Terrence Hardiman

Terrence Hardiman, who died in early May, was a well known British character actor, who had great talent. He was never a star, but he had a very successful and busy career and has left a lot of good work behind him. He was born in Forest Gate, a suburb in East London, in 1937. His father was a policeman. He went to college, where he took up acting and he became a friend of Derek Jacobi. He learned his craft and worked on stage, and screen for all his working life. He was in some films, including Ghandhi, but most of his work was stage and TV. He was tall and slim and was often cast as a career soldier. One of his finest roles was in the wartime drama, Secret Army, where he played a sympathetic German officer, Major Reinhardt. He was in the third series of the show, as a replacement for Michael Culver's character, Major Brandt. Hardiman was in another wartime series, Colditz, and a third called Wish Me Luck. He often played German officers, because he had a talent for making difficult characters sympathetic. He played judges, barristers and doctors as well. He had a small comic role in an episode of the comedy, Goodnight Sweetheart, where he played a bank clerk who was a jokey parody of John Le Mesurier's character, Sgt Wilson in Dad's Army. He was able to convey Le Mesurier's effete manner very well. It showed his versatility as an actor. He had a long list of character roles on TV, including a doctor in Minder, a judge in the Bill, an army officer in When the Boat comes in, and a barrister in The Brittas Empire. One of his roles in later life was Abbot Radulphus, in the medieval mystery series Cadfael, another likable authority figure. He worked in the show with Michael Culver who had also been in Secret Army. He was in a later Dr Who. Another good part which I liked very much, was as an insurance investigator in The Charmer. He was acting with Bernard Hepton who was with him, in Secret Army. Terrence's character was a shrewd man who was suspicious of Ralph Gorse's claim that it was an accidental fire which killed his wife. He also played a sinister headmaster in the children's series, the Demon Headmaster, which made him very popular with children. He also did a lot of reading books on audio tapes. He was married to Rowena Cooper, who was also a well known and talented actor.