Bill Treacher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Treacher (born 4 June 1930 in London) is an English actor.
Treacher grew up in the East End of London. After his National Service, he worked as a steward with P&O, where he saved enough money to attend drama school.[1]
After graduating from the prestigious Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his West End debut in 1963 with the comedy Shout for Life at The Vaudeville Theatre. Several successful West End roles followed before he moved into television drama, making guest appearances in a number of classic series of the 1970s including Minder, The Sweeney, The Professionals, Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars and The Agatha Christie Hour.
In late 1984, he was the first actor to be cast in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, appearing in the first episode on 19 February 1985 as Arthur Fowler, a role that he would play for the next 11 years. In fact the co-creators, Tony Holland and Julia Smith, had scripted the character with Treacher in mind.[2] He received much critical acclaim for the role, especially for his portrayal of his character's mental decline and subsequent nervous breakdown. The character also endured a succession of misfortunates, not least his wrongful imprisonment for a fraud that he didn't commit, a persistent struggle with unemployment, his daughter Michelle's pregnancy at the age of 16, and his son Mark's diagnosis with HIV.
By 1996, he had requested to be written out of the series, stating "By the time I finished, even the sound of the theme music was making me feel ill. I felt depressed." He also stated in a 2003 BBC documentary where it was interviewing past stars of the show that he had to leave as the stress working the long hours on the show was affecting his health and that the doctors told him that if he didn't leave the job soon and relax it would kill him.
Although it was his decision to leave the soap, Treacher was shocked that the show’s bosses chose to kill Arthur off. He has said: "I certainly didn’t ask them to kill him. Oh no, because you never know, you might need to come back and earn a few grand."[3] Following his departure the British press alleged that Treacher and co-star Wendy Richard (who played his wife Pauline) were involved in a feud that had lasted the entire eleven years of his stint. Treacher commented: "All I can say is that Wendy and I had a good professional relationship. We never met socially because we did not have a great deal in common."[4]
Treacher has since made several films, most notably The Musketeer, Tale of the Mummy and George and the Dragon. He also had a guest starring role in the ITV police drama The Bill in 2006, and appeared as a Security Guard in an episode of Casualty in December 2007.
He is married to the Australian actress Katherine Kessey and they have two children, Jamie, also an actor, and Sophie, a production assistant. They live in Suffolk.
In 1973, Treacher starred in a British television commercial for the Austin Allegro motor car.
[edit] References
- ^ Kingsley, Hilary (1990). The EastEnders Handbook. BBC books. ISBN-13: 978-0685529577.
- ^ Smith, Julia; Holland, Tony (1987). EastEnders - The Inside Story. Book Club Associates. ISBN 0-563-20601-2.
- ^ "D'Arthur to D'Artagnan", The Sun. URL last accessed on 2006-10-21.
- ^ "Bill Treacher and Wendy Richard's feud", Sunday Mirror. URL last accessed on 2006-10-21.
