From Alfred Hitchcock Wiki

• born: 21/Aug/1931 (Beeston, Nottinghamshire, England, UK)
• died: 11/Feb/2002 (Guildford, Surrey, UK) - heart attack

Biography

Barry Foster was an actor, best known for his role as the TV detective in the five-series-long ITV program Van der Valk that spanned 20 years.

Early in his life, Foster had worked as a plastics chemist before embarking on a career in acting. Foster trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, arriving there at the age of 20, a little older than the other students. It was here he became friends with an actor called David Baron, better known as playwright Harold Pinter. Foster would go on to appear in two of Pinter's plays, "The Basement" and "The Tea Party". Foster's professional stage debut came in 1952 as 'Lorenzo' in "The Merchant of Venice", then in 1955 he made his London stage debut.

His first film role came in 1956 in the war film "Battle of the River Plate". Over the years, he played in a wide variety of film and television roles, including David Lean's epic "Ryan's Daughter", "Battle of Britain", "King and Country", "The Troubleshooters", "The Family Way", "The Wild Geese", "Robbery", "Sweeney!" and Inspector Clouseau up to his final film "Rancid Aluminium" in 2000.

But it was in 1972 that he was to play two memorable roles, on opposite sides of the law. First was cynical Dutch detective "Van der Valk" and second was Bob Rusk, the necktie murderer in Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy" - Rusk, a seemingly charming man, intent on pinning his murders onto his best friend - but in the end not succeeding. The film is notorious for a graphically detailed ten-minute sequence in which Rusk confronts, rapes and strangles his friend's ex-wife. "Van Der Valk" would resurface twice more in his career, in 1977 and once more in the early 1990s. Shortly after the third series in 1978, Foster was to take on the role of the most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, in a series of radio appearances for the BBC. He recorded 13 episodes of the Holmes canon, with David Buck as Watson. In 1974 he was also seen in "Fall of Eagles" in the role of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

His marriage to singer and actress Judith Shergold was a long and happy one; the couple were married for 40 years. His daughters Miranda and Joanna are both actresses, but his son Jason has not gone into acting. After Foster's death, a trust was set up, The Barry Foster Memorial Appeal to help disabled children become involved in the theatre.

At the time of his death, Barry Foster was appearing in a run of the play Art alongside Nigel Havers and Roger Lloyd Pack.

(Wikipedia)

Filmography

With Hitchcock...

• Frenzy (1972) - cast: Robert Rusk

Documentaries

He has appeared in the following Hitchcockian documentaries...

• The Story of Frenzy (2001)

Links

• Internet Movie Database
• BBC News - Obituary (11/Feb/2002)

Film Frames

Selection of film frames of Barry Foster (click image to view larger version or refresh thumbnails)...

Image Gallery

Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...