British actor Gregory de Polnay (Det. Sgt. Brewer on TV’s Dixon of Dock Green) died on Jan. 1. He was 82. The son of novelist Peter de Polnay, Gregory was popular onstage as well as in radio, TV and films; he worked as a voice and acting coach, and worked on the West End and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was Director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Shakespeare Certificate Scheme, and directed many Jacobean and Restoration plays for RADA. Besides his most famous role, on Dixon of Dock Green, he appeared in such films and TV shows as Space: 1999, Doctor Who, Poldark (the 1970s version), Enemy at the Door, Tenko, Howards' Way, and London’s Burning. De Polnay recalled how his acting career got derailed in the 1980s: “I was doing a lot of teaching and directing in America, and I had a very bad fall. I broke my hip, my pelvic girdle and lots of other stuff, and I had to give up acting for quite a while, so I retrained as a voice teacher and I ended up running lots of voice departments in drama schools. Every now and then, people remember me and wheel me out of retirement, for a spot of acting.”
