The actor and Oscar-winning screenwriter of Chariots Of Fire, Colin Welland has died aged 81. The Lancashire-born actor had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Most famous for his Paul Revere-quoting clarion call, “The British are coming!”, during his Best Original Screenplay acceptance speech for Chariots Of Fire, Welland also achieved success in front of the camera on the small and big screens.
In 1969, Ken Loach cast him as Mr. Farthing in Kes and Welland was duly rewarded for his portrayal of Billy Casper's sympathetic English teacher with a BAFTA. He’d go on to star in Euzhan Palcy’s A Dry White Season (1989) and The War Of The Buttons (1994), a drama produced by his Chariots Of Fire collaborator David Puttnam. The sharp-eyed would also have caught him cameoing as a pair of clergymen in Chariots Of Fire and Straw Dogs.
Born in the town of Leigh, Welland was raised in Liverpool and Lancashire. After a spell as a schoolteacher – like Brian Glover, his Kes role drew on real-life experience of the profession - he moved into acting and screenwriting. His other writing credits included John Schlesinger's Yanks (1979) and Gene Hackman midlife crisis drama Twice In A Lifetime (1985).
"Colin will be desperately missed by his family and friends,” Welland's literary agent Anthony Jones said in a statement. "We are proud of Colin's many achievements during his life, but most of all he will be missed as a loving and generous friend, husband, father and granddad."