R.I.P Anthony Valentine (1939 - 2015)
Anthony Valentine was a highly-skilled actor, one of a certain British generation with a memorable voice and a good line in fully fleshed-out and complex villainous characters, the type of actor you see so often in episodes of vintage television shows, ie the sort of shows I adore. For me, he will always be one of Robin of Sherwood’s first adversaries, the chilling Baron de Belleme.
The Baron appears in the two-part opener of the show - ‘Robin Hood and the Sorcerer’ - and is a practitioner of the dark arts, clothed in simple black, his eyes piercing and his movements minimal. In a show that regularly featured memorable villains, the Baron remains one that sticks in the mind above almost all others. He works with the Sheriff of Nottingham and is so still and cold throughout, a wonderful contrast to the Sheriff’s loud frustrations and dramatic anger. It is the Baron’s stillness that marks him out as different, as so very dangerous, and Valentine gives him such cold menace, such absolute surety in his own power, you really can believe that a demon took his soul as Abbot Hugo claims the story goes. Twice in his time on the show he’s able to almost defeat Robin, twice you believe he might do it. And this character, so steeped in darkness and what was essentially devil-worship, was part of a show shown at tea-time! Something that definitely wouldn’t happen now, there’d be too many complaints! ‘Robin Hood and the Sorcerer’ remains one of my very favourite Robin of Sherwood stories and Valentine is absolutely a huge part of that, he’s so different to every other villain the show features and he’s definitely the most powerful and Valentine’s performance absolutely stands the test of time, it’s haunting and gripping, it’s difficult to look anywhere else when he’s on screen.
Valentine starred in many TV productions. He’s likely best known for his TV role as German officer Major Horst Mohn in highly-lauded and even-handed drama Colditz, ruthless secret agent Toby Meres in the gritty Callan (starring my dear Edward Woodward, the show that made him a star in fact) and the title character in Raffles, a gentleman thief, a character full of charm. It’s quite odd to watch the latter after only seeing his more numerous works as a villain but Valentine really is wonderful. I’ve found all the show’s episodes on YouTube and have enjoyed watching some. There’s always something dangerous and striking about his eyes but he is charming and believable too, a man who survives on his wits and secret thievery. A villain in hero’s smiles and clothing perhaps.
He was also a playwright and theatre actor and director. He was married to actress Susan Skipper, and he died at age 76 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease for some time. I’m so sad that we keep losing more of this terrific generation of actors, performers who peopled amazing shows that give me a glow of nostalgia and so many smiles, shows that I’d rather watch than almost anything produced nowadays. Thank you, Mr Valentine, for always making your characters more than just cardboard villains, for really giving them dimension and intrigue and for always completely holding the audience’s interest. Thank you for the Baron.
His Guardian obituary is here.