Roddy_McMillan

Roddy McMillan

Roddy McMillan

Scottish actor and playwright


Roddy McMillan OBE (23 March 1923 9 July 1979) was a Scottish actor and playwright, possibly most famous for his comedy role as Para Handy for BBC Scotland's television series, The Vital Spark.[1][2] He also played the lead role in Edward Boyd's private eye series, The View from Daniel Pike.[3]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Biography

The Glasgow-born McMillan worked for a time in a glassworks. His theatre work began in the mid-1940s with the Glasgow Unity Theatre.[4] Later that decade, he began acting with the Glasgow Citizen's Company before moving on to Edinburgh's Gateway Theatre in the mid-1950s.[5]

His first play, All in Good Faith, about a Glasgow family which unexpectedly comes into possession of £15,000, was first staged in 1954.[6] He performed in his second play, The Bevellers, which premiered at the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh and achieved success at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow during 1973 and then as a televised Play for Today for the BBC.[2][7] McMillan also played Detective Inspector "Choc" Minty in the late 1970s private eye series, Hazell, starring Nicholas Ball.[8]

McMillan was awarded the OBE in the 1978 Queen's Birthday honours.

Death

Roddy McMillan died following a heart attack, aged 56, not long after completing filming on the second series of Hazell.[9]

Theatre

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Filmography

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Reviews

  • Findlay, Bill (1980), review of All in Good Faith in Bold, Christine (ed.), Cencrastus No. 3, Summer 1980, pp. 43 & 44, ISSN 0264-0856.

References

  1. "Roddy McMillan". BFI. Archived from the original on 8 February 2019.
  2. "The View from Daniel Pike". 18 November 1971. p. 65 via BBC Genome.
  3. Craig, Cairns; Stevens, Randall (1 July 2010). Twentieth Century Scottish Drama. Canongate Books. ISBN 9781847674746.
  4. "STA Catalogue: Roddy McMillan". University of Glasgow Special Collections. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  5. Hutchison, David (1980), Roddy McMillan and the Scottish Theatre, in Cencrastus No. 2, Spring 1980, pp. 5 - 8
  6. "The Bevellers (1974)". BFI. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022.
  7. "BFI Screenonline: Hazell (1978-80)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  8. "'Tough guy' TV actor dies at 56". The Guardian. 10 July 1979.

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