Merely transforming
into a wide variety of
animals from a black
leopard to a high flying
hawk should pose no
problem to British star
Simon MacCorkindale,
who stars as Jonathan
Chase in the 20th Century-
Fox Television series,
"Manimal".
"In recent pictures and
series I've been shot and
killed, had my hand
bashed, was caught by a
bullet in the shoulder,
hanged, beheaded,
drowned, hung in chains,
tortured, and in "Jaws 3D",
I was devoured by a 35-ft.
shark," the handsome
leading man confided.
MacCorkindale, who
came to the United States
in 1981, is a native of
Cambridge, England, who
made his professional
stage debut at the
Belgrade Theatre in
Coventry, England, in "A
Bequest to the Nation". His
first international television
assignment was in Franco
Zeffirelli's Jesus of
Nazareth " in which he
played Lucius, the
centurion who was
strongly featured in the last
hour of the six-hours epic.
Curiously enough, he also
played Lucius, the son of
Emperor Augustus, in "I
Claudius".
Among his roles on
British TV have been Sir
Thomas Walsingham in
"Will Shakespeare",
Romeo in "Romeo and
Juliet", the callous vet in
"Baby", poet Siegfried
Sassoon in "Out of Battle",
the naive Oxford graduate
in Elinor Glyn's "Three
Weeks", along with
appearances in "Just
William " and Dr. Dady in
the series set in a woman's
prison, "Within These
Walls".
What he considers the
major break of his career
was his being cast as
Simon Doyle, the smooth,
avaricious young murderer
in "Death on the Nile". He
was presented to the
Queen at the Royal
Premiere in London, by
which time he had
completed a role in
marked contrast, the tough
sailor hero in Erskine
Guilders classic spy story,
"The Riddle of the Sands".
The London Evening
News liked his work so
much in these two films
that it presented him with
its "Most Promising Actor"
award, which necessitated
a flight for the presentation
from Los Angeles where
he was working both for
the screen and on stage,
guest starring in "The
Dukes ofHazzard" and a
comedy pilot, "Scalpels",
at Paramount for NBC. On
his return he starred in
"The Gayden Chronicles"
on stage in Los Angeles,
and soon after was flying
back to London to play the
title role in "Macbeth" with
Gayle Hunnicutt.
He starred with Charles
Bronson in "Cabo Blanco",
playing an MI5 agent, and
with Sir John Mills in
Thames TV's
"Quatermass" and the
movie version,
"Quatermass Conclusion".
Next came "A Visitor
from the Grave" and his
plum TV assignment was
when he was named to
play Lt. David Clement of
the Royal Hussars in "The
Manions of America", in
which he co-starred with
David Soul, Kate Mullgrew,
Linda Purl, Nicholas
Hammond and Pierce
Brosnan. It was ABC's top-
attraction opener for the
fall '81 season.
He returned to Los
Angeles in February, 1981,
to make his highly
successful American
debut as the director of
"The Merchant of Venice"
on the Globe Theatre's
stage, and followed this
with performances of his
one-man show, "The
Importance of Being
Oscar", also at the Globe.
Other 1981 assignments
were on "Fantasy Island"
and in "An Outpost of
Progress" for the
American Film Institute.
"Outpost" was followed
by his starring role in "The
Sword and the Sorcerer",
and the video production
of "Macbeth". He also
returned to England to
present his one-man show
at the Cambridge Festival
and rounded off the year
with the incorporation of
his own company, Allied
International Productions,
in which he is partnered
with Ron Marshall Glazer,
his manager, Linda Purl
and Scott Adler, an
attorney at law.
If 1981 was an active
year, it would be hard to
find an adjective for 1982.
The year commenced with
Allied's own presentation
of "A Doll House" at the
Matrix Theatre in Los
Angeles. Simon directed,
Linda Purl and Nicholas
Pryor starred.
Then it was off to
nearby La Mirada where
MacCorkindale directed
Howard Keel in "Sleuth"
and hardly had that show
opened than he had to take
over from Nicholas Pryor
in "A Doll House" on a
three-day warning and one
rehearsal.
Next came Houston to
direct James Whitmore Sr.
and Jr. in "Sleuth" for the
Windmill Theatre, and
without being able to see
the opening night, he was
winged off to Mexico to
film"Falcon's Gold" with
John Marley.
Other series included
episodes of "Hart to Hart"
and "Dynasty". Prior to
starring in "Jaws 3D" with
Dennis Quaid, Bess
Armstrong and Lou
Gossett,Jr.,
MacCorkindale directed
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and
Noel Harrison in "Sleuth"
at Granny's Dinner Theatre
in Dallas and finished his
post-production work on
"Falcon's Gold".
On the personal side,
Simon enjoys a variety of
pastimes such as
photography, tennis and
swimming, classical music
and an assurance in his
belief that he's an
accomplished handyman,
decorator and gardener, in
which he is now indulging
in his newly acquired
home in Beverly Hills. He
collects elephant figurines,
enjoys opera and delights
in his friends. Most of his
spare hours, though, he
devotes to writing
preparing and working
toward potential feature
and TV films under his
Allied International
Productions banner.
He also has a London
based company, Pendant
Entertainment
Productions, which he
runs with his brother
Duncan and actor Gareth
Thomas. Currently he is
working on a number of
other projects including
his novel, "Ronnie".
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