Quick Facts
Biography
Donald Williams MBE (born 23 May 1951), known by the stage name Don Warrington, is a Trinidadian-born British actor.
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
Early life
Warrington was born in Trinidad but moved to England with his mother at a young age. He was brought up in Newcastle upon Tyne. Along with his brother, Don was raised in Warrington Road, Newcastle upon Tyne.
His father, Basil Kydd, was a Trinidadian politician who died in 1958. Warrington trained as an actor at the Drama Centre London. He started acting in repertory theatre at the age of 17.
Career
Television and Film
Warrington is known for playing Philip Smith in Rising Damp, from 1974 to 1978, alongside Leonard Rossiter, Richard Beckinsale, and Frances de la Tour. Warrington also appeared as series regular in the crime drama C.A.T.S. Eyes, as government contact Nigel Beaumont (1985–1987); in Impact Earth (2007) playing General Harris; and in New Street Law as Judge Ken Winyard.
In 1993 Warrington played television reporter Graham Gaunt in To Play The King, the second part of the BBC's House of Cards trilogy.
He has had smaller roles in many programmes including Red Dwarf, Lovejoy, Manchild, and Diamond Geezer. Warrington portrayed the villainous founder of Time Lord society, Rassilon, in several Doctor Who audio plays, and also appeared as the President of an alternate universe Great Britain in the Doctor Who episode "Rise of the Cybermen" (2006). Soon after, he recorded an abridged audio book of the Doctor Who novel The Art of Destruction by Stephen Cole.
He is one of the interviewees on the BBC 2 series Grumpy Old Men, and he appears in a series of Kenco coffee advertisements in the United Kingdom in which he plays an African coffee plantation owner. He regularly provides voice-overs for both BBC TV and radio.
Warrington has also appeared in BBC1 sitcom The Crouches, which aired from 9 September 2003 until 2005. He played Bailey, who was Roly's boss at a London Underground station in South London. Roly was played by Robbie Gee. Warrington played the role of the Hospital Chaplain in Casualty, assuming the role of Trevor. He also starred in the 2010 film It's a Wonderful Afterlife. He also appeared in Grange Hill as Mr Peters, the father of pupil Lauren Peters.
He has provided voiceover links, reading out the various methods of contacting the show on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, which has been broadcast since 11 January 2010.
Since 2011, Warrington has played Commissioner Selwyn Patterson in the hit BBC show Death in Paradise.
He also appeared as jazz musician Frederick J. Louden in a BBC radio production of The Devil's Music, written by Alan Plater. In 2011, Warrington played the father of a suspected terrorist in the last series of the BBC drama Waking the Dead.
His film roles included the movie version of Rising Damp (1980), the Kenny Everett horror comedy Bloodbath at the House of Death (1983), Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), Peter Greenaway's 8½ Women (1999) and the horror film Lighthouse (1999).
Theatre
Warrington is an accomplished theatre actor and has performed with the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
In 2012–13 he toured with Gwen Taylor in the new stage version of Driving Miss Daisy.
In 2013 Warrington played the lead role of Joe Keller, in Talawa Theatre Company's all-black revival of Arthur Miller's tragedy All My Sons at the Manchester Royal Exchange, directed by Michael Buffong – a production that The Guardian reviewer called "flawless", giving it a five-star rating.
Warrington won universal acclaim for his performance as King Lear in the 2016 Talawa Theatre Company and Manchester Royal Exchange co-production, with critics describing it as a "heartbreaking tour-de-force", The Stage wrote that "Warrington seizes and owns it with magnetic, majestic power".
Warrington appeared as George in David Mamet's Glengarry Glenn Ross between October 2017 and February 2018 at the Playhouse Theatre alongside Christian Slater, Robert Glenister, Kris Marshall and Daniel Ryan.
He starred as central protagonist Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman at the Royal Exchange Theatre from October to November 2018.
Strictly Come Dancing
In 2008 Warrington competed in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with the 2005 and 2006 British National Champion in Latin American dance, Lilia Kopylova. After Week 4, Warrington was joint seventh out of the remaining 12 contestants with an average of 24.5 points. In Week 5 he was eliminated, having lost the dance-off against Heather Small, with the first three judges all voting for Small over Warrington.
He joined the show to step out of his comfort zone, and he appreciated the opportunity to learn to dance.
| Week # | Dance/Song | Judges' score | Result | ||||
| Horwood | Phillips | Goodman | Tonioli | Total | |||
| 1 | Cha-Cha-Cha / "Let's Groove Tonight" | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 19 | Dance Off |
| 3 | Tango / "Whatever Lola Wants" | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 30 | Safe |
| 5 | American Smooth / "Can't Smile Without You" | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 25 | Eliminated |
Selected television roles
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1974–1978 | Rising Damp | Philip Smith |
| 1985–1987 | C.A.T.S. Eyes | Nigel Beaumont |
| 1992 | Red Dwarf | Binks ("Holoship") |
| 1993 | To Play the King | Graham Gaunt |
| 2002–2003 | Manchild | Patrick |
| 2003–2005 | The Crouches | Bailey |
| 2006–2007 | New Street Law | Judge Ken Winyard |
| 2006 | Doctor Who | The President ("Rise of the Cybermen") |
| 2009–2010 | Casualty | Hospital Chaplain Trevor |
| 2011– | Death in Paradise | Commissioner Selwyn Patterson |
| 2014 | Chasing Shadows | Chief Superintendent Harley Drayton |
| 2016 | The Five | Ray Kenwood |
Footnotes
- ^ "Don Warrington MBE" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The British Blacklist.
- ^ Dominic Cavendish, "Don Warrington: Rigsby's a racist – but that's not the real issue", The Telegraph, 15 May 2013.
- ^ Maureen Paton, "The day that changed my life: Don Warrington the former Rising Damp star, 61, recalls emigrating as a child from Trinidad to Newcastle", Daily Mail, 21 June 2013.'
- ^ "No. 58729". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2008. p. 24.
- ^ Dominic Cavendish, "Don Warrington: Rigsby's a racist – but that's not the real issue", The Telegraph, 15 May 2013.
- ^ Don Warrington biography, from Caribbean Britain: The Cultural and Biographical Directory by Marjorie H. Morgan. Historical Biographies, 1 October 2012.
- ^ Don Warrington biography, ATG Tickets.
- ^ "Don Warrington", Ultimate Strictly.
- ^ Characters, Death in Paradise, BBC One.
- ^ "Don Warrington", Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Don Warrington page Archived 4 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Royal National Theatre.
- ^ Marion McMullen, "Driving force behind Don Warrington's stage return" Archived 4 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Coventry Telegraph, 8 February 2013.
- ^ "All My Sons" Archived 4 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Talawa Theatre Company.
- ^ Clare Brennan, "All My Sons – review", The Observer, 6 October 2013.
- ^ Alfred Hicking, "All My Sons – review", The Guardian, 2 October 2013.
- ^ Claire Allfree, "Don Warrington's King Lear is a heartbreaking tour de force", The Telegraph, 7 April 2016.
- ^ Mark Shenton, "King Lear review at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester – ‘outstanding’", The Stage, 7 April 2016.
- ^ "King Lear Reviewed", Talawa.
- ^ "Glengarry Glen Ross". www.glengarrywestend.com.
- ^ "Death of a Salesman - Royal Exchange Theatre". www.royalexchange.co.uk.
- ^ "Don Warrington & Lilia Kopylova", Strictly Come Dancing, BBC One.
- ^ Alex Fletcher, "Don Warrington ('Strictly Come Dancing')", Digital Spy, 22 October 2008.