Peter Wyngarde Remembered

Sadly, it seems that Peter Wyngarde has died at the age of ninety.  For many of us, he was a cherished childhood TV memory: the very epitome of late sixities/early seventies campness in his portrayal of Jason King, both in the character's own eponymous series and its predecessor, Department S.  I remember watching both series when they were rerun in the afternoons during school holidays in the late seventies.  Despite only a few years having passed since their production, they seemed to come from a completely different era, so different were the late seventies to the early seventies.  But despite the apparent campness of Wyngarde's characterisation, the fact was that extravagant moustaches, frilled shirts and velvet smoking jackets were all considered fashionable accessories for the man-about-town circa 1970, (just look at Jon Pertwee's costume in Dr Who if you need further confirmation of this).  Before becoming Jason King, Wyngarde had given many plamboyant performances in various TV series, including The Saint and The Avengers, usually playing the guest villain of the week and more than holding his own performing opposite the likes of Roger Moore and Patrick MacNee.  Prior to TV fame, Wyngarde had notched up some interesting film credits, including The Innocents and the lead in the interesting but relatively neglected horror film Night of the Eagle.

Wyngarde's early life seems shrouded in mystery, with confusion as to his actual year of birth and place of birth, something he happily contributed to.  Sadly, his career took something of a knock in the mid seventies after a pair of well publicised convictions for what would now be known as 'cottaging'.  But he managed something of a comeback in the eighties, with roles in Flash Gordon , Sherlock Holmes and Dr Who. Wyngarde's performances weren't confined to acting: in 1970 he released a self-titled album full of some truly bizarre spoken word tracks.  Most notorious of these was 'Rape', released as a promotional single.  Listening to the latter today, it seems unbelievable that a major label could ever have thought it a good idea to release a jokey record about rape.  But hey, the early seventies were a different country.  A different planet, in fact.  A planet where gay actors playing heterosexual ladies' men like Jason King, had to hide their sexuality for fear it would damage the character's reputation.  In the final analysis, Wyngarde might never have become a major star of either film or TV, but he gave many highly entertaining and memorable performances, justifiably making him a cult favourite.  I'll remember him fondly, not just for the likes of Jason King, but also for that amazing LP.
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