Richard Shaw

Richard Shaw (19 November 1920 – 11 April 2010) was an English actor remembered for appearing in the science fiction franchises Quatermass and Doctor Who, as well as having a regular role as henchman Ryan in the children's series Freewheelers. He was a regular face on British TV networks BBC and ITV. Shaw played many supporting roles, mostly British crime films, through the 50s, 60s and 70s. He locked the bunker, full of Nazis and their families, before it was filled with gasoline and grenades were dropped in amid the iconic and controversial last scenes of the World War II movie The Dirty Dozen. He also performed stunt roles. During the latter part of his career, in 1980, he played the love interest of both Bet Lynch and Elsie Tanner, Dan Johnson, in the popular UK soap opera Coronation Street.

Shaw appeared in the 1959 BBC TV serial of Quatermass and the Pit playing drill operator Sladden. The series was remastered and rereleased by the BBC in 2018. He was asked to reprise the role in the 1967 film adaptation but was unable to do so due to other commitments. Duncan Lamont (from The Quatermass Experiment) was therefore cast instead. Shaw made three appearances in Doctor Who: The Space Museum, Frontier in Space and Underworld.

He was a regular face on BBC and ITV series' over four decades. Amongst the other television shows Richard Shaw appeared in were The Adventures of William Tell, No Hiding Place, International Detective, Ghost Squad, Z-Cars, Sir Francis Drake, Richard the Lionheart, Dixon of Dock Green, Villains, Circle of Deception, The Wednesday Play, ITV Play of the Week, BBC Sunday Night Play, Steptoe and Son, Sykes and a..., The Saint, Biggles, Sunday Night Theatre, The Flying Doctor (TV series), The Troubleshooters, Emergency Ward 10, Clochemerle, King of the River, Crossroads, Softly, Softly, Please Sir!, Man from Interpol, Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, Pathfinders, The Capone Investment, Softly, Softly: Task Force, Barlow at Large, The Hanged Man, The Onedin Line, The Famous Five, The Sandbaggers, Robin's Nest, George and Mildred, and Matlock.

Richard was raised in the Jewish community of Whitechapel, East London, to a Latvian father and Polish mother, They met in the English capital after both fled early 20th-century Russian pogroms. Shaw changed his surname in his late teens, born Maximillian Shalofsky, and adopted the acting name Richard. He served in the British military during World War II before beginning his acting career.

He was the half-Uncle of English bebop jazz trumpeter, Hank Shaw, who played trumpet in the Andrew Lloyd Webber led musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.