Biography
Colin Tapley was a New Zealand actor who appeared in American and British films and television. Born in Dunedin, he took part in an Antarctic expedition and served in the Royal Air Force before winning a Paramount Pictures talent contest in 1933, which led to a move to Hollywood.
He made his screen debut in the mid-1930s, with an early credited role as Barrett in The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935). During the Second World War he served as a flight controller with the Royal Canadian Air Force. After returning to Britain he appeared in The Dam Busters (1955) as William Glanville and was frequently cast as a police inspector in later films and series. He retired to Gloucestershire and died in 1995.
