Andrew Cruickshank

Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 1907 Aberdeen, Scotland – 29 April 1988 London, England)^[1][2] was a Scottish supporting actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series, Dr Finlay's Casebook, which ran for 191 episodes from 1962 until 1971.^[3]

Life and career

Andrew Cruickshank (Junior) was born to Andrew and Mary Cruickshank,^[4] and was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School. He was to have entered the profession of civil engineering after completing his education, but instead joined provincial repertory theatres,^[5] leading to 1930 roles in Othello at the Savoy Theatre in London, as Maudelyn in Richard of Bordeaux at the Empire Theatre on Broadway in 1934,^[6] and culminating in his principal appearance (as three characters) on the London stage in 1935, at the Gate Theatre in the play Victoria Regina. He returned to Broadway in 1951 until 1952, as the Earl of Warwick in George Bernard Shaw's play Saint Joan, with Uta Hagen in the lead role.^[6]

His first film role followed in 1937, as the poet Robert Burns in Auld Lang Syne. Subsequently, however, he would be typecast into portrayals of formal authority figures, such as judges and doctors.^[7]

He appeared in many television plays and series, amongst them A. J. Cronin's Dr Finlay's Casebook, containing his most famous characterisation, Doctor Angus Cameron, a crusty but erudite senior partner in the rural general practice run in Tannochbrae, with the help of the much younger Doctor Alan Finlay (Bill Simpson) and "stiff Presbyterian" housekeeper Janet (Barbara Mullen).^[8] The highly popular BBC production ran from 16 August 1962 until 3 January 1971, after which Cruickshank continued with it on BBC Radio 4 for seven years, it having been adapted to that format since 10 March 1970. He finally bade farewell to the character on 18 December 1978, following its parting episode, "Going Home".^[9]

His final performance on the stage was as Justice Treadwell in Beyond Reasonable Doubt at the Queen's Theatre in 1987.^[4] His last ever appearance of any kind was at the age of 80, in the first episode ("Kicks")^[10] of series two of the ITV television production, King & Castle,^[11] which starred Nigel Planer and Derek Martin as partners in a debt collection agency, and in which Cruickshank played "Mr Hodinett". It was aired on 10 May 1988, just over a week after his death.^[11]

He had married Curigwen (née Lewis) earlier in his life, and they had one son and two daughters during the marriage.^[4]

Memorial

He has been immortalised in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, by the naming of a road in his honour (Cruickshank Grove).^[12]

Selected filmography

• Auld Lang Syne (1937)
• The Mark of Cain (1947)
• Your Witness (1950)
• The Cruel Sea (1953)
• Richard III (1955)
• The Battle of the River Plate (1956)
• The 39 Steps (1959)
• Kidnapped (1960)
• There Was a Crooked Man (1960)
• Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog (1961)
• El Cid (1961)
• Murder Most Foul (1964)
• Marple: The Body in the Library (1984) - TV movie, as Conway Jefferson

References

External links

• Andrew Cruickshank at the Internet Movie Database
• Memories of Andrew Cruickshank by Haldane Duncan, former Emmerdale director