Thomas Heathcote_

Thomas Heathcote (9 September 1917 – 5 January 1986) was a British character actor, a former protégé of Laurence Olivier. He was educated at Bradfield College in Bradfield, near Reading in Berkshire, England. His films included A Night to Remember (1958), Village of the Damned (1960), Billy Budd (1962), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Night of the Big Heat (1967) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967). On television he had notable guest roles in Dixon of Dock Green, The Prisoner, Z-Cars and The Onedin Line, and several years as farmer Ed Lawton in the teatime soap Crossroads. Heathcote was also a regular actor in BBC radio drama, notably in several series of Paul Temple.