Nigel Stock (actor)

Nigel Hector Munro Stock (21 September 1919 – 23 June 1986) was an English actor of stage, screen, radio and television, who played character roles in many films and television dramas.

Early life
Stock was born in Malta, the son of an Army captain. He grew up in India before attending St Paul's School, London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he earned the Leverhulme Exhibition, Northcliffe Scholarship, and the Principal's Medal.

Acting career and military service
He made his stage debut in 1931, and during his career achieved numerous classical and contemporary credits at various distinguished theatres, including the Old Vic and on Broadway, with productions of The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, She Stoops to Conquer, Uncle Vanya. His start in films came with uncredited bit parts in The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1938) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). In 1937 he made his first credited film appearance in Lancashire Luck.

His acting career was interrupted by wartime service between 1939 and 1945 with the London Irish Rifles and the Assam Regiment of the Indian Army in Burma, China and Kohima. He was honourably discharged with the rank of Major, having twice been mentioned in despatches.

His film appearances included popular releases such as Brighton Rock (1947), The Dam Busters (1955), The Great Escape (1963), The Lion in Winter and The Lost Continent (both 1968), and Russian Roulette (1975).

Between 1964 and 1968, Nigel Stock became a household name in the UK for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in a series of Sherlock Holmes dramas for BBC television. Later in life, he portrayed the mentor of Sherlock Holmes in Young Sherlock Holmes. His other numerous television credits included Danger Man (1965), The Avengers (1964 & 1966), The Prisoner (1967), The Doctors (1969-71), Owen, M.D. (1971–73), Quiller (1975), Van der Valk (1977), the Doctor Who serial Time Flight (1982), Yes Minister (1982), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and for a BBC dramatisation of A Tale of Two Cities (1980) as well as The Pickwick Papers (1985) as Mr. Pickwick.

Stock and his third wife, Richenda Carey, had just appeared together on stage in the world premiere of Mumbo Jumbo in May 1986, when, on 23 June 1986, he died in Camden, London of a heart attack, aged 66.

Personal life
Stock was married three times. He married his first wife, Catherine Hodnett, in 1943; the couple had one son and divorced in 1947. His second marriage was to Sonia Williams in 1951. They divorced in 1980 after having three children together. Stock's third and final marriage was to actress Richenda Carey in 1979. They remained married until his death in 1986.

Radio

 * Space Force (1984–85) Magnus Carter

Selected filmography

 * The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936) - Office Boy (uncredited)
 * Lancashire Luck (1937) - Joe Lovejoy
 * Break the News (1938) - Stage Boy (uncredited)
 * Luck of the Navy (1938)
 * Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) - John Forrester (uncredited)
 * Sons of the Sea (1939) - Rudd
 * It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) - Ted Edwards
 * Brighton Rock (1947) - Cubitt
 * The Lady with a Lamp (1951)
 * Derby Day (1952) - Jim Molloy
 * Appointment in London (1953) - Co-Pilot (uncredited)
 * Malta Story (1953) - Giuseppe Gonzar aka Ricardi
 * Aunt Clara (1954) - Charles Willis
 * The Night My Number Came Up (1955) - The Pilot
 * The Dam Busters (1955) - Flying / Off. F. M. Spafford, D.F.C., D.F.M.
 * Eyewitness (1956) - Barney
 * The Battle of the River Plate (1956) - Chief Officer, Tairoa, Prisoner on Graf Spee (uncredited)
 * The Silent Enemy (1958) - Able Seaman Fraser
 * Never Let Go (1960) - Regan
 * Victim (1961) - Phip
 * H.M.S. Defiant (1962) - Senior Midshipman Kilpatrick
 * The Password Is Courage (1962) - Cole
 * To Have and to Hold (1963) - George Matthews
 * The Great Escape (1963) - Flt. Lt. Dennis Cavendish "The Surveyor"
 * Nothing But the Best (1964) - Ferris
 * Weekend at Dunkirk (1964) - Un soldat brûlé
 * The High Bright Sun (1964) - Lt. Col. N. Park
 * The Night of the Generals (1967) - Otto
 * The Lost Continent (1968) - Dr. Webster
 * The Lion in Winter (1968) - William Marshal
 * Cromwell (1970) - Sir Edward Hyde
 * Bequest to the Nation (1973) - George Matcham
 * Russian Roulette (1975) - Ferguson
 * Operation Daybreak (1975) - General
 * The Mirror Crack'd (1980) - Inspector Gates ('Murder at Midnight')
 * Yellowbeard (1983) - Admiral
 * Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) - Rupert T. Waxflatter