David Markham


David Markham was an English stage and film actor for over forty years.
Markham was born Peter Basil Harrison in Wick, Worcestershire and died in Hartfield, East Sussex.
In 1937 he married Olive Dehn, a BBC Radio dramatist. They had four daughters: Sonia, an illustrator; Kika, an actress, widow of actor Corin Redgrave; Petra, an actress; and Jehane, a poet and dramatist, widow of actor Roger Lloyd-Pack.
In World War II, he was imprisoned as a conscientious objector, before being allowed to do forestry work.
Markham appeared occasionally in cinema and often on television. He appeared in Carol Reed's film The Stars Look Down and in François Truffaut's films Two English Girls, in which he plays a fortuneteller with his daughter Kika, and Day for Night.
His first television appearance may have been with Peter Wyngarde in a BBC television play called "The Rope", broadcast on 12 January 1950. He played the father of Robin Phillips in two films, Two Gentlemen Sharing and Tales From The Crypt.
Markham portrayed Prime Minister H. H. Asquith in the 1981 BBC Wales drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George, alongside his daughter Kika Markham, who played Lloyd George's secretary, lover and later second wife – Frances Stevenson.

Selected filmography

Murder in the Family – Michael OsborneThe Stars Look Down – Arthur BarrasThe Blakes Slept Here – EdwardNom-de-Plume: "The Man Who Made People" – AlexandreThe Dawn Killer – Mr. HawkesLast of the Long-haired Boys – BrindleTwo Gentlemen Sharing – Mr. Pater – Roddy's FatherFamily Life Blood from the Mummy's Tomb – Doctor BurgessTwo English Girls – PalmistTales From The Crypt – Father – Edward Elliot Z.P.G. – Dr. HerrickDay for Night – Doctor Michael NelsonLa guerre du pétrole n'aura pas lieu – ThomsonFeelings – Professor RolandThe Three Hostages – GreensladeLa petite fille en velours bleu – ConsulOff to Philadelphia in the Morning – William Sterndale BennettMeetings with Remarkable Men – Dean BorshTess – Reverend ClareRichard's Things – Mr MorrisThe Life and Times of David Lloyd George TV series – Herbert Henry AsquithWinston Churchill: The Wilderness Years TV series – MarlboroughGandhi – Older Englishman