Colin Welland

Known for ActingBorn 1934-07-04Died 2015-11-02Liverpool, England

Actor and writer Colin Welland will perhaps be forever remembered for his triumph at the 1982 Academy Awards, when he won the Best Screenplay Oscar for his screenplay for the hit film Chariots of Fire, proclaiming "The British are Coming!" As an actor, his first film appearance is perhaps still his best-loved, the sympathetic Mr Farthing in Kes (1969), for which he won a BAFTA. Born in Liverpool, but raised in Leigh, Welland initially started out as an art teacher before moving into acting and becoming a household name playing the role of PC Graham in the long running BBC police serial Z Cars. Aside from Chariots of Fire, he wrote many other plays and films including the BAFTA winning Kisses at Fifty (later remade for Hollywood with Gene Hackman as Twice in a Lifetime), Leeds United! based on the rag trade strike that his own mother-in-law was active in, Yanks, A Dry White Season and War of the Buttons. As a film and TV actor his credits include Kes, Straw Dogs, Blue Remembered Hills, Cowboys and Sweeney! He died at the age of 81 on November 2, 2015, having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years.Read more

Movies & web series

Your Man from Six Counties

Leeds United!

For the Greater Good

Femme Fatale

The Sweeney

Jack Point

The Hallelujah Handshake

Cowboys

Kes

Blue Remembered Hills

Screen One

Dancin' Thru the Dark

War of the Buttons

Z-Cars

Straw Dogs

United Kingdom

Trial & Retribution

The Wild West Show

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

Chariots of Fire

A Dry White Season

Sweeney!

Play for Today

Villain

Machinegunner

Roll On Four O'Clock

Yanks

Twice in a Lifetime

Armchair Theatre

Kisses at Fifty

The Secret Life of Ian Fleming

Bramwell

The Fix

Bambino Mio

The Return of the Green Man

The Trial of Klaus Barbie

After Dark

Watch That Space

A Passage to England

Bank Holiday

The Ten Commandments

Say Goodnight to Your Grandma