- Andrew Faulds
Infobox actor
name = Andrew Faulds
caption =
birthname = Andrew Matthew William Faulds
birthdate = 1 March 1923
birthplace = Isoko,Tanzania
deathdate = death date and age|2000|05|31|1923|03|1
deathplace = Stratford-on-Avon,Warwickshire ,England
restingplace =
othername =
occupation = Actor, politician
yearsactive =
spouse = Bunty Whitfield (1945-2000)
website =
awards =Andrew Matthew William Faulds (1 March 1923 – 31 May 2000) was a British
actor andpolitician .Born in
Isoko ,Tanganyika (nowTanzania ), tomissionary parents, Faulds married Bunty Whitfield in 1945. After graduating from theUniversity of Glasgow , he joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company in 1948 but first came to a wider public recognition playing "Jet Morgan" inCharles Chilton 's radio drama "Journey Into Space " on theBBC Light Programme .cite news | last =White | first =Michael | title =Obituary: Andrew Faulds | work =The Guardian | date =2000-06-01 | url =http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,1441,563445,00.html | accessdate =2007-08-11 ]In 1959, Faulds and his wife played host to
Paul Robeson who had travelled toEngland to appear at theRoyal Shakespeare Theatre ,Stratford upon Avon inTony Richardson 's production of "Othello ". Robeson was still under severe censure and scrutiny in theUSA owing to hissocialist convictions and had only recently been allowed to travel abroad again following the confiscation of his passport during the McCarthyist episode. It was during this visit that Robeson inspired Faulds to take up political activism.In the UK general election, 1964, the Labour
Foreign Secretary ,Patrick Gordon Walker , had been defeated in controversial circumstances in the Smethwick constituency by Conservative candidatePeter Griffiths . Smethwick had been a focus ofimmigration from the Commonwealth in the economic and industrial growth of the years followingWorld War II and Griffiths ran a campaign critical of the government's policy. There were rumours that his supporters had covertly circulated the slogan "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour". Faulds defeated Griffiths in the UK general election, 1966 and was LabourMember of Parliament for the constituency until his retirement in 1997. (The constituency was renamed Warley East in 1974.) Smethwick remained the focus of much racial tension inEngland throughout Faulds' office, in particular following theRivers of Blood Speech byEnoch Powell in 1968 which Faulds characterised as "... unchristian ... unprincipled, undemocratic and racialist".There has been speculation that Faulds was denied ministerial office because of his open support of the
Palestinian cause.Faulds maintained his acting career throughout the 1960s and 1970s and, in particular became a key part of
film director Ken Russell 's repertory company, appearing in, among other films, "The Devils" (1971), "Mahler" (1974) and "Lisztomania " (1975). Notably, he appeared in Russell's film "The Music Lovers " (1971) alongsideGlenda Jackson who was also to go on to become a Labour MP.One of Faulds' most famous roles is that of Phalerus in "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963), taking part in the famous skeleton fight scene by
Ray Harryhausen , and another was in one ofTony Hancock 's best remembered television programmes, unseen but as the voice of 'mayday' in "The Radio Ham" (1961).Notes
External links
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* [http://archives.lse.ac.uk/dserve.exe?dsqServer=lib-4.lse.ac.uk&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Overview.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo='faulds') Catalogue of the Faulds papers] at the [http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/Default.htm Archives Division] of theLondon School of Economics .----
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