The Avengers Dossier, Page Ten

Here's another look at a supporting player from the classic television series, "The Avengers".

DUDLEY FOSTER
In "The Hour That Never Was", Dudley Foster plays an officer in Steed's old R.A.F. unit who is tied to the mysterious happenings at an airfield that is being decommissioned.

Born in 1924, Foster served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and turned to professional acting during the post-war years, first on stage and then becoming a fixture on British television from the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s. Historical dramas, mysteries, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, or comedy... Foster appeared in shows of just about any genre. He was mostly cast as policemen, military officers, and other authority figures...not all of whom could be trusted.

Foster's main roles were starring turns on the British television series "Bat Out of Hell" (1966), "A Hundred Years of Humphrey Hastings" (1967), "If It Moves, File It" (1970), and "It's Murder, But Is It Art?" (1972). He also starred as Detective Inspector Dunn during the first season of the long-running police drama "Z-Car" (in 1962). He later returned to play a completely different character in two episodes of series final season in 1971.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Foster also regularly appeared in roles big and small on anthology series, such as the "BBC Sunday-Night Play", "ITV Television Playhouse", and "The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre". In total, he appeared in over 100 different television series and films, often returning as different characters in different seasons. On "The Avengers", he returned in more two episodes, as two other characters--"Something Nasty in the Nursery' (1967) and "Wish You Were Here" (1968), the latter being a spoof of another British spy series, "The Prisoner".

Foster, despairing at the death of his father, committed suicide in 1973.