Acting

Patrick Holt

Born 31 January 1912 · Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK · Died 12 October 1993 at 81

Born Patrick George Parsons, Patrick spent part of his childhood in India with his uncle. Patrick was sent to Christ's Hospital, a famous charity school in England, where he formed a close friendship with a boy in the same boarding house, the future film star, Michael Wilding. Some thought Holt was the better actor. He started his career in repertory theatres, and in 1939, landed a lead on the London stage. WWII broke out, and he joined the army, cutting his venture into stage time. He saw service in Burma, Singapore and India, often on secret missions behind enemy lines. By the end of the war, Patrick had rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war, Patrick joined the J. Arthur Rank charm school and established himself as a leading actor of the 1950s second features ('B-films'). Quinlan has called him 'the Dennis Price of B-films..By evolving into a character actor, he continued his career into old age, working on stage and television as well as in the cinema, and was still listed in the Spotlight casting directory at the time of his death. His first wife was the actress Sonia Holm. In 1955, he married Sandra Dorne, with whom he had occasionally costarred. The marriage was happy, and Patrick's said to have never recovered from her death on Christmas Day, 1992. - IMDb mini biography by: Rex Sweeny (adjusted, T Behr) He said that he became an actor because he wanted to be in films. He started in Rep at Hull, where he spent two years before moving to Croydon Rep, which was close to London for agents and talent scouts to drop in. Through this, he got his first film part in 'The Return of the Frog' (1938) playing a cadet in a police college listening to a talk by a police inspector (Gordon Harker). Not only was he paid £5 for two days work and given a couple of lines, but Harker, recognizing his talent, spoke to his agent who asked Patrick to call and see him and offered him the part of Lord Talmadge in the film 'Sword of Honour'. He had always suffered from asthma and partly because of that and partly because he was in a hit West End play, he was thought to be good for public morale.He had his call up for war service deferred twice, but on the third time, while attending a medical wheezing with asthma, he was passed A.1. Training on Salisbury Plain and living in tents and away from the anxiety of wondering where his next part and wage would come from, he had little or no further problems with asthma. When he was at school he had done an officer training course, so it wasn't long before he was made a lance bombardier. By the end of the war he was a Lt Colonel. After being demobbed, he spoke to Leslie Howard's sister who was head of casting at Rank and she sent him to see the director Brian Desmond Hurst who was filming 'Hungry Hill'. With only having his uniform and an ill-fitting demob suit, Patrick turned up for the interview. Brian said, that as the film was nearly finished, he could only offer him the small part of batman, expecting him to turn it down, but he took it, making it his first credited film part and launching his film career. - IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5