Lewis Collins
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| Lewis Collins | |
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| Born | Lewis Collins 27 May 1946 [age 61] Birkenhead, Cheshire, England |
| Occupation | Actor[Singer][Producer] |
| Years active | [1975 - present] |
| Spouse(s) | [Michelle Larrett][Schoolteacher] |
Lewis Collins (born 27 May 1946 in Bidston, Birkenhead, Cheshire) is an English actor. He is best known for his tough-guy role as Bodie in The Professionals.
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[edit] Biography
Collins' father knew Paul McCartney's family and was a one time road manager for The Beatles. Collins' first love was music, but his first job was as an apprentice hairdresser.
Collins learnt to play the guitar, and appeared in a number of Merseybeat bands such as The Renegades, The Eyes and The Georgians. In December 1964 he joined The Mojos as bassist. The band's pre-Collins chart success was never repeated, and the band split in September 1966. Collins then took a number of jobs, including roadie, selling encyclopaedias, crisps and soft-drinks door-to-door around Warrington.
[edit] Acting career
In 1968, Lewis began study at LAMDA, and appeared in a production of Romeo and Juliet during his three years study. After graduation Collins made several theatre appearances which resulted in a number of minor TV roles in shows such as Z-Cars, Rooms and Marked Personal. It was after this period of minor success that he enlisted in the TA Reserve 4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment and also attempted to enlist in the Special forces regiment of the British Army, the SAS. He was, by his own version, turned down because of his high public profile, which compromised the SAS' policy of anonymity; contemporary reports by SAS recruitment personnel however, reported in books of the time, say that it was rather more because he failed to meet the exacting standards of the SAS.
Collins first came to mass public attention from 1975, when he starred in Granada TV's popular comedy series The Cuckoo Waltz as Gavin Rumsey, who lodged with a couple of newlyweds, David Roper and the highly desirable Diane Keen. Collins showed comic ability, but never extended his comedic acting career after he left the show in 1977
[edit] The Professionals
Martin Shaw had already been cast in The Professionals, but the script needed a partner. First choice for the role of Bodie Anthony Andrews was dropped after three days of filming, and Collins was hired to replace him. Collins had previously appeared with Shaw in Obsession, an episode of the popular ITV series The New Avengers.
Collins was picked to play Bodie alongside Shaw as the two actors had not got on shooting Obsession, creating the required sparky and abrasive relationship that the producers of The Professionals wanted for Bodie and Doyle. Filming of The Professionals commenced in June 1977, and lasted for four series until 1981 as the viewing figures dropped and Shaw wanted to develop his career.
Talk of reviving The Professionals first arose in 1994, after ex-producer David Wickes made plans to produce a whole new series. A 1996 Nissan car advert which parodied Bodie and Doyle was extremely successful, proving that the series was still popular. Collins began negotiations with the producers which would see him return to the series as Bodie, now in Cowley's former role as Head of CI5. Eventually the talks fell through and Collins was replaced by Edward Woodward in the eventual one-off revival.
[edit] After The Professionals
After completing the fourth and final series of The Professionals in 1981, Collins struggled to find work thanks to the typecasting of his hugely popular role as Bodie. Therefore he often found himself cast in macho, hard-man roles in foreign B-movie action flicks.
Considered for the role of James Bond in replacing Roger Moore on For Your Eyes Only and later The Living Daylights. Collins drew on his experiences in the Territorial Army to portray an SAS officer in his lead role of Peter Skellern in the 1982 film Who Dares Wins (U.S. title: The Final Option). In making the film he suffered a broken nose during a fight scene, and it was panned by the critics as a purely Collins vehicle not a real action movie.
Collins then made a trio of mercenary films all directed by Antonio Margheriti Code Name: Wild Geese (1984), Commando Leopard (1985), and The Commander (1987).[1]
One of his finest roles since The Professionals came in 1988 in the ITV Jack the Ripper mini-series, in which he played Michael Caine's sidekick Sergeant George Godley. In the late 1980s Collins based himself in Los Angeles, taking minor parts in several American mini-series while he studied for and passed film directors' exams. He spent much of the 1990s in theatre productions, and in a number of TV shows in brief guest appearances, including Colonel Mustard in ITV's third mini-TV Cluedo series.
His most recent TV appearance was in August 2002 as Dr Peter Allen in an episode of the ITV1 series The Bill.
[edit] Personal life
Lewis Collins was interviewed by police when he discharged a shotgun in the house he shared with his father in March 1981. He was successfully prosecuted and fined £300 (see Daily Mirror 12 May 1981 and correction 13 May 1981). Police raided his house in Chalfont St Peter in August 2002 after a tip-off about unsecured weapons: as Collins had been living in California for many years, it is not surprising that he was not charged in connection with this.
Collins married school teacher Michelle Larrett in 1992, and the couple have three sons: Oliver, Elliot and Cameron.
Collins holds his own Private Pilot's Licence and his hobbies include parachuting and sports shooting. He also holds a black belt in Ju-Jitsu.
[edit] TV roles
- The Cuckoo Waltz, Granada TV sitcom, 1975-1977 - as Gavin Rumsey
- The Professionals, 1977-1983 - as William Andrew Philip Bodie
- Robin Of Sherwood, 1986 - episode "The Sheriff Of Nottingham" as Phillip Mark
- Jack the Ripper, 1989 - as Sergeant George Godley
[edit] Film roles
- Who Dares Wins (1982)
- Codename: Wildgeese (1984)
