Basil Hoskins

A popular British film actor, Basil Hoskins also had a distinguished career on the London stage appearing opposite such stars as Vivien Leigh (in "Duel of Angels" [1958]) and Alec Guinness (in Terence Rattigan's "Ross" [1960]) and had a long run in the musical "Applause" opposite Lauren Bacall (1971). British television viewers knew him best for his role starting in 1963 as Dr. Rex Lane Russell in Emergency-Ward 10 (1957), Britain's first twice-weekly, long-running drama series, focusing on the staff and patients in a general hospital. Hoskins studied acting at RADA and later joined the Nottingham Playhouse Company. He spent five seasons with the Shakespeare Memorial Company at Stratford playing leading roles, including Lucias to Laurence Olivier's Titus Andronicus. During the 1950s he toured Australia with the Old Vic Company with Katharine Hepburn. He also appeared in many stage musicals, including "A Little Night Music" and the London revival of "Call Me Madam" (1983) with TV star Noele Gordon. He appeared in numerous TV drama series, and his best known films were Ice Cold in Alex (1958) and North West Frontier (1959).