Philip Madoc Welsh Greats

Philip Madoc made his name playing compelling, fascinating villains.

Magua is a great chief. We have conquered.

But there is to be no taking of scalps.

His rich voice and dark looks made him everyone's favourite bad guy.

Your name will also go on the list. What is it?

-Don't tell him, Pike!

-Pike.

But the greatest challenge of Philip's life came when he was chosen to play a true Welsh hero.

Don't you see, if we were more inseparable,

we would be insuperable?

At the peak of his career, his voice had become the voice of Wales.

Lamb, your name is.

Welsh, your breed.

No finer sight to behold.

A splendid dish on which to feed.

Philip Arfon Jones was born in Twynyrodyn

in Merthyr Tydfil in 1934.

His father, William Richard Jones,

had moved to Merthyr from North Wales,

and Philip was born into a bilingual family.

His first language would have been Welsh,

with both parents speaking Welsh.

It was just with him going to school,

he came home and wanted

to practise his English, so from then on, English was spoken at home.

And so when I was born, it was an English household.

At Cyfarthfa Grammar School, Philip was a keen sportsman

and captain of the cricket team.

He showed a flair for drama from an early age.

We used to go to Queen's Road youth club on Tuesday and Thursday evening.

There was a drama group set up there.

We were doing it all. We'd have a bit of fun out of this, you know?

But of course, that's not Philip, see?

Anyway, he came in, and he got a brush, the head of the brush in between his legs,

and he is riding on this as the horse, like.

Well, everybody was roaring laughing. But he didn't like that.

Anything he did, he did, very positive about it, like.

It was in him anyway to be an actor then at that early stage, you know?

In the sixth form, Philip got a chance

to show off his acting talent to the whole of Merthyr

when he took on the title role in the school's production of Macbeth.

I took a seat in the front row, and I was OK for a while,

and then the ghost of Banquo was there, and he was talking to

this ghost, and I thought, I couldn't cope with that.

So I took a quick run to the back row.

But I just remember it because it was all so convincing,

and people really thought that he did have a talent.

Philip was a natural performer,

not just on stage but also on the dance floors of Merthyr.

He loved dancing.

He used to go to the Drill Hall in Georgetown Saturday night. But he liked to do it properly.

The tango. The tango with all the... And the leather shoes, and all.

He looked the part, like, you know? Always dressed immaculate.

Oh, he was a good dresser.

Two of Merthyr's dance halls, the YMCA and the YWCA,

each attracted a very different class of clientele.

The roughs would go to the YM,

but all the classy girls would go to the YW.

Nice girls, better class women seemed to go there.

We had the rough and readys in the YM.

'Course, Philip would be over in the YWCA, wouldn't he?

Dancing with all these grammar school girls, you know? The upper crust, as we called them.

Philip was an ambitious young man,

and his aspirations lay beyond Merthyr.

In 1952 he began studying modern languages at Cardiff University.

As part of his course,

he spent a year studying and working as an interpreter in Vienna.

He started to experience areas of culture, new ways of living,

new food, new songs,

new theatre, that he had never experienced before in South Wales.

Philip returned to Cardiff to finish his modern languages degree.

But he was still pursuing his passion for acting,

appearing in a student production of the play A Sleep Of Prisoners.

Christopher Fry, the playwright, actually came to see it.

And suggested to Philip afterwards

that he should try for a scholarship at RADA.

He could see the talent there.

My mother thought there was no future in it,

so he was encouraged to do a year of teacher training,

which he did, at Cardiff.

But Philip's destiny lay outside the classroom.

In 1958 he won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

It was there that he met

a young drama student from Llansamlet called Ruth Llewellyn.

He came into a rehearsal of Under Milk Wood.

He had fairly dyed yellowish hair at this particular point,

and a sort of mauve cardie on.

And we all thought, you know, people didn't dress like this, you see.

And especially Welsh people.

We all thought he was gay. But I soon found out he wasn't gay.

Romance blossomed,

and it wasn't long before Philip and Ruth were an item.

She was really attracted to two things from him.

One was his charm and his voice, and he had a lovely resonant voice.

And she also loved his intellectual prowess.

I think that really attracted my mother to him.

Philip's training at RADA had taught him how to make the best

of his greatest natural asset - his voice.

We were all taught to have good projection, clarity of diction,

and that was it.

PHILIP: In my craft, or sullen art, exercised in the still night

when only the moon rages,

and the lovers lie abed with all their griefs in their arms,

I labour by singing light,

not for ambition or bread,

or the strut and trade of charms on the ivory stages,

but for the common wages of their most secret heart.

He had a voice which was almost Burton-esque.

There is a natural authority in that voice.

Burton had it, Philip Madoc had it.

With that magnificent voice, he was ideal for classical theatre.

After leaving RADA, Philip acted in repertory theatre for a while,

but he was destined to make his name in a different medium.

In 1961 he made his first appearance on television,

in a BBC schools programme.

-Greetings.

-Greetings.

-You are new to this section of the wall, aren't you?

-That's right. Just arrived.

You know, wherever you go, it's always the same story.

Whatever the blood, we legionaries are all Roman.

This is Rome's wall. And I've seen nothing to equal it.

Oh, yes, I see what you mean by the desolation.

Philip had now changed his surname to Madoc.

TV work was highly sought after,

but with only two channels on air, parts were few and far between.

In 1963, Philip and Ruth were about to get married

when Philip's agent called.

Our marriage date had to be put off because he got a Maigret.

And my parents did it without batting an eyelid.

"Yes, of course, Philip."

Because it was so important that you did get that exposure on television.

Sit down!

Maigret was a hugely popular series about a Parisian detective

which ran for 52 episodes in the early '60s.

What's the charge?

Philip played a gigolo who murders his wealthy mistress.

I want to know about a man like you. How do you make your living?

Where do you get your money?

-I do all right.

-But how?

-Buying, selling. I get by.

Not too badly, either, I'd say.

Tailored silk shirts, diamond cufflinks. Look at those shoes.

Snakeskin. He grows his own.

-I don't have to be here, so what's the charge?

-This one.

Malicious assault on a woman. Michelle Papinos.

I served my sentence. You can't rake that up again.

-I want to know why you did it.

-I roughed her up a bit.

-She was asking for it.

-What do you mean, she was asking for it?

-She insulted you?

-She wanted it! Oh, she liked it.

-Liked being knocked about?

-Some women do.

Television demanded a more restrained style of acting than theatre,

and Philip had to adjust his style accordingly.

RUTH: I can always remember my mum saying,

"He's mumbling. He's mumbling. That's not right."

And she used to tell him, as well.

"Why don't you have that projection that you have on the stage?"

"Well, you can't do that, you see, Iris."

"Oh. Well, bring it down, the voice, but clarity of diction, please."

I'm in the clear, and you know it.

'In television, projection was less important,

'and a big voice could be a disadvantage.

'What became more important were your physical characteristics.'

He was a very handsome man. He had lots of dark hair, dark good looks.

Extremely lively eyes.

And I think at that stage there must have been every hope of being

a leading man or a romantic hero.

-What time's he due back?

-Any time now. Pubs are shut.

In the detective series Cluff, Philip plays a ladies' man

who's courting a local farmer's wife.

Big fella like Rufus, and his wife chasing anything she can get?

-You don't care, do you?

-Not much.

What about you, Saul lad, you ready to jump out of t'window?

-Catch me doing that(!)

-He'd break you in half if he caught us.

Never. He wouldn't know how to start.

Oh, he's a big fella.

That doesn't mean a thing.

You've got to know how to use your weight.

-Oh, and you do?

-You know I do.

-Well, bully for you!

I'm glad to have not got you for a wife.

I see - just good enough for half an hour here and there, eh?

-You know what I mean.

-Don't know why I put up with you.

You know why, don't you?

Despite Philip's romantic good looks,

casting directors recognised in him a different kind of potential.

I'm still the best, aren't I?

'You began to realise that there was something slightly'

sinister in that smile. That there was something mischievous in him.

He was ideal material for television directors who wanted villains.

In 1965, Philip's dark looks

and his ability to speak fluent German

landed him a role in a major Hollywood movie,

alongside one of the world's most glamorous leading ladies.

In Operation Crossbow, Philip held his own opposite Sophia Loren and George Peppard,

playing the part of a menacing German policeman.

Jawohl.

Oh, hier ist alles in Ordnung, Herr Leutnant.

Erik van Ostamgen.

Gut...

This first feature film role had a big impact on Philip's career.

Phil started playing Germans.

And found a niche which was very lucrative.

Philip's biggest role to date came in 1970,

when he played a sadistic SS officer in the series Manhunt.

Your family wife and children.

-Does your wife know about Nina by the way?

-Of course not!

-That's interesting, the way you said that.

-You can forget about my wife.

It's interesting the way you said "Of course not",

it makes me think you've got a guilty conscience about Nina!

I don't aspire to YOUR levels as a womaniser,

Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer.

-Yes, but only with Aryans.

-Really?

-Strictly with Aryans.

That makes it all right?

With your wife? You've consulted her of course?

Hilda and I have done our duty by the Reichsfuhrer SS marriage laws and SS marriage ceremony.

Our names duly entered in the SS Clan Book -

four children as decreed, all delivered in the SS Lebensborn maternity home

and all entered duly in the SS Clan Book.

Four daughters, unfortunately. But they will all breed, for the SS.

-And that's it?

-That's it.

-Jesus Christ!

No - he's been banned from all SS ceremonies, including funerals.

Playing foreign villains

paid for Philip and Ruth's first house together.

They were now a family, following the birth of their son Rhys in 1967.

And there was great excitement in the Madoc household

when Philip got a major part in the BBC's new Sunday evening drama.

We'd had a black-and-white television at that point,

but we got a brand-new colour television in order to watch it.

Philip played the part of Magua, chief of the Huron Indians.

SHE SCREAMS

Magua!

Yes...

Magua.

On a visit to the set, Rhys was able to see

how his father immersed himself in the role.

The main language that the Indians spoke was Huron,

and he learned the odd phrase that he could find of Huron,

and was very meticulous in wanting to get the character right.

He didn't want to play a caricature of a North American Indian,

he wanted to BE a North American Indian.

I was born a chief, and a warrior.

Among the red Hurons of the lakes I was a chief.

A chief among chiefs.

But are you not still a chief? You speak like one.

I'm happy to acknowledge your authority.

I saw the suns of 20 summers

melt the snows of 20 winters

before I saw a pale face in the woods and about the lakes.

And before I saw a pale face... I was happy.

Then the Canada pale faces came into the woods,

and taught me to drink fire-water.

And I became a rascal.

-The French? Not the British, Magua?

-That was to come.

But first, because I was a rascal,

my people drove me from the graves of my father.

Like they would chase a wounded buffalo.

He explains, "I was born a chief."

And with a voice like that, you never doubted it.

I've never ever seen the authority of an Indian chief captured so well.

Philip's sensitive portrayal of Magua earned him critical acclaim.

-RHYS:

-For years and years afterwards he would receive fan mail

and many, many letters congratulating him.

We were often stopped just walking along the street - people wanted his autograph.

He was an enormously charismatic figure, actually.

Effortlessly charismatic.

And he would be able to charm anyone, instantly.

In 1973, Philip played a role

that would earn him a place in television history.

# Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler

# If you think we're on the run...? #

Jimmy Perry was the co-writer of Dad's Army

and a friend of the family.

He was looking for an actor to play a captured U-boat commander.

What Jimmy wanted was someone who could rattle off German

just as it would sound, and be authentic.

And my dad fitted that bill perfectly.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Eight cod and chips.

I want plaice.

Right, that's one plaice and chips, seven cod and chips.

Right, who wants vinegar?

Also, aufpassen. Wie viele von euch wollen Essig?

One, two, three, four for vinegar.

Who wants salt?

So wieder mal aufpassen, wie viele von euch wollen Salz?

One, two, three for salt.

Who don't want salt or vinegar?

Also, zum dritten Mal, wie viele ohne Salz oder Essig?

That's two without salt or vinegar.

'Ere, just see if I've got this right.

You want plaice and chips, they're going to have cod and chips.

And that's four with vinegar, three with salt and two without...

Walker?! What are you doing?

I'm taking the order!

And I don't want nasty, soggy chips.

'The reason the character that Dad played in that scene was so successful'

was because he didn't play it for laughs -

he played it really straight, and everyone else played it for laughs around him.

I tell you, Wilson. They're a nation of automatons.

Led by a lunatic who looks like Charlie Chaplin.

How dare you compare our glorious leader with that non-Aryan clown?

-Now, look here...

-I am making notes, Captain!

And your name...will go on the list.

And when we win the war, you will be brought to account.

You can write what you like, you're not going to win this war.

-Oh, yes, we are.

-Oh, no, you're not.

-Oh, yes, we are!

# Whistle while you work! Hitler is a twerp!

# He's half barmy, so's his army, whistle while you... #

Your name will also go on the list!

-What is it?

-Don't tell him, Pike!

-Pike...

In 1999, the scene was voted the funniest television moment of all time.

'He was absolutely bemused by that.'

As he always put it - that was one scene, five minutes long,

and it was so successful.

During the 1970s, Philip made regular appearances

in some of the most iconic television series of the period.

Philip Madoc was an absolute natural for science fiction.

The mad European professor...

Not at all surprised that he was forever wandering into Doctor Who.

He was obviously on their list - "Who do we ring?" "Philip Madoc"...

And I think perhaps a great lost opportunity.

I think he would have made a superb Doctor.

Condo?

Doctor gone?

I can see that, you chicken-brained biological disaster!

How...

and where?

That drug. Did you put it all into the wine?

Yes, Master, all little bottle in.

Then he must still be unconscious. He can't have moved!

That squalid brood of harpies, the Sisterhood!

That accursed hag Maren found I was holding a Time Lord

and rescued him.

May her stinking bones rot!

I'll see her die, Condo.

I'll see that palsied harridan scream for death!

In the two decades he'd been acting on television,

Philip had given some formidable performances

but always in supporting roles.

In 1980, all that was about to change.

BBC Wales was preparing to make a docu-drama

about the life of Welsh Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

Philip Madoc was desperate to play the part. He thought he was the man.

He was the natural man to play the part.

This would be the biggest challenge of Philip's career.

He was taking on the lead role in a nine-part series.

It would require him to portray Lloyd George from youth to old age.

Back in those days, to get a series on network was a pretty big thing.

There was a lot riding on it.

It was a major series

and he knew the responsibility that that would engender.

He understood that he had to get that right.

He would talk to Lloyd George's family,

he would talk to the friends,

he would look at archive material, and he was very meticulous in that.

You needed somebody to understand

the social, historical, political background.

And you couldn't ask for anybody better than Phil.

I repeat...

It must be a policy uniting all liberal and patriotic Welshmen...

SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY BOOS

..in one league for the emancipation of their country

from every wrong and oppression which now afflicts it!

JEERING

For God's sake, listen!

If we, the Welsh people, don't pull together, then we have no future.

Don't you see?

If we were more inseparable we would be insuperable!

The series saw husband and wife united on-screen,

when Ruth played the part of Lloyd George's mistress.

You always laugh at my Welsh.

But Ruth was enjoying even greater exposure

in a new comedy series of her own.

# Go, go, go to the holiday rock! #

GLOCKENSPIEL CHIMES

Hello, Campers! Welcome to your first morning at Maplin's.

But just as Philip and Ruth

were reaching new heights in their professional lives,

their marriage was breaking down.

Before the year was out, they had divorced.

During this turbulent time,

Philip could take some comfort in his new-found success.

Lloyd George was one of the most acclaimed

television series of the time.

He started to get different types of offers coming in.

There was no longer just the villain-type of roles,

it started to open up.

In 1982, Philip was cast in the lead role

as lifeboat coxswain in the drama Ennal's Point.

I put up with a lot of things here.

Oh, you see, there is a coxswain on every street in this village.

Every street!

But they all happen to be on holidays when the balloons go up.

And when I started all I got was,

"Oh, he's not the man Tom Grail was." Your father.

I had my problems. I have still got them.

Not like I have.

Your life is your own business.

But in ten shouts you have missed four.

I am trying to run two crews - one and two.

So from now on, you start again.

You're off the boat, Billy.

As the skipper of a lifeboat, Philip was in his element.

One of his great passions in the world was sailing.

He loved just being afloat.

He was one of the first, I remember, in the UK to start windsurfing.

I think he really liked to do things that he knew...

one, that no-one else really had experienced,

or that he was doing for his own real benefit for the first time.

In 1991, Philip landed a role

that provided him with a fresh linguistic challenge.

When Peter Edwards set out to make a series in Welsh and English

about a police detective,

only one man fitted the bill.

If somebody breaks into your house

and you are threatened, you call the police.

And my feeling was, in Wales,

you would call Phil.

Because you would trust him.

-What happened then?

-I don't know.

Mr Green appears to have teeth marks

on the back of his left hand.

-They just came.

-What do you mean?

-Appeared.

Just appeared. Just now.

-No, where did you get them from?

-I have no idea.

Did she bite you? Caroline, did she bite you?

When you were strangling her?

I do not need to hold onto that which is no longer meek...

When she was fighting for her life? Now, then,

did you kill Caroline Webb?

I don't know!

A Mind To Kill was a bilingual co-production -

a version in English for ITV and Welsh for S4C.

SCENE IS REPEATED IN WELSH

This meant Philip had to switch languages constantly during filming,

remembering two sets of lines for every scene.

To carry consistency through

and to shift, shot by shot,

from Welsh to English is very difficult.

'How did you know, almost to the inch, where we'd find her?'

A Mind To Kill ran for five seasons

and was sold to over 90 countries worldwide.

-AMERICAN VOICEOVER:

-Now, only one man can solve the puzzle.

All I want to know is how he died.

Detective Chief Inspector Noel Bain in A Mind To Kill.

Everybody has a story about going into a hotel

and there is Phil speaking French, or German, or Indonesian,

or Romanian, or whatever it has been dubbed into.

The international success of A Mind To Kill suited its star perfectly.

Ever since his student days in Vienna,

Philip had developed a passion for travel.

He loved the Himalayas and he went back two or three times,

as well as to places like China.

He often described himself as a Welsh internationalist.

The international side being his languages.

Philip was fluent in seven languages,

including, as he liked to say, English.

His mastery of language and his rich voice

made him a much sought-after narrator.

His recordings of classic works,

such as The Canterbury Tales and The Old Testament,

gave pleasure to thousands of audio-book listeners.

'In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

'And the earth was without form and void.

'And darkness was upon the face of the deep.'

When commercial directors wanted the voice of Wales,

they turned to Philip.

'And there, upon the plate,

'a glorious reddish tint,

'as you cavort with your companions,

'the new potato and the mint.'

'This is Crumlin, jewel of the Welsh Empire,

'for beneath these hallowed hills lies fuel.

'Not coal or oil... but pure Pot Noodle.'

# Oh, Pot Noodle! Oh, Pot Noodle! #

Don't be afraid of the noodle!

In late 2011, Philip came home to Wales,

to star in a trailer

for the forthcoming Six Nations Championship.

He was enormously proud of being Welsh.

As far as he was concerned, there was no other culture

he had ever wanted to have been. And he'd experienced a lot of cultures.

It's time.

I know.

I have felt the day's lengthening shadows.

And there is but one resting place

to welcome the eternal rising sun.

Which I have prepared to your exact instructions.

MEN CHEER

This was to be Philip's final television appearance.

Following a short illness,

Philip Madoc died on the 5th of March 2012.

'Do not go gentle into that good night,

'Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

'Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd