Tony Anholt, RIP

[Flamegrape]

I copied this from a news email I received from MST3K Satellite News:

quote:

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Tony Anholt, RIP
LONDON–Anthony “Tony” Anholt, the handsome stage, TV and film actor
best-known to his fellow Britons for his role as the smarmy tycoon Charles
Frere in the British primetime soap “Howard’s Way,” died here July 26 of a
brain tumor. He was 61. He is best known to MSTies as oft-abducted first
officer Tony Verdeschi in the TV series “Space 1999,” two episodes of which
were featured in episode K10- COSMIC PRINCESS.
Anholt was born in Singapore in 1941, and never knew his father. When the
island fell to the Japanese shortly after he was born, his father, a
Dutch-born insurance salesman, was captured and eventually died as a forced
laborer in Malaysia. His mother brought him to England and after finishing
school he went through a series of jobs: He taught English in Paris and
Spain, worked for a toy company and even sold insurance at his father’s old
firm. He finally turned to acting at age 26, working in TV commercials and
rural repertory companies, and eventually making his West End debut in “The
Boys in the Band” in 1969.
Anholt was soon a regular on the West End stage, in productions including
“The Tempest,” “The Importance of Being Ernest,” “Sleuth,” “My Fair Lady,”
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” Amadeus” and “Whose Life is it Anyway?” In
addition, for many years was an announcer on the BBC’s World Service.
He also appeared in numerous British television series, including spy
thriller “The Protectors,” (starring Robert Vaughn) and “Space 1999.” Anholt
joined the series for its controversial second season, when the grim but
serious-minded plots of the first season were abandoned for a more whimsical
tone derided by some fans and appreciated by others.
“It’s the happiest unit I’ve ever worked on,” he once noted about his work on
“Space 1999.” “I think some scripts on 1999 worked…but some were just
awful. But on the whole I think it was a very well made series.” Most
recently, he appeared in several episodes of the cult TV series “Lexx.”
Anholt married Sheila Wallet in 1964; their son Christien is now an actor in
his own right (he co-stars in the series “Relic Hunter”). The couple split in
1986 when the British tabloids began running articles about his affair with
“Howard’s Way” co-star Tracey Childs. Anholt and Childs married in 1990 and
divorced in 1998. Both Anholt’s ex-wives were reportedly by his bedside when
he passed away.

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[Anonymous]

Very sad news. He died too young. He was great on Space:1999 and in season four of Lexx as the cable news reporter. We’ll miss you, Tony…but you shall live on via the S:99 and Lexx dvd’s!

[Flamegrape]

I believe that Tony was the tv news man in Lyekka vs Japan and/or Yo Way Yo.

I really loved Space:1999 was I was a kid. Unlike a number of other fans, I really enjoyed the addition of Tony and Maya in the second season.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Flamegrape. 2002 has seen way too many go the eternal way for my taste, I’m afraid. Anholt was dark, handsome, and intriguing just when I was coming of an age to really appreciate that sort of thing. I know he was in Stan Down but did the article give the other episodes he was in? [it’s almost 6:30am and with no sleep, I haven’t the eyes for research…feel free to add whiny tone here ] {Hmmm, Vaughn, Anholt, I wonder if the Protectors is available at Amazon in the States? I’ve been collecting movies of dudes who put the cool in drool school, Coburn [Flint], Connery, Niven; I’m thinking Protectors would fit nicely!} But, no doubt, this bright star winked out too soon. Thanks for filling us in, Flame.

“There’s one more angel in Heaven
There’s one more star in the sky”

[Author]

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