Tall,
handsome, hulking character
British supporting actor Francis
DeWolff was born in Essex England
on January 7, 1913. He was often
typecast playing intimidating
characters throughout his career.
He started acting in films since
his was in his early 20's and was
a natural talent with his
characters bringing them to life
and making them believeable. He
had bit parts in the beginning
often being uncredited but then
eventually moving up to
supporting roles.
He
might've been well spotted in
Disney's film Treasure
Island as a pirate named
Black Dog which was an instant
classic but a year later, viewers
will remember him as the Spirit
of Christmas Present in Charles
Dickens adapted classic Scrooge
plus his roles as Front De Boeuf
in Ivanhoe,
Captain Gardiner in Moby
Dick and Hardcastle in The
Smallest Show on Earth.
His
first role in a horror film was
back in 1958 titled Corridors
of Blood which he played
the role of Black Ben. The film
also starred the legendary horror
icon Boris Karloff. The story was
about a doctor trying to relieve
suffering patients at a hospital
and painstakingly develops an
opium-based anesthetic, to which
he gradually becomes addicted.
His
next one was a Sherlock Holmes
flick titled Hound of the
Baskerville's which came
out to theatre's a year later as
it starred Peter Cushing and
Christopher Lee. This time,
Francis played a doctor named
Richard Mortimer. In this
Sherlock Holmes tale, a man named
Sir Henry Baskerville is
confronted with the mystery of
the supernatural hound that
supposedly takes revenge upon the
Baskerville family due to
returning to his families
manor house on the lonely moors
after his father dies under
mysterious circumstances. Of
course, Sherlock Holmes with his
assistant named Dr.Watson
investigates this terrfying
unsolved mystery. Most of
Sherlock's tales are mystery's
but however lots of critics count
this one as a blood dripping
horror tale as well. I have never
seen it (I have never seen any of
Francis' horror flicks yet) but I
really want to.
Right
after that he leapt into a
horror/sci-fi which was a remake
of a 1944 thriller classic known
as The Man in Half Moon
Street from 1944 but
this one was retitled The
Man Who Could Cheat Death.
Francis plays an inpector LeGris
as he tries to find clues on a
mad scientist named Dr. Bonner
who plans to be immortal through
periodic gland transplants from
younger, healthier human victims.
His age is 104 years old but he
makes himself look 40 with all of
what he is doing. Francis also
reunites with Christopher Lee.
Then
he played another similar type
role as a Police Inspector and
worked with Lee the third time in
The Two Faces of Dr.
Jekyll which this time
Dr. Jekyll experiments with
scientific means of revealing the
hidden, dark side of man and
releases a murderer from within
himself.
In
his fourth horror flick he had a
smaller role and was uncredited
but was well noticed in as a
Bearded Customer in Curse
of the Werewolf which
starred Oliver Reed. This was the
film that inspired many other
werewolf films of a motherless
child named Leon who born on
Christmas day in Spain as his
mother died giving birth to him
which she was raped by a beggar.
Leon becomes a werewolf while
going on a hunt and then when is
grows into a young adult he works
in a wine cellar and falls in
love with the owner's daughter
but one full he wreaks havoc in
the small town there.
Then
a few years later in 1964, there
was a gothic shock horror titled The
Black Torment as he
plays Black John of a story of a
lord returns to his manor with
his new wife, to hear rumours
that he had already secretly
returned and had committed
several murders which he was
never aware of.
During
the same year, he played his last
supporting role in a horror flick
titled the Devil Doll as
Dr. Keisling of a ventriloquist
& hypnotist named Vorelli
carrying along an amazing dummy
named Hugo whom was once a person
in Vorelli's past. Hugo is
tricked into killing Vorelli's
wife as she threatens to expose
him.
Francis
continued to pursue his acting
career in TV and film throughout
the 60's and 70's. His credits
included From Russia with
Love, The Three
Lives of Thomasinia and The
Three Musketeers.
I
first spotted Francis as his
guest roles in the kids sci-fi
cult classic TV series of the
70's titled The Tomorrow
People as the evil robot
shape changer Jedikiah. The
Tomorrow People are young homo
superior telepaths with the
availability to teleport
themselves to other areas around
the world as well as at other
planets controlled by a talking
computer named Tim as they try to
stop wars and invasions. Of
course Jedikiah tries to destroy
them and use them for slaves as
well. Francis was wonderful in
his role and was the first
villain when the series started.
He returns to his role a couple
years later only at the end to be
turned into a human beggar for
all his evil deeds he's done.
This upset fans of the series as
he never returned to his role as
the series mainly focused on new
villains for each episode. I
always requested that there
should be a TV movie reunion of
the series as there were some
audio reunions of the series
released onto a CD. My idea was
that another actor plays Jedikiah
returning back as a robot with an
aid of a scientist and seeking
revenge but some dreams never
happen. Francis had alot of
credit for his role in this show
even if it was a guest spot and
remained the most popular villain
in the series.
I
also saw him guest in the
original Doctor Who series starring William Hartnell
in part 5 of "The Keys of
Marinus" as he played
another alien human looking
villain (Not as menacing) named
Vasor but his role wasn't as big.
Of course he also gets what is
coming to him in that one too. He
did return to play another
character a year later in the
series of a part 3 episode titled
"The Myth Makers" as
Agamemnon but very little footage
of this series exists.
Both
TV shows I saw him in he was
marvellous and I will always
remember how a talented actor he
was.
His
last on screen gig was a part as
Simon the Pharisee mini-series in
1977 titled The Jesus of
Nazareth. Some of it was
also shot in Italy and starred
many American celebrities like
Robert Powell, Anne Bancroft,
Ernest Borgnine and James Earl
Jones.
Afterwards,
he would have fallen back on
those regular employers of
British character actors - radio
and the stage.
He
did alot of radio plays for BBC7
and one was was noted for was Rules
of Asylum which is his story
of a man who, having escaped from
a sanatorium, appears to pose a
threat to the state. This
dramatisation stars Betty
Huntley-Wright and Neville Jason
and was first heard as a
90-minute play on Radio 4 in
November 1973. Also stars Vernon
Joyner, Manning Wilson, Francis
de Wolff and Cyril Shaps.
(Repeated in 3 parts on BBC7 12
to 14 Jan 2004)
Tragedy
struck on April 18, 1984 when he
sadly passed away at the age of
71. There is no information on
how he died but hopefully he died
happy and is entertianing his
acting career in God's Kingdom
with other UK celebirites who
passed on with him too that he
has worked with like Boris
Karloff. In my books and to the
fans he will remain a legend as a
supporting actor and will always
be remembered. Rest in peace big
guy! |