RIP Edward Woodward

It has just been reported that the veteran actor Edward Woodward has died at the age of 79.

He starred in many films and TV programmes over the years. The Wicker Man is undoubtedly his most famous film and the TV programme people of my generation will probably most associate him with is the 1980's US show The Equalizer.

It is worth also mentioning the 1977 dystopian BBC drama 1990 that he starred in where he played a journalist who decides to fight a totalitarian government. This was only brought to my attention a few years ago but is very good and well worth watching. Perhaps it will now be repeated. It's good to see that Jennie Rigg also remembers this.

However my favourite part that Edward Woodward played is Callan (1967 - 1972 with a film in 1974 and a one off reunion episode in 1981). In this he played a professional killer who worked for the British intelligence services. It was the part that launched his career and he played it perfectly. Woodward managed to portray the role in such a way as to show how he was trapped and a victim of the system he was in himself, eliciting some sympathy for a character whom on paper did not really deserve any. That is not an easy thing to do. I hope one of the TV channels shows some episodes of this as a fitting tribute to his acting talents.

Here is a clip where Callan is having an "employment dispute" with his bosses:

RIP Edward Woodward.