Frank Windsor 19282020
ACCLAIMED Black Country actor Frank Windsor passed away last month, aged 92.
He was born Frank Windsor Higgins in 1928 in Walsall, the son of an accountant for the local council. After attending Queen Mary’s Grammar School in Walsall he studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, which was then based in the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Touring
One of his first jobs was with the Elizabethan Theatre Company, touring Great Britain and India. He also joined the troupe of players at the Oxford Playhouse in the early 1950s, where he performed with the likes of Maggie Smith, Billie Whitelaw and Ronnie Barker.
Windsor made his television debut in 1955, in the BBC’S Sunday Night Theatre and he continued to pick up roles on screen until he took on the part that defined his career.
Frank Windsor played DS John Watt in the ground-breaking police drama Z-cars from 1962 to 1965. Windsor worked closely with his on-screen partner, Stratford Johns as DI Charlie Barlow, and others, including James Ellis, Brian Blessed and Colin Welland, on the gritty, realistic series, that tackled social issues rarely seen on TV before.
The two lead characters progressed as the series evolved, becoming Softly, Softly (1966-69) then Softly, Softly: Taskforce (1969-76). The characters of Barlow and Watt also appeared in the 1973 BBC series Jack the Ripper, in which they investigated the historic case, and 1976’s Second Verdict, which saw the pair review further real-life historic crimes, such as the Lizzie Borden axe-murders and the deaths of the Princes in the Tower.
John Watt made his final screen appearance in the very last episode of the revived Z-cars, which ran from 1967 to 1978.
Frank Windsor played a number of roles in films, including This Sporting Life (1963), Spring and Port Wine (1970), Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) and The Shooting Party (1985).
Television
On television, Windsor appeared in episodes of The Avengers, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Goodies, Doctor Who, Casualty, Peak Practice and Eastenders and starred in the comedy drama Flying Lady. He also received acclaim for his stage performances, working with Tom Stoppard and Trevor Nunn.
Frank Windsor married the dancer Mary Corbett in 1959 and they had two children. He died at his London home on September 30.