Christopher Malcolm

Christopher Malcolm
Christopher Malcolm
Born	19 August 1946; Aberdeen, Scotland
Died	15 February 2014 (aged 67); London, England
Occupation(s)	Actor, producer, director
Years active	1968–2011
Spouse	Judy Malcolm
Children	3

Christopher Malcolm (19 August 1946 – 15 February 2014) was a Scottish-Canadian actor and theatrical producer. He first achieved notoriety for his role as Brad Majors in the original stage production of The Rocky Horror Show.

Early life and education

Malcolm was born in Aberdeen and was brought up in Canada after his family emigrated to British Columbia in the late 1940s. He attended the University of British Columbia, where he worked and studied theatre.

Career

After university, he returned to the UK and began his professional career with the Royal Shakespeare Company (1966–68). He appeared in at least ten productions and worked with directors including Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn and John Barton. Throughout the 1970s, he worked continuously in theatre and film, appearing in many Royal Court productions including the award-winning musical, The Rocky Horror Show creating the role of Brad Majors.^[1] He appeared in films including The Empire Strikes Back (as Zev Senesca, the Alliance pilot who locates and rescues the stranded Luke Skywalker and Han Solo on planet Hoth), Reds, Ragtime, Superman III, Labyrinth, and Highlander.^[2]

In 1978, Malcolm began his producing career with Pal Joey, which was successfully transferred to the West End in 1980 and was nominated for best Musical Revival in the Laurence Olivier Awards. He followed this success with the Best Comedy award in 1981 for Nell Dunn's Steaming, which went on to play for two years at the Comedy Theatre and around the world.^[3]^[4] Other productions in London included Frankie and Johnny, When I Was A Young Girl I Used To Scream And Shout, as well as five Steven Berkoff plays, including Decadence, Greek and Metamorphosis.^[5] in 1983 he appeared in Only Fools and Horses as axe murderer Charles Winters. Malcolm also played the role of the café owner in The Comic Strip's 1984 film "A Fistful of Traveller's Cheques".^[6]

In 1990, Malcolm co-produced a new production of The Rocky Horror Show at the Piccadilly Theatre, in partnership with Howard Panter of the Ambassador Theatre Group.^[7] This Olivier nominated production went on to huge success throughout the UK, enjoying 4 nationwide tours over the next 10 years as well as many productions throughout the world. He oversaw these productions on behalf of The Rocky Horror Company Ltd, a company formed by the producers and the play's author Richard O'Brien to look after this much loved musical.^[8] The show finally reached Broadway in 2000 in a Tony Award-nominated production co-produced with Jordan Roth Productions at the Circle in the Square theatre.^[9]

Other British productions throughout this time include The Pajama Game, Footloose the Musical, and the award-winning Single Spies written by Alan Bennett which had a very successful year at the Queen's Theatre. He co-produced the world premiere of Flashdance The Musical which premiered at the Plymouth Theatre Royal in 2008, toured the UK and presented at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 2010. The final show he produced was 'Oh! What a Lovely War!' at Stratford East which was directed by Terry Johnson and opened in January 2014 to critical acclaim. He had maintained his interest in acting as well, appearing on 11 episodes of Absolutely Fabulous as Saffy's father, Justin, and in the BBC2 film, Daphne as Nelson Doubleday.^[10]^[11]

Personal life

Malcolm lived in London with his wife Judy Lloyd, an actress. They had three children, Nell, Morgan, and Marlon.^[5]

His daughter Morgan Lloyd Malcolm reported his death from cancer, aged 67, on 15 February 2014, via Twitter.^[12]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Ref.
1968	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Attendant
1969	The Desperados	Gregg
1970	Figures in a Landscape	Helicopter observer
1971	Welcome to the Club	Pvt. Henry Hoe
1972	The Adventures of Barry McKenzie	Sean	^[5]
1975	The Spiral Staircase	Policeman
1977	The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It	The Other CIA Man
1978	Force 10 from Navarone	Rogers
1979	The Great Riviera Bank Robbery	Serge	^[5]
1980	The Empire Strikes Back	Zev Senesca (Rogue 2)	^[2]
1980	The Dogs of War	Baker
1981	Shock Treatment	Vance Parker
	Ragtime	Police Captain No. 2	^[7]
	Reds	C.L.P. Party member	^[5]
1983	Superman III	1st Miner	^[7]
1984	Lassiter	Quaid
1985	King David	Doeg
	Rustlers' Rhapsody	Jud
	Spies Like Us	Jumpmaster
1986	Highlander	Kirk Matunas	^[2]
1986	Labyrinth	Robert	^[2]
1987	Eat the Rich	Steinbeck
1988	Whoops Apocalypse	Gallagher

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1969	Strange Report	Slaon	1 episode, "Report 3906: Cover Girls - Last Year's Model"
1971	ITV Playhouse	The first officer	1 episode "The Switch"
1971	Justice	Farrer	1 episode "People Have Too Many Rights"
1972	The Protectors	Malloy	1 episode, "Disappearing Trick"
1973	Diamonds on Wheels	Jock	Television Movie
1973	Harriet's Back in Town	Benjamin Finch	2 episodes
1974	Disneyland	Jock	3 episodes, "Diamonds on Wheels"
1975	Thriller	Hank	1 episode, "Won't Write Home Mom – I'm Dead"
	Edward the Seventh	American Attaché	1 episode, "The New World"
	It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow	The Yank	Television Movie
1976	Second Verdict	Mullaly	1 episode, "Lizzie Borden"
1977	Raffles	Barney Maguire	1 episode, "A Trap to "Catch a Cracksman"
1980	Play for Today	Matt	1 episode, "Instant Enlightenment Including VAT"
1980	Oppenheimer	Steve Nelson	2 episodes
1982	Whoops Apocalypse	Motorcycle Cop	1 episode, "How To Get Rid of It"
	We'll Meet Again	Master Sgt. Mac McGraw	10 episodes
	Beau Geste	Hank	5 episodes
1983	The Last Day	American at Airport	Television Movie
1983	Only Fools and Horses	Charles Winters, the Axe Murderer	1 episode, Friday the 14th
1984–1990	The Comic Strip	Brother-in-law, Cafe Owner	2 episodes	^[13]
1986	The Daily Woman	Max Callisher	Television Movie
	The Last Days of Patton	Maj. Ken Morgan (Hospital PAO)	Television Movie
	The Ted Kennedy Jr. Story	Ben Gibbs	Television Movie
1987	Pulaski	Tony	1 episode, "The Lone Granger"
1988	War and Remembrance	Bunky Thurston	2 episodes
1992–1994	Firm Friends	Eddie Vincent	2 episodes
1992–2011	Absolutely Fabulous	Justin	11 episodes (final appearance)	^[7]
1994	Lovejoy	Texas Greenberg	1 episode	^[7]
1996	Over Here	Murphy	Television Movie
2007	Daphne	Nelson Doubleday	Television Movie	^[14]