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.
Straw Dogs
(Rev. Barney Hood)
Villain
(Tom Binney)
Kes
(Mr. Farthing)
Sweeney!
(Frank Chadwick)
The Secret Life of Ian Fleming
(Reuters editor)
The Fix
(Harry Catterick)
The Trial of Klaus Barbie
(Klarsfeld)
Femme Fatale
(Martin Harty)
Say Goodnight to Your Grandma
(Tony)
Blue Remembered Hills
(Willie)
The Return of the Green Man
(Narrator)
Dancin' Thru the Dark
(Manager)
Leeds United!
United Kingdom
(Chief Constable James McBride)
Machinegunner
(Bone)
Roll On Four O'Clock
(Lennie Brown)
A Passage to England
(Onslow)
After Dark
Watch That Space
(Self)
The Sweeney
(Tober)
Bramwell
(Mr. Barclay)
Z-Cars
(PC David Graham)
Cowboys
(Geyser)
Play for Today
(Willie)
Yanks
(Story)
Yanks
(Screenplay)
A Dry White Season
(Screenplay)
War of the Buttons
(Writer)
Bambino Mio
(Writer)
Leeds United!
(Writer)
Twice in a Lifetime
(Writer)
Kisses at Fifty
(Writer)
Roll On Four O'Clock
(Writer)
Jack Point
(Writer)
The Hallelujah Handshake
(Writer)
Say Goodnight to Your Grandma
(Writer)
Your Man from Six Counties
(Author)
Bank Holiday
(Writer)
Chariots of Fire
(Writer)
Armchair Theatre
(Writer)
Play for Today
(Writer)
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
(Writer)