. Fairbass
The Agatha Christie Hour (1982) - Canon Parfitt
Harry's Game (1982) - Colonel George Frost
The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim (1982) - Magistrate
Tales of the Unexpected (1982) - James Hamilton
Nanny (1983) - Major Fancombe
The Cleopatras (1983) - Perigenes
A Married Man (1983) - Sir Peter Craxton
The Aerodrome (1983) - Dr. Faulkner
Shackleton (1983) - Sir Clements Markham
Foxy Lady (1984) - Mr. Molyneux
Strangers and Brothers (1984) - Thomas Bevill
Blott on the Landscape (1985) - Minister
Mapp and Lucia (1985-1986) - Mr. Algernon Wyse
Screen Two (1985-1987) - Various roles
Indiscreet (1988) - Finley
A Taste for Death (1988) - Frank Musgrave
The Dog It Was That Died (1989) - Wren
Anything More Would Be Greedy (1989) - Sir William Crome
Chelworth (1989) - Rafe Holingsworth
Norbert Smith, a Life (1989) - Cyril Freebody
Saracen (1989) - Alan Ross
The New Statesman (1990) - Justice Saunders
Harry Enfield's Television Programme (1990) - Mr. Dickinson
Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming 1990) - Lawyer
Bergerac (1990) - Sir Matthew Osterson
Brass (1990) - Air Vice Marshal Plunkett-Downe
One Foot in the Grave (1990) - Reverend Croker
Rumpole of the Bailey (1991) - Gregory Fabian
Harry Enfield and Chums (1994) - Headmaster
The House of Eliott (1994) - Wilkinson
The Rector's Wife (1994) - The Bishop
Pie in the Sky (1994) - Doctor Lonsdale
The Detectives (1995) - Sutton Frobisher
The Thin Blue Line (1995) - Carol Singer
The Bill (1998) - Edward Robbins
In the Red (1998) - Mr Justice Frimlington
Heartbeat (1999) Hal Clifford
Heartbeat (2003) - Sir Henry Bing
Foyle's War (2003) - Professor Phillips
Midsomer Murders (2005) - Brother Robert

References

^ Room, Adrian (2010). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins. McFarland & Co. p. 103. ISBN 9780786443734.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Geoffrey Chater obituary". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
^ Wearing, J. P. (2014). The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-81089308-5.
^ Roberts, Phillip (2015). The Royal Court Theatre (Routledge Revivals): 1965-1972. Routledge.
^ Vermilye, Jerry (1992). The Complete Films of Laurence Olivier. Citadel Book Press. p. 263. ISBN 0-8065-1302-0.
^ Foster, Heidi (9 April 2017). "Ship to Shore in Iden". RYE News. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
^ "Geoffrey Chater, polished and charming character actor acclaimed as Polonius opposite Jonathan Pryce's Hamlet – obituary". The Telegraph. 19 October 2021. (subscription required)
^ "Geoffrey Chater obituary". TheGuardian.com. 25 October 2021.