From the moment this ‘Obituary’ was published on The Guardian website, members of the public began to make their feelings felt about the evident vindictiveness of its author. In addition to the comments below, numerous members of the acting profession – including actors, directors and producers – were also to contact The Guardian to protest. Within the hour, the piece was replaced with something that was far more balanced and competently written. This was evidently not the sublime revenge* the author had threatened or expected.
* For his banning from the Official Peter Wyngarde Appreciation Society in 2014)
“This is a thoroughly mean-spirited ‘obituary’ by someone who seems to bear a personal grudge against Wyngarde.”
“This reads less as an obituary and more as a rather nasty hatchet job……the guy was certainly an enigma, but didn’t Gielgud call him one of the finest actors of his generation? (or was that made up too?) ”
“Strikes me as a pre-prepared obit that didn’t get a second pair of eyes before being heading off to the presses. It is grossly one sided. Does he not get any credit for creating a wonderfully outrageous and camp character that inspired the hugely successful Austin Powers performance.”
“One doesn’t doubt that he was possessed of a huge ego but that’s what makes an actor, or at least what did before Eastenders up its doors for today’s talentless grunters.”
“My father’s not here for me to ask him again what it was like, but worked with PW twice. Once on The Siege of Sidney Street (1960) and a decade later on an episode of Jason King (A Thin Band of Hair) and I believe found Wyngarde nothing less than professional.”
“How did you determine that he was homosexual? Which he wasn’t, by the way. Not everything you hear, see or read is necessarily factual.”
“What a nasty piece of writing. I’m actually quite surprised the Guardian saw fit to publish it.”
“One can only imagine penning this obituary has saved its author the trouble of going along to the cemetery and urinating onto its subject’s grave.”
“It’s ok, he’s dead now Gavin. You won, well done son.”
“Well! The Grauniad doesn’t often do hatchet-jobs in its obits, but this is clearly the exception!”
!I admit I wasn’t a big fan of his, but let’s give the guy some credit! After all he was a fine actor in his day. And that moustache! Just about every bloke of my generation was growing a zapata like his, back in his heyday when he was one of the most familiar faces on TV. I certainly grew one (people said it didn’t suit me, so after a few months I shaved it off…).”
“R.I.P. Peter W. You deserve it.”
“Not the first time. Michael Hann’s piece on Sean Hughes also fits into the ‘hatchet job’ category. “
“Nasty obituary for a man who deserved far better – shame! Yes, Jason could be terribly effete but he had more style than any other TV hero and Peter Wyngarde nailed the character absolutely. I still remember the shock of learning from one episode – quite out of the blue – that Jason was a widower whose wife had been killed in an air crash.”
“Blimey, the man’s not long dead and he gets this!”
“Very disrespectful of a talented and entertaining man brought low by poisonous bigotry.”
“Shame on The Guardian. “
“What a mean spirited piece…”
“What an incredibly spiteful, mean spirited and malicious obituary. I feel very sorry for the kind of man that derives personal satisfaction from such pettiness.”
“Most of it is from Wikipedia.”
“Having fun with Wyngarde’s age and ancestry while trying to work through the actor’s own obfuscation on the subject is one thing, but the penultimate paragraph seems mean-spirited for the sake of being mean-spirited.”
“What a disgraceful review. Most of the information is supposition, guesswork and slurs and offers little in the way of fact. Written with an axe to grind from someone who would be better placed with the Daily Fail. Shame on the Guardian for allowing this kind of shoddy journalism.”
“The Guardian is getting a bit of a reputation for this sort of Obituary now, it seems… The very same comments were made about Michael Hann’s awful piece on Sean Hughes. Not at the bottom of the article, but all over Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately they had taken the comment feature off of that one so that those of us close to Sean who knew how wrong it was couldn’t reply. Certainly both obituaries seem like the work of a tabloid dressed up in Guardian clothing. “
“Peter Wyngarde deserved something far better than this piece. Of course, as other newspapers have done, one can have sport with the seemingly preposterous moustache/suits (which, as others have commented, were pervasive at the time), but those pieces credited Wyngarde as somebody who took acting seriously.”
“Peter Wyngarde’s arrest is surely as irrelevant – in real terms – as Alan Turing’s.”
“Yuk, what a miserable hatchet job.”
“How horrible. Shame on the Guardian!”
“What a shame The Guardian memorialises Wyngarde’s with this snide piece.”
“Er, we think he did this, we think he did that, help me desk, do I have to write this?”
“The dead can’t sue!”
“Obituaries are generally one of the stronger suits the Guardian has left. This one is quite off-colour. I feel, it is a bit on the lazy side and also structurally not quite up to the job. On the other hand, my compliments to the Wikipedia author, who quite untypically relatively to his peers, was not lazy at all but invested quite a bit of time into his research.”
“What Peter Wyngarde is concerned: I came to the conviction that his whole life up to 1969 was just a preparation to become Jason King. And he did the role with such excellence that there was nothing really left to follow.”
“The Sydney Morning Herald, another publication way past its bed time, spoke to him on occasion of his visit to Australia in 1972 where he played in the Melbourne stage production of Simon Gray’s “Butley” a loser and alcoholic to boot. There he let us know:”
“I also wrote all the dialogue for Jason. well I had to as they originally had him as the type of man who’d use expressions like ‘my dears’ and ‘old boys’ and it was all terribly camp. But Jason isn’t camp – he is high-camp and that saves him.”
“He also tells us that his greatest wish was to star in a musical, admitting that he is not the greatest singer in the world. “
“Perhaps I could fake it like Rex Harrison in ‘My Fair Lady’”
“Anyway, I will take the occasion to drag out the old Department S and Jason King DVDs, travelling back to an era which was still looking up in hope and not endlessly dragged down. The eloquent Jason King in his nigh infinite flamboyance is probably one its ultimate symbols and a definite contrast to our time in which we ended up running around in deliberately washed out and ripped jeans and where the most frequent use of the word “fuck” is considered cool.”
“He did appear in at least one musical – The King and I at The Adelphi Theatre with Sally Ann Howes. The obituary seems to be written by someone with an axe to grind. Obits should be balanced but this one seems way off kilter. I agree. There was a similar obit about the folklorist Iona Opie recently that focussed upon one or two of her crankier qualities and sale of her collection, rather than a lifetime of hard work and lasting influence. That is not fair – and an obituary in a paper of record should aim to be fair and balanced.”
“For better or worse, Peter Wyngarde will be remembered for the “character” of Jason King – a character whose suaveness and “way with the ladies” have become shorthand for that brief period when the mainstream of popular culture appropriated – and vulgarised – certain aspects of swinging London and the hippy/groovy lifestyle of half a decade before. I would suggest that it was his great skills as an actor that allowed him to inhabit this role with such aplomb. Compare/contrast with say Tony Curtis and Roger Moore (both fine actors on their day) in “The Persuaders” who were utterly stiff and unconvincing.”
“Come on Guardian. Sort these obituaries out.”
“Is Vic there ? RIP Mr. Wyngarde.”
“Disappointing that The Guardian should choose to run such a distasteful hatchet job under the guise of an obituary.”
“An obituary needs to be, to some extent, a document of record, of fact. Wyngarde deliberately obscured many of the facts in his life, so the obituarist has to make do with what’s left. 400 words of “gosh, he wore funny clothes on telly, Austin Powers” isn’t much good to anyone.”
“But Tim, there is much, much more to say about the man than dates and clothes. Ask anyone.Other than born and died dates an obituary doesn’t need to be a document of record at all.”
“It can easily have a lightness of touch, and some humour.”
“The author seems the go-to guy for 1960’s / 70’s British TV & film stars, but sadly just doesn’t seem very good at it.”
“The Telegraph (I know, I know) do a great series of books covering obituaries subtitled “a celebration of eccentric lives”. That’s probably what should have been aimed for here, not this sneering, nasty, hatchet job.”
“I read similar short biographies (obviously not an obituary) about Peter Wyngarde over the years and they all point to the various mysterious claims about his age, place or birth, parentage, achievements, and more. I wish he’d written his autobiography. Jason King may be a possible influence on Austin Powers, but Wyngarde is truly the international man of mystery…”
“I understand that Matthew Vaughn twice wanted him for reasonable-sized film roles, in Layer Cake and X-Men: First Class, but on each occasion was told that he had died.”
“How fitting that today’s Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday – for that Wyngarde obituary gives the impression that Gaughan is only a pen-name for Griswold. Of course, de mortuis nihil nisi bonum – Mr. Gaughan might, like Griswold, be dead for quite some time, as it seems to be rather common to write tosh like this for a newspaper’s stockpile and use it years after it was written. Either if Mr. Gaughan is dead or still alive, it would have served this obituary if the author would have been less obsessed by the “mystery” of Wyngarde and had instead tried to inform himself a little less roughly about his work and career. But then, the spirit of Griswold still walks amongst us and would rather stick his nose into a public toilet then into over 200 successful performances of “The King and I”. It possibly was less the intention to give a fair and interesting life’s review but rather to serve the yellow press and have the last snarl?”
“Peter was one of the great TV characters of the late 60s and early 70s. A credible and sinister ‘Number 2’ in ‘The Prisoner’ set him up for ‘Department S and ‘Jason King.’ He lived out his characters and just like King would have done, flicked a tray of nonchalant cigarette ash at suggestions that he was the son of a Liverpool seaman. Instead, the son of an aristocratic diplomat, up to Oxford sometime to study Law went nicely with the man, his persona and his TV and Film characters. Interestingly, he maintained a few odd contacts up on Merseyside but as his most famous character would have said to the beautiful lady he was about to seduce… ‘I’ts purely for research purposes for my latest novel… Now, let me take your coat my dear.’ Wonderful, one of the greats.”
“Poor form writing this. Though there are many truths here there are some utterly pointless criticisms of a remarkable man who made a remarkable cultural contribution. Once again, a bad show from The Guardian.”
“Quite agree, argentofan. Recounting Wyngarde’s petty vanities at this time is at best bad form and at worst squeezes out of the obit what should have been a generous recognition of his talent.”
“What a tawdry and nasty obituary that concentrates mostly on the downside of Peter’s life. The author was allegedly banned from Peter Wyngarde’s Official Facebook page because he insisted on posting vindictive comments about the great actor on there. Peter Wyngarde was one of our finest actors and he didn’t do anyone any harm. He was a hero to millions of television viewers. He deserves a better obituary than this one straight from a gutter press author who clearly bears a grudge against the late, great Peter Wyngarde. RIP Peter. “
“Ah, that explains the vitriol. I thought the piece reeked of personal animosity. Yes, it probably boils down that Peter didn’t sign Gaughan’s autograph book in the correct colour ink or something equally as trivial.”
“You couldn’t help but like him, and his acting style. He had a point about being flamboyant. He was born OTT and went on from there.”
“Watching Department S and Jason King, made the move away from Crackerjack pencils,a kind of growth spurt into adult television.”
“This poor obituary does not become you Gavin or the Guardian.”
“I think it becomes Gavin, whoever he may be, very well indeed.”
“Just not good enough. Apart from the unnecessarily spiteful tone – sneering never becomes the obituarist – this cut-and-paste job is incomplete. Whatever the merits of Wyngarde’s curious LP When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head – and it did gain an audience on reissue in the 90s – it should have been mentioned, as should have been his gentle, amused presence, particularly in later years.”
“So, The Guardian, explain again how this works: an elderly actor who many people have a deep affection for because he was a greatly talented, huge entertaining part of their lives, dies, you think it appropriate to allow a hack with a personal axe to grind to write his official ‘obituary’ that does nothing but spit vitriol as though he was another Saville or Glitter? What an utter, utter joke this piece is.”
“Gavin Gaughan, read these comments, if you please! And then have a good hard think.”
“From reading these slapdash, thoroughly unkind words you’d think Wyngarde was a public hate figure on a par with Saville or Gary Glitter. What exactly did Wyngarde do to Gavin Vaughan one has to wonder.”
“Spell check wants him to change his name to Vaughan it seems. After this, that might not be a bad idea.”
“The obits from the Graughan usually describe the negatives and the positives of a notable person’s life but in a respectful and reflective manner;this essay regarding Wyngarde however is unduly cynical and flippant.It is true his career was affected by his conviction in 1975,though surely it should have been pointed out this was still an era in which Britain was coming to terms with the decriminalisation of homosexuality eight years before; apparently,Wyngarde never publicly acknowledged he was homosexual,and in fact denied it. In any case, should one sneer at his personal/sexual orientation as is implied here?”
“Regarding his acting career,his performance as the suave,witty,slightly too old playboy Jason King was a real icon of its era,perhaps arriving a trifle too late as the swinging 60’s were giving way to the more pessimistic 70’s.My late father was often mistaken for Jason King in this period too,with his droopy moustache and long hair,taking it all as a badge of honour. ‘Department S’ and the eponymous named series itself were merely fluffy,far-fetched spy/mystery dramas in the ITC mould,but Wyngarde’s performance as King provided a nonchalant,adroit resonance that gave it an extra spark.His TV career did decline after the shows ended,but what is not mentioned is that he at least managed a revival on the stage in various performances and tours,and made a decent comeback on TV in the mid 80’s in shows like Doctor Who,Crown Court and The Two Ronnies.”
“Wyngarde’s acting persona may probably have become more unfashionable from the mid-70’s onwards,but his urbane,cultured presence and impeccably modulated diction were always welcome in any film or TV programme he graced.He deserves more respect than this obituary has provided, R.I.P.”
“There is an amazing obituary to be written about the great Peter Wyngarde, highlighting the many triumphs of his long & eventful career. This isn’t it. On a personal note, in the 1990s, when I screened the Granada TV dramas South (1959) & On Trial: Sir Roger Casement (1960) at the National Film Theatre (with great success), Mr Wyngarde took the time & trouble to write to me, a beautifully hand-written three page letter, informing me about the two plays & an earlier BBC TV drama he had done, Patrick Hamilton’s Rope.”
“This article seems to making fun of details that may may not be true. wtf! name me one actor/actress without some amendment to there name or persona in some way. the whole film, TV and music industry is SMOKE AND MIRRORS!!!!! the guy was a genuine talent, the likes of which won’t be found in this modern day post x factor po-faced world where real characters aren’t allowed or tolerated anymore. Sad to see the vitriol in this article. Peter Wyngarde may not have been everyone’s glass of champagne, but he made his mark in acting, creating an icon in Jason King, and in Klytus had one of the most melodious, seductive voices ever. He was an original, a one of a kind and one that could never be copied no matter what. He will be sorely miss by those who admired him.”
“What a small minded, nasty, spiteful piece this is. Shame on the guardian for hosting it.”
“Nasty piece of work. The obituary I mean, not Peter Wyngarde.”
“Yes I must agree with the general tenor of comments that this is a nasty hatchet job. Plus there’s not many of us born these days whose birth dates are uncertain, further uncertainty about his paternity – sounds like a very interesting life worthy of further investigation – and undeserving of this kind of critique.”
“Disgraceful piece, utterly shameful.”
“If this ‘so-called ‘obituarist’ had done his homework, he may have uncovered the following critique & understood what Peter Wyngarde was truly capable of as an actor. In 1993 Keith Howes described Peter Wyngarde in Broadcasting It as “an incomparable player of dashing, juicy rakehells, men on the edge, pagan creatures. A star in the grand style, with the ability to lengthen his vowels & pierce with his eyes, never afraid to add touches of the absurd & the surreal. Remembered now not for his extraordinary range & charisma during the 1950s, but for his campy thriller-writer sleuth Jason King in the early 1970s.”
“Night Of The Eagle” is not ‘a’ horror film. It’s one of the best supernatural-themed films of all time, up there with “Night Of The Demon”.
“I was only a wee lad at the time but I still remember Peter as Sydney Carton in the BBC Sunday tea-time serial “A Tale Of Two Cities”.
“Gaughan-the-hatchet-man’ failed to mention Peter’s theatre work post-Jason King ( he was an impressive Dracula ) or that Peter was a guest at memorabilia/autograph fairs when he was in his mid-to-late 80’s. As his ITC series were made 40 years ago, that’s quite a testament to his continued popularity.”
“Well the comments section has provided The Guardian with a nice bit of market research on this appalling piece of work…… 9 out of 10 cats preferred someone else’s product.”
“I see we can report a post, but not a whole article. I‘ll have to contact the ed somehow to get this appalling piece pulled, and a proper knowledgeable obit published in its place.”
“Gavin seems nice doesn’t he?”
Click below for more on this matter and on Wikipedia…
