Tim Barlow

Michael John Leigh Barlow (18 January 1936 – 20 January 2023) was an English actor who performed many small roles in a variety of films, television programmes, and plays, under the stage name Tim Barlow or Timothy Barlow.

Tim Barlow
Born	(1936-01-18)18 January 1936 Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Died	20 January 2023 (aged 87)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–2023

Life and career

Barlow was born 18 January 1936.^[1] His father, a solicitor, died when he was five years old. Barlow was raised by his mother. After graduating from school at the age of 18, he entered the British Army, and spent 15 years in the military.^[1]

Barlow left the army in 1969 to pursue a career in acting, receiving advice from Trevor Nunn and Sir Laurence Olivier. He wrote and performed a one-man show in which he described how he came to the decision to go into the acting profession. He previously had much success with another one man show entitled "My Army" in which he described his life in the British army in the 1960s. This toured for many years.

One of his most notable roles was playing Mr. Morrow, a blind man allergic to his guide dog in The Tall Guy alongside Jeff Goldblum. He played Tyssan in the Doctor Who serial Destiny of the Daleks. He also appeared on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company and as the BFG at the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon, and on screen as Mr Treacher in Hot Fuzz. In 2007 he played an Ancient Blind Oracle in the HBO series Rome.

Barlow lost his hearing in the 1950s when testing a high velocity Muzzle Rifle, most likely an L1A1 prototype known as the X-8 Self Loading Rifle (SLR), for the British Army, until 2008, when surgery to fit a cochlear implant allowed him to recover some of his hearing.^[2] His experience of having the cochlear implant fitted was detailed in an episode of BBC Radio 4 programme It's My Story, called "Earfull - From Silence into Sound".^[3]

In 2016 he performed in Him, an autobiographical work about memory, ageing and the art of theatre, created by theatre-maker Sheila Hill, with videographer Hugo Glendinning, and musician Sebastiano Dessanay.^[4][5]

Director Simon McBurney announced Barlow's death on 21 January 2023, at the age of 87.^[6] He died on 20 January 2023 peacefully at home surrounded by love, according to his family.^[7]

TV and films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Brannigan	Customs Officer	Uncredited
1976	The Eagle Has Landed	George Wilde (Publican)
1978	Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?	Doyle
1979	Doctor Who	Tyssan	4 episodes: Destiny of the Daleks
	Grange Hill	Mr. Stiles	TV series; 2 episodes
1983	Privates on Parade	Commanding Officer
1984	The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	Russian Count	TV series; 1 episode
1989	The Tall Guy	Mr. Morrow
1993	Anchoress	Old Pilgrim
	Inside Victor Lewis-Smith	Mr. Lobley
1996	Mary Reilly	Vicar
1997	The Ugly	Police Photographer
1998	Les Misérables	Lafitte
	Cousin Bette	De Forzheim
1999	A Kind of Hush	Max
	Tube Tales	Elderly Drunk	Segment: "Steal Away"
2000	The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz	Mr. Browne
2001	Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang)	Doctor
	The Emperor's New Clothes	Bargee
2004	The Rocket Post	Hector McDougal
	Teeth	Ernie	Short
2005	Kingdom of Heaven	Old Guard	Director's cut
	Lie Still	Man in Pub
2007	Rome	Ancient Blind Oracle	TV series; 1 episode
	Hot Fuzz	Mr. Treacher
2008	10,000 BC	The Pyramid God
	Lezione 21	Simrock
2012	Cockneys vs Zombies	Samurai Head Slice Zombie
2012–2014	Derek	Jack	TV series; 14 episodes
2013	The Christmas Candle	Oliver Barber
2014	Autómata	Organizer
2016	Sherlock	Wilder	TV series; 1 episode
2017	My Cousin Rachel	Seecombe
2018	The Alienist	Mr Kreizler	TV series; 1 episode

References

1. Barlow, Tim (26 October 2008). "Unheard Voices: Interviews With Deafened People: Tim Barlow" (PDF). Hearing Link (British Library ref. C1345/05). Interviewed by Pam Blackman. British Library. p. 1. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
2. Destiny of the Daleks audio commentary
3. BBC Radio 4. "Earfull - From Silence into Sound", BBC Radio 4 27 November 2008
4. Billen, Andrew (5 September 2016). "'Laurence Olivier told me that I could become an actor — and that his hearing was going too'". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
5. Gardner, Lyn (17 October 2016). "Plan your week's theatre: top tickets". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
6. Simon McBurney [@SimonMcBurney] (21 January 2023). "'And now the great Tim Barlow has left us. '" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 January 2023 – via Twitter.
7. Sand, Jonas (23 January 2023). "Roller på stribe: Tim Barlow er død". Ekstra Bladet (in Danish). Retrieved 25 January 2023.

External links

• Tim Barlow at IMDb