Fine Time Fontayne

{{Short description|English actor and theatre director (born 1951)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Fine Time Fontayne | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Ian Crossley | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1951}} | birth_place = Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK | occupation = Actor, theatre director }}

'''Ian Crossley''' (born 1951), better known by the stage name '''Fine Time Fontayne''', is an English actor and stage director.

==Early life== Fontayne was born in Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire (now South Yorkshire) into a mining family.<ref name=mt /> In the 1960s, he moved with his parents and brothers to Sheffield, where they ran a pub.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fine Time Fontayne comes to Hepworth|date=26 August 2010 |url=http://www.examiner.co.uk/leisure-and-entertainment/arts-news/2010/08/27/fine-time-fontayne-comes-to-hepworth-86081-27146036/|publisher=Huddersfield Examiner|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref> He took his stage name when he began singing and playing at a local folk club in Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite web|title=In the name of success!|url=http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/2001/01/22/in-the-name-of-success-50060-117227/|publisher=Huddersfield Daily Examiner|access-date=28 December 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130420065105/http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/2001/01/22/in-the-name-of-success-50060-117227/|archive-date=20 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> He had previously called himself Ordinary Seaman Whittle.<ref name=Crocker>''All Memories Great & Small'', Oliver Crocker (2016; MIWK)</ref> He started acting in the 1970s with the Crucible Vanguard Company.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fine Time Fontayne biography|url=http://www.townsendproductions.org.uk/about/fine-time-fontayne|publisher=Townsend Productions|access-date=28 December 2012|archive-date=12 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812022115/http://www.townsendproductions.org.uk/about/fine-time-fontayne|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Career== In the early years of his career Fontayne worked in cabaret, community and repertory theatre, and in the Red Ladder Theatre Company.<ref name=mt>{{cite magazine |author= |title=Crossing the Picket Line |url=http://banmarchive.org.uk/collections/mt/pdf/85_06_32c.pdf |magazine=Marxism Today |publisher=Communist Party of Great Britain |date=June 1985 |access-date=13 November 2016 }}</ref> He played roles in long-running British TV series including ''All Creatures Great and Small'', ''Coronation Street'', ''Emmerdale'', and ''Heartbeat''.

He is a frequent voice in BBC Radio dramas (including ''The Blackburn Files'', ''20th Century Vampire'' and ''Street and Lane'') and has appeared in films including ''24 Hour Party People'' and ''Butterfly Kiss''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fontayne CV|url=http://pembertonassociates.com/assets/uploads/cvs/FONTAYNE_%28WEB%29.pdf|access-date=28 December 2012|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006075417/http://pembertonassociates.com/assets/uploads/cvs/FONTAYNE_(WEB).pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/b/bl/blackburn_files__the.html ''The Blackburn Files''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116050236/http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/b/bl/blackburn_files__the.html |date=16 January 2019 }} at radiolistings.co.uk</ref>

Fontayne appeared in the 2002 radio series ''The Little World of Don Camillo''. He directed a successful production of ''Sleeping Beauty'' at the Mercury Theatre, Essex in December 2007 and January 2008.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081120190109/http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/19137/sleeping-beauty Review of Fontayne's production of ''The Sleeping Beauty''], ''The Stage''</ref> In February 2020, Fontayne portrayed the role of Ned Wainwright in the BBC soap opera ''Doctors''.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=I Can See Clearly Now|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fk85|series=Doctors|series-link=Doctors (2000 TV series)|credits=Writer: Katharine Way; Director: Nimer Rashed; Producer: Gail Evans|network=BBC|station=BBC One|airdate=18 February 2020}}</ref>

Fontayne was a regular feature in the Oldham Coliseum Theatre's annual pantomime, co-writing and performing as the pantomime dame in productions of ''Aladdin'', ''Sleeping Beauty'', and ''Mother Goose''.

In 2023, he appeared as Joseph Broadbent in Shane Meadows' period drama ''The Gallows Pole''.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Gallows Pole: Release date, cast and news for Shane Meadows drama |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the-gallows-pole-bbc-release/ |website=Radio Times |access-date=30 June 2023 |date=2 June 2023}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0285012}}

Review of Hamlet with Fine Time Fontayne: * https://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/15-3/revham.htm

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontayne, Fine Time}} Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:English male actors Category:English male television actors Category:English theatre directors Category:People from Wombwell Category:Male actors from South Yorkshire Category:Actors from the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley