Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Francis Matthews (1927-2014)

The actor Francis Matthews died on Saturday at the age of 86. Although he had a lengthy career in film and on stage, Matthews was best known for playing the role of Paul Temple and the voice of Captain Scarlet on TV.

Both characters also had lengthy careers in comics and the Paul Temple strip was greatly influenced by the 52-episode TV series broadcast in 1969-71. Artist John McNamara gradually revised the look of the character in the daily strip to look a little more like the Matthews, as can be seen in the example below from the 1970 serial 'Paul Temple and the Groomgate Killer'. Steve was also given a makeover and was styled after actress Ros Drinkwater, who appeared opposite Matthews in the TV show.

Obituaries: The Guardian (15 June 2014), Daily Telegraph (16 June 2014), The Independent (18 June 2014).

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