Thaw, John

▪ 2002

      One of the most beloved and highly regarded British actors, John Thaw, was honoured in 2001 at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards with a lifetime achievement fellowship. This was in recognition of his long and distinguished career, the highlight of which had been his masterly performance in the title role of the popular television series Inspector Morse. Thaw played the gruff-talking, beer-swilling inspector from 1987 until the character was “killed off” at the end of the 2000 season.

      Thaw was born on Jan. 3, 1942, in Manchester, Eng. His father was a truck driver, and his mother deserted the family when he was seven years old. At the age of 16 he entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After graduating from the acting school, he performed in repertory theatre in Liverpool before returning to London and joining the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. Thaw was part of a new wave of working-class actors who transformed the British stage following the debut in 1956 of playwright John Osborne's drama Look Back in Anger.

      In 1962 Thaw made his first film appearance in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Though other film roles followed, including appearances in Dead Man's Chest (1965), The Bofors Gun (1968), and The Last Grenade (1970), Thaw ultimately made his mark in television. He carved out a niche for himself in detective roles. After appearing in the 1960s police series Z Cars, Thaw attained star status as Inspector Jack Regan in The Sweeney, a television series that ran from 1974 to 1978. A film based on the series, Sweeney!, was released in 1977 and earned Thaw the Evening Standard's Best Film Actor of the Year Award. This was followed by a movie sequel, Sweeney II, in 1978.

      Thaw also played the role of a cunning barrister in Kavanagh Q.C., another popular series of the 1990s. It was as Inspector Morse, however, that he achieved worldwide fame. The absorbing, well-written series of crime mysteries, based on novels by British author Colin Dexter, was filmed on location in Oxford, Eng., and driven by Thaw's portrayal of the irascible inspector, an opinionated and flawed but morally decent man. The actor's performance was enhanced by his ability always to give the impression of complete naturalness on television.

      Films were not Thaw's forte, but he made strong contributions to two of director Sir Richard Attenborough's most notable works, Cry Freedom (1987) and Chaplin (1992). Shortly after the BAFTA honour, Thaw announced that he was suffering from cancer of the esophagus and would reduce his workload to concentrate on beating the disease.

Michael Coveney

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