Cecil Yekuthial Linder (March 10, 1921 – April 10, 1992) was a Polish-born Canadian film and television actor. He was Jewish and managed to escape Poland before the Holocaust. In the 1950s and 1960s, he worked extensively in the United Kingdom, often playing Canadian and American characters in various films and television programmes.
Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Cec Linder |
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| Born | Cecil Yekuthial Linder
(1921-03-10)March 10, 1921
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| Died | April 10, 1992(1992-04-10) (aged 71)
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| Nationality | Canadian |
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| Alma mater | Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts |
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| Occupation | Actor |
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| Years active | 1955–92 |
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In television, he is best remembered for playing Dr. Matthew Roney in the BBC serial Quatermass and the Pit (1958–59). In film, he is best remembered for his role as James Bond's friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter, in Goldfinger (1964). Another well-known film in which he appeared was Lolita (1962), as Doctor Keegee.
He was raised in Timmins, Ontario where his father was a rabbi to the Jewish community. During his early years of his professional career, Linder worked as an announcer at CKGB in Timmins.[1]
Linder enjoyed an extensive and successful television career on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, probably his most prominent role was as the palaeontologist Roney in the original BBC version of Quatermass and the Pit (1958–59).
In the United States, he was a regular in the CBS soap operas The Secret Storm and The Edge of Night and in the 1980s appeared in several of the Perry Mason revival TV films as District Attorney Jack Welles.
Linder was also a regular on the popular 1980s Canadian crime series Seeing Things, playing Crown Attorney Spenser.
During his career, he also had guest roles in episodes of a variety of other popular British, American and Canadian television programmes, including: The Forest Rangers, Doomwatch, The Littlest Hobo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ironside, The Saint, Danger Bay, The New Avengers, The Secret Storm (as Peter Ames), and The Edge of Night as Senator Ben Travis #2.
Linder appeared as Inspector Cramer in the CBC 1982 radio dramatizations of Nero Wolfe short stories.
Linder's last work was as Syd Grady in two episodes of the television series Sweating Bullets (1991).
He died the following year at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto of complications from emphysema.[2]
He accumulated over 225 credits in film and television productions in a long performing career.
