Spotlight: Manning Wilson (Radio Commercial Voice in During Barty's Party)

 

Slim shouldered and narrow faced with a crop of curly dark hair Manning Wilson was born as Donald Stanley Manning Wilson on 17th February 1918 in Ipswich Suffolk. He married Josephine Harriet Eason Clode, who acted under the name Jo Manning Wilson, in 1940 and the couple remained together until his death in 1997. She is perhaps best known to a generation of viewers as Danny Kendall’s mum in the BBC children’s drama Grange Hill between 1987 and 1989. Manning Wilson was a member of the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company from 1947 until 1953.

Wilson acquired television credits from 1948 onwards with his breakthrough role coming with the BBC adaptation of Walter Scott’s classic novel Kenilworth (1957) as Thomas Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex. The following year he was back in period costume for the regular role of Lord Sandwich in the BBC series The Dairy of Samuel Pepys (1958) opposite Peter Sallis as the eponymous diarist. Wilson spent the remainder of the decade popping up in guest roles in such series as Emergency Ward 10, The Four Just Men and The Men from Room 13.

Wilson opened the 1960s with his first film role, as Inspector Jagger, in the 1960 version of The Hands of Orlac. The rest of his career would see Wilson become a popular guest actor in continuing series playing a variety of policemen, army commanders, clergymen and other authority figures. Worth noting amongst his CV is Choirboys Unite! (21st December 1961), a seasonal BBC play which sees a local choir go on strike over the Christmas period. Derek Francis played the vicar who sparks the dispute with Wilson popping up as the character Mr Gibbs. The play was directed by Don Taylor who would later helm the Beasts episodes “Buddyboy” and “During Barty’s Party”. He made his final television appearances in the 1980s with roles in the Dramarama story ‘Snoop!’ (25th June 1984) and a doctor in the sixth of the BBC series Bluebell (16th February 1986). Manning Wilson died on 9th December 1997 in Falmouth, Cornwall.