Biography
Nigel Davenport was an English stage, television and film actor. Born Arthur Nigel Davenport on 23 May 1928 in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, he was educated at Cheltenham College and Trinity College, Oxford, where he became involved in the Oxford University Dramatic Society. He began his career in theatre, appearing with the English Stage Company at the Royal Court and in productions including A Taste of Honey.
Davenport worked extensively in film and television from the late 1950s. He played the Duke of Norfolk in A Man for All Seasons (1966) and Lord Birkenhead in Chariots of Fire (1981). Other film roles include Det. Sgt. Miller in Peeping Tom (1960), Dr. Ernest D. Hubbs in Phase IV (1974) and Major Jack Downing in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). He appeared in television series such as Midsomer Murders (1997). He served as president of the actors' union Equity from 1986 to 1992 and died on 25 October 2013 in Gloucester.
