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L I F E A N D C A R E E R ------oOo------
"More than once I have been complimented on my triple talents as actor, author and musician, to which my response is always "If I were really any good at any one of those I wouldn't need the other two..." January 2023 Michael Kilgarriff
was born 16 June, 1937, in Brighton, Sussex, an only
but happy child of devoted parents Joseph and
Patricia Kilgarriff. Educated Xaverian
College, Queen's Park, Brighton; from 1953-6 worked
ingloriously and wretchedly as junior clerk for
Barclays Bank at branches in Shoreham, Steyning, and
Lancing.
Escaped to Argyle Theatre for Youth, Birkenhead, for
first engagement as an actor, a schools' tour of
Alice in Wonderland, playing six characters (at
6' 5" the tallest March Hare in the business!)
and accompanying songs and dances at the piano.
Then followed years of repertory (Bristol Old Vic,
Glasgow, Harrogate, Jersey, Leicester, Peterborough,
Stockton-on-Tees, Windsor, York, etc., etc.),
television dramas and light entertainment shows with the likes
of Jimmy Edwards, Dick Emery, Arthur Haynes,
Ted Rogers, and Norman Wisdom. For the 1959/60
season enjoyed the huge break of playing The
Ogre in Humpty Dumpty at the London
Palladium. Tours and plays include The
Sorrows of Frederick with Tom Conti and She's
Done It Again! at the Garrick Theatre with Brian
Rix.
 Ealing garden, August 2013Twenty-six pantomimes (including two more at the London Palladium) with, inter alia, Johnny Beattie, Dora Bryan, Wyn Calvin, Roy Castle, Jimmy Clitheroe, Frankie Howerd, Nat Jackley, Sid(ney) James, Danny La Rue, Jimmy Logan, Alfred Marks, Lita Roza, Harry Secombe, Terry Scott, Wayne Sleep, Tommy Steele, Jimmy Tarbuck, and Norman Vaughan. Also panto seasons in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester with the great Stanley Baxter. Voice-over work includes: General SkekUng of the Skeksis in The Dark Crystal, Obelix in The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, a twenty-six part cartoon series for Fireside Favourites called Howdi Gaudi, Death Eater in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the voice of C.S. Lewis for a DVD documentary add-on for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Disney). Over six hundred BBC radio drama productions. Until retirement his deep and distinctive voice kept him in demand for cartoons, film dubbing, audio books, video games and radio and television commercials. Television work includes appearances with four different Dr Whos (see below), playing King Edward IV in BBC's 1959 six-parter The Golden Spur, Joe Steiner in ITV's UFO, Ron Farnes in BBC's Taxi!, The Green King in BBC's The Moon Stallion, John Brown to Miriam Margolyes' Queen Victoria in Channel 4's Without Walls, the social reformer Charles Booth in Tales from the Map-Room (BBC2) and the Music Hall Chairman in Tipping the Velvet (BBC 2002). Appeared as Chairman/pianist in Michael Wood's The Story of England (BBC); interviewed at the piano by Michael Grade and Barry Cryer The Story of Music Hall (BBC) and by Frank Skinner in What a Performance! (BBC2). Also interviewed on Music Hall history by Dave Myers for BBC2's The Hairy Builder.
In the 1960s began appearing in
Music Hall at the legendary Green Man pub in
Greenwich. Also joined the BBC Drama Repertory
Company for the first of three lengthy stints,
acting in radio broadcasts as diverse as Cyrano de
Bergerac with Sir Ralph Richardson, The
Morecambe & Wise Show, Othello with
Paul Scofield, The Winter's Tale with
Dame Edith Evans, The Dales, Listen with Mother and The Archers.
In 1966 first appeared in BBCtv's Dr Who as
CyberController with Patrick Troughton as the
Doctor. Further appearances in the series were
as Second Ogron (Jon Pertwee), The Robot (Tom Baker),
and again the CyberController (Colin Baker).
Still receiving fan-mail and attending conventions as
well as recording Dr Who audiobooks and
podcasts.
Also in 1966
formed Dunster Productions Ltd with fellow actor and
Music Hall comic the late Johnny Dennis, putting on
theatre and corporate shows across the UK and abroad;
also worldwide shipboard entertainment for the Holland-America and P&O cruise lines and
for three consecutive City of
London Festivals.
Memorable one-off engagements include Father Christmas in Down by the Greenwood Side directed by its composer (Sir) Harrison Birtwistle for a BBC Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall and the Clown in Brecht/Hindemith's Lesson on Consent at the Brighton and City of London Festivals. Another exciting venture was a revival of Beyond the Fringe touring the UK and at the Marines' Memorial Theatre in San Francisco. PA work includes business conferences all over the UK, also promotions as far afield as Geneva, Palma, Minneapolis-St Paul, Baltimore and New Orleans.
In the entire
existence of the Players' Theatre Club (1929-2002)
Michael Kilgarriff is the only person to have worked
in its Music Hall shows at Charing Cross variously as
solo artiste, Chairman, accompanist, and
producer. His illustrated lecture at the piano
on the history of the Music Hall has been seen
everywhere from Bolton Public Library to the cruise
liner QE2.
On 22 March
1968 in San Rafael, Marin County, California, married
Sarah Greatorex, production assistant in the BBC Radio
Drama Department. Their daughter is voice-over
artiste and theatre agent Rebecca
(b.1971), whose own daughter
by her partner actor Nigel
Barrett is Greta Kilgarriff
(b. 2009).
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 As Mr Chairman at The Players' Theatre Club 1980 |
