Denis Shaw

Acting

Denis Shaw

Born — Died

1921-04-07 — 1971-02-28

Place of birth

Dulwich, London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

54 titles

Douglas "Denis" Findlay Shaw (7 February 1921 – 28 February 1971) was a British character actor who specialized in portraying villains. Shaw was born in Dulwich on 7 February 1921. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was frequently cast as villains in films and television shows, most notably as the German guard Priem in The Colditz Story (1955), as well as a number of British horror films including Jack the Ripper (1959), The Mummy (1959) and The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). He was cast in the leading role of The Great Van Robbery (1959) as the judo-throwing Interpol detective Caesar Smith. Shaw's television credits include The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Avengers, Danger Man, Dixon of Dock Gree…

Known for

The Avengers poster
7.8

A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).

The Avengers

1961

Theatre 625 poster
7.2

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Theatre 625

1964

The Adventures of Robin Hood poster
6.4

The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

1955

The Prisoner poster
7.7

After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is really a bizarre Kafkaesque prison. His warders demand information. He gives them nothing, but only tries to escape.

The Prisoner

1967

Espionage poster
10.0

Pulled from actual case histories and utilizing newsreel and documented narratives, the activities of spies from various countries are depicted as far back as the American Revolution and as recent as the Cold War.

Espionage

1963

No artwork available
7.5

The global adventures of Ken Franklin, ace operative of the William J. Burns Detective Agency, qualify as a pop-culture curio if only for star Arthur---later Art---Fleming, who hosted the original `Jeopardy!'

International Detective

1959

Film credits

1960s · 15 titles

The Curse of the Werewolf poster
6.5

A child conceived by a mute servant girl transforms from an innocent youth to a killer beast at night with uncontrollable urges.

The Curse of the Werewolf

1961

The File of the Golden Goose poster
5.7

U.S. Secret Service agent Peter Novak goes undercover with Scotland Yard officer Thompson to halt a murderous gang of counterfeiters known as the Golden Goose. Although Peter is unsure about John's loyalties, the two infiltrate the gang and win the trust of thug Nick "The Owl" Harrison before enduring a series of double-crosses.

The File of the Golden Goose

1969

The Deadly Affair poster
6.3

Charles Dobbs is a British secret agent investigating the apparent suicide of Foreign Office official Samuel Fennan. Dobbs suspects that Fennan's wife, Elsa, a survivor of a Nazi Germany extermination camp, might have some clues, but other officials want Dobbs to drop the case. So Dobbs hires a retiring inspector, Mendel, to quietly make inquiries. Dobbs isn't at all sure as there are a number of anomalies that simply can't be explained away. Dobbs is also having trouble at home with his errant wife, whom he very much loves, having frequent affairs. He's also pleased to see an old friend, Dieter Frey, who he recruited after the war. With the assistance of a colleague and a retired policeman, Dobbs tries to piece together just who is the spy and who in fact assassinated Fennan.

The Deadly Affair

1967

The Night We Got the Bird poster
6.3

Good natured comic caper charting the misadventures of a hapless bunch of Brighton based petty crooks dogged with disaster at every turn.

The Night We Got the Bird

1960

The Criminal poster
6.5

When a robbery at a racetrack goes wrong ex-con Johnny Bannion is caught and sent back to prison. He won't tell the rest of the gang where he has stashed the loot leading to violent consequences.

The Criminal

1960

The Pirates of Blood River poster
6.2

A group of ruthless pirates attack a 17th Century Huguenot settlement on the Isle of Devon in search of treasure and will stop at nothing to obtain it.

The Pirates of Blood River

1962

The Viking Queen poster
4.8

Set in ancient Britain, at a time when much of Europe was ruled with harsh tyranny by Rome, a tribe of Britons led by Selina, set out to defy the invaders and discard their yoke of bondage. The Roman commander, Justinian, is sent to quell the uprising, punishing the dissenters with brute force but when he becomes emotionally attached to Selina, he is torn between his duty to Rome and his love for the Viking Queen.

The Viking Queen

1967

Carry On Regardless poster
6.2

After a bunch of no-hopers approaches an employment agency, the anarchy mounts as they do a series of odd jobs, including a chimp's tea party, trying to stay sober at a wine tasting… and demolishing a house.

Carry On Regardless

1961

Nothing Barred poster
7.0

Penniless Lord Whitebait's plan to save his sinking fortunes is to open stately Whitebait Manor to the public. But the public ignores his gesture, and his fortunes fade even further, with a stream of debts threatening to run into a deluge when his daughter's fiancé demands a plush and costly wedding. Where is the cash to come from? Whitebait and his servant Spankforth's answer is a scam involving the theft of a valuable painting from the Manor. How could such a cunningly original ruse fail?

Nothing Barred

1961

The Hellfire Club poster
5.4

Years after fleeing his ancestral home with his mother, Jason returns home to claim his birthright, only to find his way blocked by his evil cousin Thomas. In order to reclaim his title, Jason must do battle with his cousin, who calls upon the members of the deadly Hellfire Club to stop him.

The Hellfire Club

1961

The Magnificent Six and ½: It's Not Cricket poster
NR

An errant cricket ball causes mayhem as the gang try to recover it.

The Magnificent Six and ½: It's Not Cricket

1969

Trouble with Eve poster
6.0

What happens when an attractive girl from Paris arrives in a sleepy riverside village.

Trouble with Eve

1960

The Magnificent Six and ½: Kontiki Kids poster
NR

The gang build a raft to ferry them across a canal, with just one problem; getting the raft to the canal.

The Magnificent Six and ½: Kontiki Kids

1968

Beyond the Curtain poster
6.8

A British flight officer plans to rescue an airline stewardess who is trapped in East Germany.

Beyond the Curtain

1960

Ticket to Paradise poster
5.8

Travel agent Emrys Jones and tourist Patricia Dainton fall in love in sunny Italy. Jones has led Dainton to believe that he's fabulously wealthy, and she has likewise deceived him. When the truth inevitably outs, it hardly matters, since hero and heroine now love each other for themselves rather than their bank accounts.

Ticket to Paradise

1961

1950s · 23 titles

The Colditz Story poster
6.8

The Germans believed that no man could escape from Colditz Castle, set as it was in the heart of the Reich, 400 miles from any neutral frontier. This film, based on Pat Reid's epic novel, tells the story of how the British, French, Dutch and Polish prisoners of war who were incarcerated in Colditz set out to prove their captors wrong.

The Colditz Story

1955

The Man Who Could Cheat Death poster
5.8

Dr. Bonner plans to live forever through periodic gland transplants from younger, healthier human victims. Bonner looks about 40; he's really 104 years old. But people are starting to get suspicious, and he may not make 200.

The Man Who Could Cheat Death

1959

The Mummy poster
6.7

One by one the archaeologists who discover the 4,000-year-old tomb of Princess Ananka are brutally murdered. Kharis, high priest in Egypt 40 centuries ago, has been brought to life by the power of the ancient gods and his sole purpose is to destroy those responsible for the desecration of the sacred tomb. But Isobel, wife of one of the explorers, resembles the beautiful princess, forcing the speechless and tormented monster to defy commands and abduct Isobel to an unknown fate.

The Mummy

1959

Innocent Meeting poster
6.7

The daughter of a textile company owner falls in love with a young illustrator with a secret criminal past.

Innocent Meeting

1959

Let's Be Happy poster
5.4

On receiving an inheritance from her grandfather, Canadian Jeannie MacLean decides to visit the family's Scottish roots. On the plane she meets businessman Stanley Smith, and romance blossoms in Edinburgh. The complications begin when Stanley breaks a date with Jeannie to woo voluptuous redhead Helene, and Jeannie is flattered by the attentions of the impoverished Lord McNairn; he's heard about her good fortune, and gallantly offers to show her the city.

Let's Be Happy

1957

Port Afrique poster
5.9

An army veteran with a shattered leg returns to his home in Port Afrique after war only to find his wife has been murdered. He's determined to find the killer, even if it means uncovering family secrets he never knew about.

Port Afrique

1956

Passport to Shame poster
6.1

British melodrama about a cabbie befriending a girl caught up in the white slave trade.

Passport to Shame

1958

Who Done It? poster
5.5

This movie debut for saucy British TV comic Benny Hill has Benny leaving his job as a sweeper after winning some money. He becomes a private detective and investigates a plot to assassinate British scientists.

Who Done It?

1956

Seven Thunders poster
5.5

Escaping British prisoners of war hide out in German occupied France.

Seven Thunders

1957

The Long Memory poster
6.7

An innocent man is released from prison after 12 years and tracks down the witnesses who lied about him in court.

The Long Memory

1953

Soapbox Derby poster
5.6

The Battersea Bats are a gang of four kids who have their den in an abandoned building near the Thames, and they have a plan of action in mind because in about a week there is a soapbox derby being held, a contest they mean to win.

Soapbox Derby

1958

Naked Fury poster
7.0

A gang of thieves led by American Eddy (Reed de Rouen) kill a security guard during a botched safe robbery and flee with his daughter (Leigh Madison) as a hostage. They hide out in a dangerously unstable old warehouse for a couple of days awaiting their getaway ship to sail, but Johnny (Kenneth Cope) falls for the girl - provoking a serious falling-out and a violent conclusion to the disastrous heist.

Naked Fury

1959

The Great Van Robbery poster
5.2

Interpol detective Caesar Smith tracks robbers of the Royal Mint van. He travels to Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Paris and establishes the guilt of a London coffee importer.

The Great Van Robbery

1959

Jack the Ripper poster
6.2

A serial killer is murdering women in the Whitechapel district of London. An American policeman is brought in to help Scotland Yard solve the case.

Jack the Ripper

1959

The Weapon poster
6.1

A boy accidentally shoots a friend with a gun he found in the rubble of a destroyed building. The gun turns out to be a clue in a ten-year-old murder case.

The Weapon

1956

House of Blackmail poster
6.4

A blackmailer is murdered, and the police find that there is a long list of suspects who wanted to see him dead.

House of Blackmail

1953

A Woman Possessed poster
7.0

English doctor John Winthrop (Francis Matthews) must protect his new wife, Ann (Kay Callard), from his wealthy and entirely too overbearing mother, Katherine (Margaretta Scott), who has some strong opinions about her son's new union. But things go too far when John accuses Katherine of trying to kill Ann with medication. Could she do such a thing -- and will these three ever have a good relationship?

A Woman Possessed

1958

The Prisoner poster
7.2

A cardinal is arrested for treason against the state. He is a popular hero of his people, for his resistance against the Nazis during the war and his resistance when his country again fell to a totalitarian conqueror. In prison, his interrogator is determined to extract a confession of guilt, and thus destroy his power over his people.

The Prisoner

1955

Girdle of Gold poster
8.2

The adulterous Mrs Griffiths' corset has, unbeknown to her, a fortune stashed in it by her drunken, money-loving husband.

Girdle of Gold

1952

No artwork available
9.0

Edgar is unhappily married to rich Clare. He plots with his mistress Stella to kill Clare, as she refuses to divorce him and gives him little money. However, it is Edgar who is found murdered, and Clare has to stand trial to prove her innocence.

Links of Justice

1958

Forbidden Cargo poster
6.9

Kenyon is a narcotics agent who, with the aid of a titled bird-watcher attempts to trap a brother and sister drug smuggling team.

Forbidden Cargo

1954

The Depraved poster
4.5

Fed up with her wealthy but abusive husband, Tom (Basil Dignam), young English homemaker Laura Wilton (Anne Heywood) conspires with her lover, American Army captain Dave Dillon (Robert Arden), to have her boozy spouse meet an "accidental" demise. But a nosy copper (Denis Shaw) suspects foul play, and soon the lovers' crafty scheme deteriorates into fear, distrust and betrayal. Paul Dickson directs this vintage noir thriller.

The Depraved

1957

Moment of Indiscretion poster
7.0

Janet Miller (Lana Morris) is a married woman caught in awkward circumstances after police investigating a murder come up with evidence, and a potentially lethal motive, which lead them to suspect her of committing the crime. Their suspicions increase when Janet is less than forthcoming about a visit she paid to a former beau. Happily, her loyal husband (Ronald Howard) swears by her innocence and quickly leaps into motion to find the real killer.

Moment of Indiscretion

1958

Series credits

The Avengers poster
7.8

A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).

The Avengers

1961

Theatre 625 poster
7.2

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Theatre 625

1964

The Adventures of Robin Hood poster
6.4

The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

1955

The Prisoner poster
7.7

After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is really a bizarre Kafkaesque prison. His warders demand information. He gives them nothing, but only tries to escape.

The Prisoner

1967

Espionage poster
10.0

Pulled from actual case histories and utilizing newsreel and documented narratives, the activities of spies from various countries are depicted as far back as the American Revolution and as recent as the Cold War.

Espionage

1963

No artwork available
7.5

The global adventures of Ken Franklin, ace operative of the William J. Burns Detective Agency, qualify as a pop-culture curio if only for star Arthur---later Art---Fleming, who hosted the original `Jeopardy!'

International Detective

1959

No artwork available
7.5

The global adventures of Ken Franklin, ace operative of the William J. Burns Detective Agency, qualify as a pop-culture curio if only for star Arthur---later Art---Fleming, who hosted the original `Jeopardy!'

International Detective

1959

The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel poster
8.0

The second collection of short stories written by Baroness Orczy about the gallant English hero, the Scarlet Pimpernel and his League.

The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel

1955

Sherlock Holmes poster
6.9

Sherlock Holmes (also known as 'Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes') is a series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company BBC between 1964 and 1968. This was the second screen adaption of Sherlock Holmes for BBC Television.

Sherlock Holmes

1964

The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder poster
5.0

The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder is based on a character created by Edgar Wallace in a series of 1925 short stories of the same name, Hugh Burden played the titular character – A mild-mannered investigator with the Department of Public Prosecutions.

The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder

1969

Londoners poster
NR

London itself takes the starring role in this series of plays from the BBC – a role which varies between hero and villain, enchantress and harpy. The series features extensive location filming, ranging from Soho to the Law Courts, Wembley to the docks. Of the twelve episodes, eleven are believed to be lost.

Londoners

1965

The Misfit poster
9.0

The Misfit is an ATV sitcom created by Roy Clarke, broadcast from 1970 to 1971 on ITV. Basil Allenby-Johnson returns from Colonial Malaya to an England just emerging from the swinging sixties, a home he no longer recognises.

The Misfit

1970

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Stryker of the Yard

1961

Tom Grattan's War poster
NR

During World War I, young Londoner Tom Grattan is sent to live with relatives in rural Yorkshire, where he becomes involved in espionage, sabotage, and other wartime adventures with local friends, facing threats like spies and German POWs.

Tom Grattan's War

1968

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Bright's Boffins

1970