Alexander Joseph Doré (28 August 1923 – 16 April 2002) was a British actor, director and screenwriter. He was best known for his appearance as the First Spy in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.[1] He also co-starred in the 1968 TV series Virgin of the Secret Service (as villain Karl Von Brauner) as well as playing Bertram Bright in Bright's Boffins (1970-1972).[2]

Alexander Doré
Alexander Doré as the First Spy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Born(1923-08-28)28 August 1923
Hampstead, London, England
Died16 April 2002(2002-04-16) (aged 78)
London, England
Occupation(s)Actor, director, screenwriter
Years active1946–1988
Spouse
(m. 1946)
Children1

Doré's other screen appearances include At the Stroke of Nine (1957), Tales from Dickens (1958), ITV Television Playhouse (1958), Emergency-Ward 10 (1960), Dixon of Dock Green (1964), Casino Royale (1967), ITV Playhouse (1968), and A Very Peculiar Practice (1986).[3]

His credits as a screenwriter include Jungle Street (1961) and The Wind of Change (1961), while his directing credits include Hé... mag ik mijn echtgenote terug? (1975), Boem-Boem [nl] (1982) and Privé Voor Twee (1988) for Dutch television.[citation needed]

He directed the plays See How They Run at London's Vaudeville Theatre, The Sunday Man at the Morosco Theatre on Broadway[4] in 1964, and the world premiere of We Who Are About To... (with Anton Rodgers) in 1968 at the Hampstead Theatre Club.[5] In 1988 he directed the Dutch-language version of the play Never Judge a Book by Its Cover which undertook a successful fifty-city tour of the Netherlands and Belgium.[6]

Personal life edit

Doré married actress Edna Gorring in 1946 in Pancras, London, and the two of them ran their own company for five years at the Little Theatre in Aberystwyth.[7] They had a son, Michael. Alexander Doré died in London in 2002, aged 78.[7]

Selected filmography edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, British Film Institute (BFI) database
  2. ^ Filmography of Alexander Doré British Film Institute Database
  3. ^ Cast of A Very Peculiar Practice, British Comedy Guide database
  4. ^ The Broadway League (13 May 1964). "Doré on the Internet Broadway Database". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Alan Ayckbourn's "Countdown" website". Countdown.alanayckbourn.net. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  6. ^ Doré on the Seymour Blicker website
  7. ^ a b Coveney, Michael; Leigh, Mike (14 April 2014). "Edna Doré obituary". The Guardian.

External links edit