Acting

Eric Dodson

Born 1920-12-01 · Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Eric Norman Dodson (1 December 1920 – 13 January 2000) was an English actor born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, who played many roles in films and on television. After amateur acting he joined the Royal Air Force in 1941. Following training in Canada he served in RAF Coastal Command, flew bombers and was a liaison officer in Yugoslavia. He then returned to acting with a repertory theatre in Edinburgh. He appeared as bar owner Jack Pomeroy in Series Three to Five of Rumpole of the Bailey. He also appeared in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum as a Brigadier, the Doctor Who story The Visitation, in Porridge as Banyard and many other roles. His film appearances included The Dock Brief (1962), Danger by My Side (1962), Strictly for the Birds (1963), Battle of Britain (1969), The Mirror Crack'd (1980), The Masks of Death (1984) and Jekyll & Hyde (1990). In the late 1980s, Eric and his wife Rosaline made their home in Sherborne, Gloucestershire where he took a hobby repairing and making harpsichords. He was also asked on many occasions to play the organ at the village church. He was unable to work for the last five years of his life due to illness and died in 2000 at age 79.

Acting credits

The Dock Brief poster
6.6

After nearly 40 years of waiting for his big chance, Wilfred Morgenhall is given the case of defending Herbert Fowle who is accused of murdering his wife. Despite Fowle's insistence of guilt, Moregenhall will not let go of the opportunity to plead his client as innocent and be a star in the courtroom.

The Dock Brief

1962

Jekyll & Hyde poster
5.9

Henry Jekyll is a troubled man. His wife died of pneumonia. He wants his sister-in-law, but her father forbids any contact. And his experiments into the dual nature of man have yielded a personality-splitting drug that he has tested on himself, changing him into an uninhibited brute who seeks violent and undignified pleasures. Jekyll quickly becomes addicted to the sordid freedom induced by the drug. He can commit the most enjoyably revolting deeds, then return to his laboratory and use an antidote to change back to his original form, so that his lofty persona remains untarnished.

Jekyll & Hyde

1990

Battle of Britain poster
6.8

In 1940, the Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle against the might of the Luftwaffe for control of the skies over Britain, thus preventing an attempted Nazi invasion.

Battle of Britain

1969

The Mirror Crack'd poster
6.1

Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.

The Mirror Crack'd

1980

Dr. Crippen poster
6.1

A British physician stands trial for murdering his wife after he and his mistress are captured while fleeing to Canada.

Dr. Crippen

1963

Danger by My Side poster
5.8

A girl tracks down the gang who had her detective brother killed.

Danger by My Side

1962

The Masks of Death poster
5.4

Sherlock Holmes has retired. But when MacDonald asks him to take on another case, he says yes. There have been some mysterious murders, and there are no visible causes for the deaths. At the same time Holmes gets this case, Graf Udo Von Felseck gives him another case: find a young and missing prince to prevent war between Germany and England. But Von Felseck is not as honest as he seems...

The Masks of Death

1984

Doctor Who: The Visitation poster
7.2

In 17th century England, the Doctor and itinerant thespian Richard Mace uncover a plot by a crew of criminal Terileptils to wipe out humanity.

Doctor Who: The Visitation

1982

The Set Up poster
NR

Arthur Payne, recently out of prison, meets a stranger, Theo Gaunt, on a train and explains his situation. A few days later another stranger makes a curious proposition. Arthur should participate in a fake robbery and remove some imitation jewellery from the stranger's own safe.

The Set Up

1963

Solo for Sparrow poster
NR

A group of crooks accidentally kill an elderly shop assistant while stealing the keys to the jewellery shop where she works. When his superiors think that the case is better handed over to Scotland Yard, the local detective inspector, Sparrow, decides to go solo to investigate the crime himself.

Solo for Sparrow

1962

A Touch of the Sun poster
6.0

A hotel porter is left a fortune but after living it up for a while he returns to his old place of work which is in financial difficulties.

A Touch of the Sun

1956

The Big Frame poster
4.5

An ex-GI wakes up with blood on his clothes in a strange hotel room. He can't remember the night before but he later finds out that a man he got into a fight with earlier in the night was murdered.

The Big Frame

1952

Fate Takes a Hand poster
6.8

When a mail bag full of post that was taken in a robbery is discovered fifteen years later, a Post Office employee and local reporter decide to deliver the letters to their original intended addressees. This solitary incident has profound ramifications on several of the recipients and this film tells the story of how just five of those letters changed peoples lives forever.

Fate Takes a Hand

1961

The Forgotten Voyage: The Story of Alfred Russel Wallace poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Forgotten Voyage: The Story of Alfred Russel Wallace

1983

The Bone Grinder poster
8.0

George, an ineffectual and inoffensive clerk, and his prim wife Gladys reserve their greatest efforts for preserving their respectibility. Sam, a rough-necked American seaman, invades their dull suburban routine. The play examines the clash of cultures between a fading British Empire and the dominance of American materialistic values.

The Bone Grinder

1968

No artwork available
NR

BBC television film starring Anthony Bate.

The Big Boys

1961

Strictly for the Birds poster
5.8

A gambler tries to strike it rich at the racetrack but gets taken by a gorgeous blonde who also happens to be a crook.

Strictly for the Birds

1964

No artwork available
NR

It's 1865, Fiodor in St, Petersburg is reluctantly supporting his dead wife's family, when he meets new love in the form of Anna and a new life beckons escaping away and traveling Europe.

Russian Roulette

1973

No artwork available
NR

What is the mystery behind the murder of an apparently innocent man? Who was so afraid of the secrets he knew that they would kill him?

The Confession

1967

No artwork available
7.0

During the early 1960s, a Chicago mobster and a Londoner try to get involved in a jukebox racket.

Gang War

1962