Patrick Tull (28 July 1941 – 23 September 2006) was a Britishstage, film and television actor.
Early life and education
This section needs expansion with: prose on education. You can help by adding to it. (August 2011)
Tull was born in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England, the son of Phillida and Richard Tull. His father was an army officer and his mother an actress.
Career
Film and television work
Although never a regular cast member, Tull performed in a number of episodes of well-known BBC television series in the 1960s, including Z-Cars, and its spin-off Softly, Softly, the soap operaCrossroads and the comedy Dad's Army. He also was heard but not seen in an episode of Doctor Who in The Krotons.
He was a part of many productions in regional theatres throughout the U.S..
Tull received high praise for his work in the one-man play "The Hero of the Slocum", based on Eric Blau's account of the fire aboard the PS General Slocum in 1904, one of the greatest U.S. maritime disasters of the 20th century.
Narrator and reader
Tull is the first of only two people – the other being Simon Vance – to have recorded the entire Aubrey-Maturin series of nautical historical novels by Patrick O'Brian in complete and unabridged form. O’Brian once expressed disapproval of a dramatic rendition of recorded novels ("To revert to my ideal reader: he would avoid obvious emotion, italics and exclamation marks like the plague – trying to put life into flat prose is as useful as flogging a dead horse").[1] Many of Tull's listeners disagree. His lively dramatization of the characters, especially Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and his comprehensive command of the dialects and tenor of the novels endeared him to many O’Brian fans.[2][3]
Tull's narration of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael mysteries earned him a loyal following through 15 of her 21 books in the series.
He also narrated a number of television and documentary films including the seventeen-part series Sea Tales for the A&E television channel, some of which are available on DVD. He was also one of the most prolific narrators of recorded books in the U.S., featured on 104 productions.
In 2003, Tull performed in the world premiere of "Sydney the Sea Squid" for orchestra and narrator with music by Paul Stuart and text by Barbara Stewart with the Equinox Symphony Orchestra (with Stuart conducting) at the Rochester Institute of Technology, located in Rochester, New York.