Edwin Apps
Biography
Edwin Apps was a familiar face during the early days of British television, at his most prolific as a character actor between 1953 and 1972. In addition, he sidelined as a scripter for the BBC, penning some 33 episodes of the comedy series All Gas and Gaiters (1966). The son of auctioneers and hop farmers, he was born in East Kent. Upon the marital breakup of his parents, he was evacuated to Cornwall at the onset of World War II. At seventeen, he joined a repertory company in the north of England, though his budding career as a thespian was interrupted by national service. Having eventually completed his training at the Central School of Speech and Drama, he resumed his career on the stage as well as doing live television. In 1976, Edwin and his wife, the RADA-trained actress and writer Pauline Devaney, resettled on a farm in the French town of Liez (south-Vendée) in western France. He now appeared only occasionally in French films, devoting time to his life-long passion for painting ("I was a lonely child. At 10, I found a box of paint: since then, I have not let go of the brush"). A successful painter of oils on canvas, he specialised in satirical depictions of bishops in unconventional situations. In 2013, he published a humorous autobiography entitled "Pursued by Bishops - the Memoirs of Edwin Apps". His wife is also an accomplished painter, finalist in the 2017 National Art Competition
Known For & Full Filmography16 Titles
Drama Series - 1961, 16 episodes • as Winters
A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).
Drama Series - 1987, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Crossbow follows the adventures of William Tell and takes place in the 14th-century in Switzerland. William Tell and his son are imprisoned by the tyrannical Gessler. As Governor of Austria, Gessler plans to stop the Swiss uprising. Having split the apple on his son's head with his crossbow, much to Gessler's chagrin, there is no stopping William Tell's legendary strength and skill.
Drama Series - 1997, 16 episodes • as M Smith
Josephine Delamarre is a guardian angel that Heaven sends to earth. With her psychological insight, ability of persuasion and magical powers, she manages to help people who have problems. She appears at the beginning of each mission; when the mission is completed, she disappears with a click of her fingers.
Movie - 1999, 2h 15m • as Bishop
In 1429, a French teenager stood before her King with a message she claimed came from God; that she would defeat the world's greatest army and liberate her country from its political and religious turmoil. As she reclaims God's diminished kingdom, this courageous young woman has various amazing victories until her violent and untimely death.
Drama Series - 1998, 16 episodes • as Chancellor
Highlander: The Raven was a short-lived spin-off from the television series Highlander, continuing the saga of a female Immortal. The series followed the character of Amanda, an Immortal who had a recurring role in Highlander: The Series. The series was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Paris, France and was produced by Gaumont Télévision and Fireworks Media in association with Davis-Panzer Productions.
Drama Series - 1962, 16 episodes • as Mr Crampsey
Out of This World is a British science fiction anthology television series made by ABC Television and broadcast in 1962. A spin-off from the popular anthology series Armchair Theatre, each episode is introduced by actor Boris Karloff. Many episodes are adaptations of stories by sci-fi writers including Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick and Clifford D. Simak. The series is generally seen as a precursor to the BBC science fiction anthology Out of the Unknown.
Drama Series - 1962, 16 episodes • as Official
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father and son played by Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett who deal in selling used items. They live on Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer. The series was voted 15th in a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It was remade in the US as Sanford and Son, in Sweden as Albert & Herbert and in the Netherlands as Stiefbeen en zoon. In 1972 a movie adaptation of the series, Steptoe and Son, was released in cinemas, with a second Steptoe and Son Ride Again in 1973.
Drama Series - 1968, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Series based on the short French farces written by Georges Feydeau, Eugène Labiche, Marc Michel and Sacha Guitry. All of them include mistaken identities and impeccable timing.
Drama Series - 1956, 16 episodes • as Mr. L.J Halliforth
Whack-O! was a British sitcom TV series starring Jimmy Edwards, written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and broadcast from 1956 to 1960 and 1971 to 1972. The series ran on the BBC from 1956 to 1960 and from 1971 to 1972. Edwards took the part of Professor James Edwards, M.A., the drunken, gambling, devious, cane-swishing headmaster who tyrannised staff and children at Chiselbury public school. The Edwards character bore more than a passing resemblance to Sergeant Bilko as he tried to swindle the children out of their pocket money to finance his many schemes.
Drama Series - 1977, 16 episodes • as Graham the Barman
A series of seven individual sitcom pilots from writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.
Movie - 1964, 2h 15m • as George (Barman)
After a lock-keeper entrusts his daughter to a canal Casanova, he is shocked to learn that she is pregnant. He then refuses to open his locks - causing barges to pile up in every direction until the guilty party confesses.
Drama Series - 1964, 16 episodes • as Henry Lyppiatt
Noël Coward hosts these four episodes, each an adaptation of one of his plays.
Drama Series - 1956, 16 episodes • as Horace
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.
Movie - 1977, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A gung-ho ex-military man pursues a secret life of crime, culminating in the kidnapping of a teenage heiress.
Movie - 1964, 2h 15m • as Blake (uncredited)
The film is based on the actual events of the Portland Spy Ring trial in the U.K. A disgruntled Navy Clerk is transferred to a secret research establishment and is subsequently black-mailed/paid by Czech intelligence to procure secrets for them. He seduces the secretary who controls the most secret documents, and they enjoy the fruits of their treachery until the British authorities begin to close in on them.
Movie - 1962, 2h 15m • as Junior Counsel (uncredited)
After mercifully killing her terminally ill lover, Dr. Christine Allison loses her medical license and spends two years in prison. Once she has completed her sentence, the lawyer who prosecuted Christine, Stephen Dane, hires her to care for his emotionally unstable wife, Liane. Christine takes the job, but when Liane's allegedly dead father reappears, Christine sets out to reveal the family's dark secrets.