Michael Goodliffe
Acting • Born 1914-10-01 – Died 1976-03-20
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Lawrence Michael Andrew Goodliffe (1 October 1914 – 20 March 1976) was an English actor best known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers. He was also sometimes cast in working class parts. Goodliffe was born in Bebington, Cheshire (now Merseyside), the son of a vicar, and educated at St Edmund's School, Canterbury, and Keble College, Oxford. He started his career in repertory theatre in Liverpool before moving on to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon. He joined the British Army at the beginning of World War II, and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in February 1940. He was wounded in the leg and captured at the Battle of Dunkirk. Goodliffe was incorrectly listed as killed in action, and even had his obituary published in a newspaper. He was to spend the rest of the war a prisoner in Germany. Whilst in captivity he produced and acted in (and in some cases wrote) many plays and sketches to entertain fellow prisoners. These included two productions of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, one in Tittmoning and the other in Eichstätt, in which he played the title role. He also produced the first staging of Noel Coward's Post Mortem at Eichstätt. A full photographic record of these productions exists. After the war he resumed his professional acting career. As well as appearing in the theatre he worked in film and television. He appeared in The Wooden Horse in 1950 and in other POW films. His best known film was A Night to Remember (1958) in which he played Thomas Andrews, builder of the RMS Titanic. His best known television series was Sam (1973–75) in which he played an unemployed Yorkshire miner. He also appeared with John Thaw and James Bolam in the 1967 television series Inheritance. Suffering from depression, Goodliffe had a breakdown in 1976 during the period that he was rehearsing for a revival of Equus. He committed suicide a few days later by leaping from a hospital fire escape, whilst a patient at the Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Goodliffe, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
97 credits
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Movie • 1973
General Weidling
A Night to Remember
Movie • 1958
Thomas Andrews
Peeping Tom
Movie • 1960
Don Jarvis
Von Ryan's Express
Movie • 1965
Captain Stein
Cromwell
Movie • 1970
Solicitor General
To the Devil a Daughter
Movie • 1976
George de Grass
The Gorgon
Movie • 1964
Professor Jules Heitz
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Movie • 1961
Jacko Jackson the Night Editor
The Night of the Generals
Movie • 1967
Hauser
Testament of Orpheus
Movie • 1960
English Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
The Battle of the Sexes
Movie • 1960
Detective
Dial 999
Movie • 1955
John Moffat
Wicked as They Come
Movie • 1956
Larry Buckham
633 Squadron
Movie • 1964
Squadron Leader Frank Adams
In Sickness and in Health
Movie • 1975
Dr David Muray
The Connoisseur
Movie • 1966
Rev. Adrian Tenterden
The Small Back Room
Movie • 1949
Till
The One That Got Away
Movie • 1957
R.A.F. Interrogator
The Battle of the River Plate
Movie • 1956
Captain McCall, R.N., British Naval Attache, Buenos Aires
Three Crooked Men
Movie • 1958
Shop Customer
Sink the Bismarck!
Movie • 1960
Captain Banister
The Fifth Day of Peace
Movie • 1970
Snow
Jigsaw
Movie • 1962
Clyde Burchard
Quentin Durward
Movie • 1955
Count De Dunois
The 7th Dawn
Movie • 1964
Trumphey
The End of the Affair
Movie • 1955
Smythe
The Fixer
Movie • 1968
Ostrovsky
The Jokers
Movie • 1967
Lt. Col. Paling
The Camp on Blood Island
Movie • 1958
Father Paul Anjou
Up the Creek
Movie • 1958
Nelson
Sea Devils
Movie • 1953
Ragan
Fortune Is a Woman
Movie • 1957
Detective Insp. Barnes
The Man with Two Faces
Movie • 1964
Jeff Driscoll
Rob Roy, The Highland Rogue
Movie • 1953
Robert Walpole
Stop Press Girl
Movie • 1949
McPherson
Conspiracy of Hearts
Movie • 1960
Father Desmaines
80,000 Suspects
Movie • 1963
Clifford Preston
The Wooden Horse
Movie • 1950
Robbie
The Hour of 13
Movie • 1952
Anderson
Family Portrait
Movie • 1950
Narrator (voice)
The White Trap
Movie • 1959
Inspector Walters
Don't Be Like Brenda
Movie • 1973
Narrator (uncredited)
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.
Movie • 1951
Col. Caillard - POW Escort
Woman of Straw
Movie • 1964
Solicitor
Number Six
Movie • 1962
Det. Supt. Hallett
The £20,000 Kiss
Movie • 1962
Sir Harold Trevitt
Macbeth
Movie • 1970
Duncan
The Trials of Oscar Wilde
Movie • 1960
Charles Gill
Plan for Coal
Movie • 1952
The Company Man
Movie • 1970
Mr. Lansing
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Movie • 1971
Mr. Teevee (uncredited)
Chaucer's England
Movie • 1958
The Theif
Henry VIII and His Six Wives
Movie • 1972
Thomas More
Further Up the Creek
Movie • 1958
Lt. Commander Blakeney
Cry, the Beloved Country
Movie • 1951
Martens
Front Page Story
Movie • 1954
Kennedy
No Love for Johnnie
Movie • 1961
Dr. West
Still Life
Movie • 1970
David
Man in the Middle
Movie • 1964
Colonel Shaw
Ocean Terminal
Movie • 1952
Narrator (voice)
Link Span
Movie • 1956
Narrator (voice)
Carve Her Name with Pride
Movie • 1958
Coding Expert
The 39 Steps
Movie • 1959
Brown
The Making of 'A Night to Remember'
Movie • 1993
Self (archive footage)
The End Begins
Movie • 1957
Col. Ridgewell
James Bond: The First 21 Years
Movie • 1983
Bill Tanner (archive footage)
The Crowded Day
Movie • 1954
Eve's Husband
A Stitch in Time
Movie • 1963
Doctor on Children's Ward (uncredited)
The Man with the Golden Gun
Movie • 1974
Bill Tanner
Steel Town
Movie • 1958
Self - Commentator
The Avengers
TV • 1961
The Protectors
TV • 1972
De Santos
The Saint
TV • 1962
Dr. Quintus
Callan
TV • 1967
Dixon of Dock Green
TV • 1955
Garfield Fenton
Interpol Calling
TV • 1959
Wolf Barstrom
Man in a Suitcase
TV • 1967
Zero One
TV • 1962
Maigret
TV • 1960
Hine
TV • 1971
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
TV • 1969
Arthur de Crecy
Sam
TV • 1973
Jack Barraclough
Thirty-Minute Theatre
TV • 1965
The Minister
Inheritance
TV • 1967
Mr. Oldroyd
Cities At War
TV • 1968
Self - Narrator
The Wednesday Play
TV • 1964
Mr. Douglas
BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Duncan
Edgar Wallace Mysteries
TV • 1959
Sir Harold Trevitt
Sunday Night Theatre
TV • 1950
Udolphus McCluskey
Edgar Wallace Mysteries
TV • 1959
Det. Supt. Hallett
Man of the World
TV • 1962
Galworth
The Power Game
TV • 1965
Geoffrey Packard
Somerset Maugham Hour
TV • 1960
Lansbury
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
Dr Bergman
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
Götz von Berlichingen
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
Petrovykh
The Idiot
TV • 1966
General Epanchin