Donald Houston

Early life

Houston was born in Tonypandy, Glamorgan, and was the elder brother of actor Glyn Houston and a sister, Jean. His father, Alex, was a professional football player from Scotland and his mother, Elsie, ran a milk round. After school he worked at Glamorganshire colliery before his first foray into acting came in 1940 when he performed on stage with the Pilgrim Players. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

Acting career

He would sometimes indulge his Welsh accent as well as conceal it behind an English public school veneer. He had a successful career as a character actor in British film and television, with prominent parts in several well-known films, including Yangtse Incident (1957), 633 Squadron (1964), The Longest Day (1962) (in which he appeared alongside Richard Burton), Where Eagles Dare (1968) (again with Burton) and The Sea Wolves (1981). His forte tended to be authority figures, often military, such as the brilliant but tough David Caulder, the head of Moonbase 3 or as Dr Francis in Thirteen to Centaurus (from the anthology series Out of the Unknown).

He could also handle comedy, as he proved with Doctor in the House (1954) and the later Doctor in Distress (1963), both significant successes in Europe, and Carry On Jack (1963). Though preferring quality parts, he was not above journeyman work in films such as Tales That Witness Madness (1973) and Maniac (1963).

On 13 October 1991, Donald Houston died in Coimbra, Portugal at the age of 67.