The Equalizer Is Dead

Just a quick post to note the passing of TV's The Equalizer, Edward Woodward, at 79 after a long bout of illnesses.

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview him in 1988 in his trailer on Front Street for lunch. "Do you want a bran muffin or a banana?"he bellowed in mock outrage.

He'd just suffered the first of several heart attacks and doctors had put him on a healthy diet.

At the time he was experiencing a huge revival as CBS's The Equalizer (1985-89) although I first noticed him in the British series Callan (1967-92).

He was doing a two-part Hitchcock show filmed in Toronto because writer Michael Sloane had once used him in a student production --without pay.

"And now I'm getting a big pay check," he laughed.

And later Woodward temporarily moved to Toronto to co-star in episodes of Nikita (2001).

He was one of those British actors who could play any part --I remember how wonderful he was as Sir Sam Hoare in the 1981 TV series Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years.

And I'm not forgetting such movies as Breaker Morant; Woodward remembered one trek in the Australian desert for some scene and a man appeared from behind a bunch of bushes."He had the same name:Edward Woodward!"

The 87 episodes of The equalizer are still running somewhere. Back in Britain he starred in the series Over My Dead Body (1990-1), Common As Muck (1994-7), and C15:The New Professionals (1999) and as late as last year was popping up on The Eastenders.

He leaves second wife Michele Dotrice and several grown acting children.

And I'm missing him already.