Anthony Sagar

In a career sadly cut short by his death at 52 Anthony Sagar shared a screen with many of the greats of British cinema - Alec Guinness, Michael Redgrave, Tom Courtenay, John Mills and Richard Burton to name a few. He also popped up in 7 of the Carry On series, a Norman Wisdom film, a Ronnie Corbett film and the big-screen Dad's Army. He never rose particularly high up the bill in film but could play pretty much any character, in the Carry Ons he was variously a policeman, ambulanceman, cook and bus conductor. Perhaps his best film appearance was in Richard Burton cult classic Villain (1971) his nervous, bootlicking character has some lovely scenes with Burton's vicious Vic Dakin and Nigel Davenport's intelligent, wily Inspector Matthews. Sagar started fairly late in film and television, at 36 he made his debut in Dixon of Dock Green as Det. Sgt. Brownrigg, a role he reprised 8 times in the popular police series, though he also played two other characters in it in later years. Police series were somewhat of a staple as he subsequently appeared in Z Cars, Special Branch and New Scotland Yard and his last appearance on film was in The Offence, Sidney Lumet's hard-boiled police drama. If Sagar didn't quite elevate himself to the ranks of John Le Mesurier, Richard Wattis, Roland Culver or Lionel Jeffries he's still worth noting as a diverse and interesting actor. Other notable appearances are in classic television series Dad's Army, The Avengers and in film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962).