Colin Welland

Acting Jul 4, 1934 Nov 2, 2015 (aged 81) Liverpool, England

Actor and writer Colin Welland will perhaps be forever remembered for his triumph at the 1982 Academy Awards, when he won the Best Screenplay Oscar for his screenplay for the hit film Chariots of Fire, proclaiming "The British are Coming!" As an actor, his first film appearance is perhaps still his best-loved, the sympathetic Mr Farthing in Kes (1969), for which he won a BAFTA. Born in Liverpool, but raised in Leigh, Welland initially started out as an art teacher before moving into acting and becoming a household name playing the role of PC Graham in the long running BBC police serial Z Cars. Aside from Chariots of Fire, he wrote many other plays and films including the BAFTA winning Kisses at Fifty (later remade for Hollywood with Gene Hackman as Twice in a Lifetime), Leeds United! based on the rag trade strike that his own mother-in-law was active in, Yanks, A Dry White Season and War of the Buttons. As a film and TV actor his credits include Kes, Straw Dogs, Blue Remembered Hills, Cowboys and Sweeney! He died at the age of 81 on November 2, 2015, having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for several years.

27 Acting Credits

20 Crew Credits

Colin Welland

Acting

Straw Dogs

Kes

Villain

Sweeney!

The Sweeney

The Secret Life of Ian Fleming

Trial & Retribution

Play for Today

Dancin' Thru the Dark

Z-Cars

Bramwell

Armchair Theatre

The Fix

Cowboys

Blue Remembered Hills

Machinegunner

Femme Fatale

Leeds United!

United Kingdom

Roll On Four O'Clock

For the Greater Good

The Trial of Klaus Barbie

Say Goodnight to Your Grandma

The Return of the Green Man

Crew

Chariots of Fire

War of the Buttons

A Dry White Season

Yanks

Twice in a Lifetime

Play for Today

The Hallelujah Handshake

Armchair Theatre

Screen One

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

Kisses at Fifty

Leeds United!