David Healy

A rotund jovial New Yorker David Healy obligingly played every manner of stereotypical American in British films and on television for more than thirty years The son of an Australian father and an American mother he spent much of his youth in Texas Studying at Southern Methodist University in Dallas he majored in drama and befriended another young acting hopeful named Larry Hagman David first arrived in England as a member of the US Air Force and soon wound up along with Hagman in the cast of a touring show written by John Briley This later grew into The Airbase 1965 a 25minute BBC sitcom with David as Staff Sergeant Tillman Miller which took a humorous look at BritishAmerican cultural differences at an RAF base Considering his job prospects to be rather more lucrative in Britain in keeping with the bigger fish smaller pond theory David soon found himself in almost continuous demand for any part which required an affable or imperious American His long gallery of characters included diplomats businessmen bureaucrats spooks military brass and so on There were rare occasions when he acted against type and played Britishers a notable point in case being a likeable Dr Watson opposite charismatic Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four 1983 His comedic side was showcased in guest appearances with Dick Emery and Kenny Everett and a with couple of turns in Jeeves and Wooster 1990 Though married and settled in Surrey David took job offers on both sides of the Atlantic He was glimpsed as a cleric in Patton 1970 and in Robert Aldrichs doomsday thriller Twilights Last Gleaming 1977 wellcast as Teddy Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin The White House Years 1977 and he had recurring roles in TVs favourite soapie of the day Dallas 1978 British TV audiences saw him guesting in just about every major crime series from The Saint 1962 and Department S 1969 to The Persuaders 1971 Simultaneously from 1967 David pursued a successful career as a stage actor in classical plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre In 1975 he revisited his roots playing Falstaff at a Shakespeare festival in Dallas Ever versatile David found another calling in musicals appearing in Kismet Call Me Madam and The Music Man He received much praise for his interpretation of Runyonesque gambler NicelyNicely Johnson played definitively on screen by Stubby Kaye in Guys and Dolls performing showstopping encores of Sit Down Youre Rockin the Boat IMDb Mini Biography By ISMowis