Obituary: Tom Adams

Tom Adams was a regular television star in the 1970s, playing a variety of roles on some of the favourite TV shows of the day.

Adams was born on the March 9, 1938. He began his career as an english and drama teacher in the 1960s before making his film debut in A Prize of Arms (1962) and soon after appeared in the classic motion picture The Great Escape (1963).

He was reported to have narrowly missed out on the role of James Bond when he auditioned as an unknown. I once asked him about this, and he replied, “Absolute tosh!” with a wry grin. I’m quite certain it was absolutely true.

He was subsequently cast as Bond-alike Charles Vine in Licensed to Kill: the Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World (1965), the first of a trio of films that also included Where the Bullets Fly (1966) and OK Yevtushenko (1968).

Throughout the 1960s he worked extensively on television – ITV Play of the Week, The Avengers, Emergency Ward: 10, The Persuaders!, Z-Cars – but it was in the 1970s that he became a bona fide household favourite television star.

His first major television regular was as Major Sullivan in Spy Trap (1973-1975), then he played the recurring roles of Jack Montelbetti in Dixon of Dock Green (1972-1976) and Dr Guy Wallman in General Hospital (1972-1980).

Between 1977 and 1980, in arguably his biggest series of starring roles he played Sir Daniel Fogarty in The Onedin Line and Detective Chief Inspector Nick Lewis in The Enigma Files. Other appearances followed in Doctor Who, Remington Steele and in 1986 he began a two year stint as Ken Stevenson in Strike it Rich!

In the 1990s, his appearances included Lovejoy, Pacific Blue, Duel of Hearts and Fiddlers Three, and in 2002 he appeared in Casualty and The Estate Agents and appeared in the feature film V For Vendetta for Warner Bros.

His last film appearance was in 2009 as Major Ulav in the feature film Mission London, and he fronted a series of long-running commercials right up until last year. Tom worked more on screen than he did on stage, but he most famously played the lead role in the original stage cast of Ray Cooney’s Move Over Mrs Markham.

I was first introduced to Tom by his voiceover agent Emma Harvey of Harvey Voices, who wrote:

It’s been a privilege to work with Tom – a true gentleman and a class act, his personality was as big and warm as his wonderful voice. We’ll miss him very much.

I only knew Tom in the last decade of his life but my whole office was very fond of him. He was very charming, a brilliant raconteur and terrific company. I’m very sad we’ve lost him, and grateful to have known him.

Tom Adams passed away on December 11, 2014.

If any readers know more of Tom’s stage career that is not documented here, I would be most interested to receive information, so do write in to stuart@colekitchenn.com