John (Edward) Thaw

Actor, born in Manchester, Greater Manchester, NW England, UK. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and went on to a prolific career in television, theatre, and films. Best known for his television work, which included The Sweeney (1974–8), Inspector Morse (1987–2000), Kavanagh QC (1995–2000), Goodnight Mr Tom (1999), and The Glass (2001). He won a number of BAFTA awards and was honoured with a fellowship in 2001, and in 2002 a posthumous Lew Grade Audience Award for Buried Treasure. He married actress Sheila Hancock (1933– ) in 1973. Her biography of Thaw, The Two of Us, appeared in 2004.

John Edward Thaw CBE (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor who achieved his first starring role in the military police television drama Redcap (1964 – 1966), and subsequently appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles.

Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Longsight, Manchester to parents John and Dorothy.

On leaving RADA, Thaw was awarded a contract with the Liverpool Playhouse.

Thaw will perhaps be best remembered for two roles: the hard-bitten Flying Squad detective Jack Regan in the television series (and two films) The Sweeney (1975 – 1978), which established him as a major star in the United Kingdom, and as the quietly-spoken, introspective and bitter detective Inspector Morse (1987 – 2001), with specials in 1995 – 1998 and 2000.

He subsequently played liberal barrister James Kavanagh in Kavanagh QC (1995 – 1999), with a special in 2001.

Thaw appeared in a number of films, including Cry Freedom, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Chaplin for director Richard Attenborough.

In 1964 Thaw married Sally Alexander, but they divorced four years later.

Thaw had two daughters: Abigail Thaw from his first marriage, and Joanna Thaw from his second.

In her 2004 autobiography Sheila Hancock revealed the extent of Thaw's alcoholism that had started in the late 1970s and caused problems in their marriage and the gaps in Thaw's career in the early 1980s and later 1990s.

Thaw was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1994.