BAFTA 4 JB

It is with deep sorrow that we post this Memorial Message for one of our most fervent supporters, Mr. Edward Hardwicke, who passed away on Monday, 16^th May at the age of 78.  Mr. Hardwicke was probably best known to many people for his portrayal of Doctor Watson alongside Jeremy Brett in Granada Television’s “Sherlock Holmes” series (1984-1994).

Edward Hardwicke was born in London, England, the son of actors Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Helena Pickard. He began his film career in Hollywood at the age of 10, in Victor Fleming’s film ”A Guy Named Joe”, with Spencer Tracy. He returned to England, attended Stowe School, and did his military service as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force. He joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and trained as an actor.

Hardwicke played at the Bristol Old Vic, The Oxford Playhouse and the Nottingham Playhouse, before joining Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre in 1964. He performed regularly there for seven years. He appeared with Olivier in William Shakespeare’s ”Othello” and Ibsen’s ”The Master Builder”. He also appeared in Peter Shaffer’s ”The Royal Hunt of the Sun” (with Robert Stephens), ”Charley’s Aunt”, Tom stoppard’s ”Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”, Congreve’s ”The Way of The World”, Georges Feydeau’s ”A Flea In Her Ear” (directed by Jacques Charon of the Comédie Française), ”The Crucible”, Luigi Pirandello’s ”The Rules Of The Game”, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ”The Idiot” and George Bernard Shaw’s ”Mrs. Warren’s Profession”. He returned to the National in 1977 for a production of Feydeau’s ”The Lady from Maxim’s”.

In 1973, he played Dr Astrov in Anton Cheklov’s ”Uncle Vanya” at the Bristol Old Vic ,and had an uncredited role as Charles Calthrop in the motion picture ”The Day of The Jackal”. In 1975, he appeared in Frederik Lonsdale’s ”On Approval” at the Haymarket Theatre, and in 1976, he played Sir Robert Chiltern in Oscar Wilde’s ”An Ideal Husband”at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, a production with which he toured Canada.

It was during the 1970s that Edward Hardwicke became familiar to television audiences in the drama series, “Colditz”, in which he played aharacter based on the real-life war hero, Pat Reid.He then played Arthur in the sitcom “My Old Man”. In 1978, Hardwicke appeared as Bellcourt in the last filmed episode of “The Sweeny”called “Hearts and Minds”.

David Burke suggested Hardwicke as his successor in the role of Doctor Watson in the Granada Television adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories, alongside Jeremy Brett. Hardwicke played the role for eight years from 1986 to 1994 as a very calm and attentive Watson and became permanently associated with it, also playing it on the West End stage with Brett in “The Secret of Sherlock Holmes”in 1989. That same year, he also directed “Going On”by Charles Dennis at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Away from ”Colditz” and ”Sherlock Holmes”, His other television appearances were numerous, and included “Some Mother’s Dove ‘Ave ‘em” (1973), “Holocaust”(1978), “Oppenheimer”(1980), “Lovejoy”(1992), “The Ruth Rendell Mysteries”(1997), “David Copperfield”(2000), “Heartbeat” (2001), “Agatha Christie’s Poirot”(2004), “Fanny Hill”(2007), “Holby City” and “Shameless”(2010) as a World War II veteran.

Edward Hardwicke appeared in several films over the course of his career, including “The Black Windmill”(1974), Richard Loncraine’s 1995 version of “Richard III”, “The Scarlet Letter”(1995), “Shadowlands”(1993), “Elizabeth”(1998), “Enigma”(2001), “The Gathering Storm”(2002), “Love Actually”(2003) and Roman Polanski’s “Oliver Twist”(2005).

In 2001, he played Arthur Winslow in ”The Winslow Boy” at the Chichester Festival Theatre, a role played by his father in the 1948 film.

In 2010, BAFTA 4 JB approached Edward Hardwicke in the hope that he would consider supporting our petition and campaign to have his friend and former colleague, Jeremy Brett, awarded a posthumous BAFTA for his oustanding career. Mr Hardwicke whole-heartedly agreed, and proved himself, on numerous occasions, to be a most fervent supporter, always ready and eager to be updated as to our progress. In June of the same year, he provided a short and yet lovely note of support for our campaign and website  (click HERE to read  Mr. Hardwicke’s note of support). It was therefore with great sadness that our team learned of his death last week.

We would like to thank Mr Hardwicke for his undwindling support of our campaign, and for his belief that we could, and would, ultimately succeed.

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