Christopher Blake

Christopher Blake
Born	Peter Ronald Gray 23 August 1949(1949-08-23) London, England, U.K.
Died	11 December 2004(2004-12-11) (aged 55) London, England, U.K.
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actor, screenwriter
Years active	1971-2004

Christopher Blake (23 August 1949 – 11 December 2004) was an English actor and screenwriter who is best remembered for starring in the British sitcom That's My Boy alongside Mollie Sugden.

Early life

He was born Peter Ronald Gray on 23 August 1949 in Chingford, London, England. His father, Charles (known as Harry), was a plasterer and his mother, Elizabeth, a dressmaker and housewife. They went on to have two more sons. The family emigrated to Australia in the late 1950s but returned in 1966 and he attended the Fitzherbert Secondary Modern School, Brighton, Sussex. He then trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and changed his name to Christopher Blake, because there was another Peter Gray registered with the actors' union, Equity. He chose the surname Blake from the telephone directory.

Career

Blake first came to the attention of television audiences in 1972 when he was cast as Gilbert Blythe in the 1972 BBC mini-series of Anne of Green Gables. He would later reprise the role in 1975 when Anne of Avonlea was made. Blake later had roles in the LWT serial Love for Lydia (1977), and then in the ITV sitcom Mixed Blessings (1978) for which he also sang the theme tune. Although Blake remained busy as an actor in varied stage and television roles, his next truly successful venture was the ITV sitcom That's My Boy which ran from 1981-86. In this, Blake played Robert Price, a middle-class doctor who hires a live-in housekeeper who turns out to be his biological mother, Ida Willis (Sugden). After That's My Boy, Blake continued in character parts in episodic television, but never managed to land the more prominent roles that he had enjoyed earlier in his career. In 2000, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio adventure The Mutant Phase which featured the Daleks.

In later years Christopher Blake turned to screenwriting, writing several episodes of Channel 5's short-lived soap, Family Affairs. He wrote two episodes (Dancing in the Dark and Endangered Species) of the ITV crime serial Touch of Frost with his writing partner Tony Charles.

Personal life

He was married twice and had three children from his first marriage; two daughters and a son. A talented all-round cricketer since his youth in Australia, he played the game throughout his life, including for The Lord's Taverners and William Franklyn's team, the Sargentmen, which raised money for the Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children. One of his other great passions was supporting Arsenal F.C. and he dropped references to Arsenal into scripts whenever the opportunity arose.

Illness and death

In early 2004 Christopher Blake was diagnosed with an aggressive and rare form of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and received treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey. He died on 11 December 2004 in London, England, aged 55. He is buried at the East London Cemetery and Crematorium.^[1]

Television Credits ^[2]

• Casualty (TV series) .... Alan / ... (2 episodes, 1990–2001)
• Doctors (BBC soap opera) .... Dan Armstrong (1 episode, 2001)
• Birds of a Feather .... David Kane (1 episode, 1997)
• Down to Earth (TV series) (1995) TV Series .... Chris Fairfax (unknown episodes)
• To Be the Best (1992) (TV) .... Sandy
• So Haunt Me .... Chris Longford (1 episode, 1992)
• Brookside (1982) TV Series .... Tim Derby (unknown episodes, 1991)
• Young Charlie Chaplin .... Asylum Doctor (2 episodes, 1989)
• That's My Boy .... Dr. Robert 'Shane' Price (37 episodes, 1981–1986)
• Love's Labour's Lost (1985 film) (TV) .... Longaville
• Alexa (1982 mini series) TV Series .... Paul
• Tales of the Unexpected (TV series) .... Israeli Officer (1 episode, 1981)
• The Mill on the Floss (1978 film) (mini) TV Series .... Tom Tulliver
• The Lost Boys (docudrama) (1978) (mini) TV Series .... George
• Mixed Blessings (1978) TV Series .... Thomas Simpson
• A Ghost Story For Christmas: Stigma (1977) (TV) .... Richard
• Love for Lydia (1977 TV mini-series) .... Richardson
• Anne of Avonlea (1975 film) (mini) TV Series .... Gilbert Blythe
• Warship (TV series) .... Sg. Lt. Newcombe (1 episode, 1974)
• Death or Glory Boy (1974) (TV) .... David Parker
• Anne of Green Gables (1972 film) (mini) TV Series .... Gilbert Blythe

Film Credits^[2]

• Child 2 Man (2000) .... Dabdu's Sidekick
• La Passione (1996) .... John MacIlroy
• Aces High (1976) .... Lieutenant Roberts
• Hennessy (1975) .... Young Soldier
• Because of the Cats (1973) .... Frank Kieft

References

1. ^ Christopher Blake (1949 - 2004) - Find A Grave Memorial
2. ^ ^{a b} Christopher Blake (I)

Persondata
Name	Blake, Christopher
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 August 1949
Place of birth	London, England, U.K.
Date of death	11 December 2004
Place of death	London, England, U.K.