{{Short description|English actor, theatrical producer (1948–2016)}} {{Infobox person | name = Ian Liston | image = | birth_name = Ian Stuart Liston | birth_date = {{birth date|1948|8|4|df=y}} | birth_place = Crosby, Lancashire, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|10|1|1948|8|4|df=y}} | death_cause = | death_place = Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England | occupation = Actor, theatrical producer | known_for = | title = | education = | alma_mater = | parents = | years_active = 1968–2016 | spouse = Vivien Singleton-Green ({{abbr|m.|married}} 1995) | children = }}
'''Ian Stuart Liston''' (4 August 1948 – 1 October 2016<ref name="obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/2016/obituary-ian-liston/|title=Obituary: Ian Liston|date=7 October 2016|work=The Stage|access-date=2 November 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009172955/https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/2016/obituary-ian-liston/|archive-date=9 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="OOS">{{cite web |title=Order of Service |url=http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/hissboo/LISTON_Ian.pdf |date=17 October 2016 |access-date=16 November 2025 |website=laurencepayne.co.uk}}</ref>) was an English stage, film and television actor and theatrical producer specialising in pantomime, revue and productions for the British touring theatre market. Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003, he was also a volunteer 'patient advocate'.
==Early life==
Born in Crosby, Lancashire, he studied at Walton Grammar School but failed his 'O' levels. Instead, he achieved A levels at technical college before studying Business Studies at Enfield Polytechnic. His work experience was at British Gas.<ref name="OOS"/>
After being a call boy with a local operatic society, Liston joined the Everyman Theatre in 1964 as an assistant stage manager. By 1970, he became a location manager for Apple Films, working on movies such as ''Gumshoe'', ''Sitting Target'' and ''O Lucky Man!''.<ref name="obit"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Newbold |first=Mark |date=7 January 2018 |title=Vintage Interview: Ian Liston: 1st March 2005 |url=https://www.fanthatracks.com/interviews/vintage-interview-ian-liston-1st-march-2005/ |access-date=16 November 2025 |work=Fantha Tracks}}</ref> Liston also worked as a teaboy at Elstree Studios.<ref>{{cite news |title=The real life dramas of a soap star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/760578915/ |date=9 April 1982 |accessdate=5 May 2025 |work=Southall Gazette |page=6}}</ref>
==Acting career==
Entering the industry in 1968,<ref>{{cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_aJmAAAAMAAJ&q=ian+liston+crossroads|title=International Film and TV Year Book - Volume 36 |publisher=Screen International, King Publications Limited |edition= |location= |date=1981 |page=492 |oclc= |isbn=}}</ref> Liston's TV career comprises ''Softly, Softly: Task Force'', ''Z-Cars'', ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''The Brothers'', ''Coronation Street'', ''Warship'', ''Barlow at Large'', ''Within These Walls'', ''The Onedin Line'', ''Secret Army'', ''1990'', ''The Professionals'', ''Doctor Who'' (Season 16 conclusion ''The Armageddon Factor''), ''Armchair Thriller'', ''Juliet Bravo'', ''Play for Today'', ''The Bill'', ''Bramwell'', ''Silent Witness'' and ''Bugs''.<ref name=bfi>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba40c5514|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407190010/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba40c5514|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 April 2023|title=Ian Liston|website=BFI}}</ref> However, he is best remembered for playing Ron Brownlow in soap opera ''Crossroads'' from 1980–1985.{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}}
In film, he appeared as Sergeant Whitney of the Royal Army Medical Corps in Richard Attenborough's ''A Bridge Too Far'' but he is best known to Star Wars fans for playing the 'cult' part of Wes Janson (and a number of 'masked' characters including the AT-AT Driver in the same battle sequence, technically shooting himself down<ref name="GOWR">{{cite news|url=http://www.gowr.co.uk/all-water-rats/v/19|title=Biography of a Water Rat|date=7 October 2016|website=Gowr.co.uk|access-date=16 November 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250412182828/https://www.gowr.co.uk/all-water-rats/v/19|archive-date=12 April 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>) in ''The Empire Strikes Back''. His character features widely in the 'expanded universe' of books and games with Liston consequently attending many conventions as a result.<ref name="H&B">{{cite web |date= |title=Ian Liston |url=http://www.hissboo.co.uk/ianliston.html |access-date=16 November 2025 |website=hissboo.co.uk}}</ref>
==Theatre==
In 1977, Liston set up the Hiss & Boo Company,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Locantro|first=Tony|date=14 December 2020|title=Theatre Heritage Australia - The Adventures of an Australian in London: A double life in music (Part 3)|url=https://www.theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/general-articles/item/667-the-adventures-of-an-australian-in-london-a-double-life-in-music-part-3|access-date=16 November 2025|website=Theatre Heritage Australia|language=en-GB}}</ref> where he appeared in over 3000 of their Music Hall performances as Mr Chairman. He was the original producer of the stage play ''Cluedo'' and the first person to bring the Mr. Men to the stage.<ref name="GOWR"/>
The company ventured into pantomimes in 1995.<ref name="obit"/> Some productions the company put on included:
* ''Aladdin'', starring Jeffrey Holland, Robert Duncan and Judy Buxton at the Queen's Theatre, Barnstaple. * ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', at the Riverfront Theatre (where the cast helped rescue an elderly woman from the River Usk) in 2015.<ref>{{cite news |title=Around the UK: Hero actors use rope from Jack and Beanstalk panto to rescue woman from freezing river |url=https://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/14111995.around-the-uk-hero-actors-use-rope-from-jack-and-beanstalk-panto-to-rescue-woman-from-freezing-river/ |date=30 November 2015 |accessdate=5 May 2025 |work=The Shuttle}}</ref> * ''Snow White'', starring Colin Baker and Fascinating Aïda at the Hall for Cornwall. * ''Dick Whittington and His Cat'', starring Sylvester McCoy as King Rat at London Zoo in 2005 (their first-ever pantomime).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.allinlondon.co.uk/whats-on/event-4486-dick-whittington-his-magical-cat-panto-at-the-zoo|title=Dick Whittington & His Magical Cat, Panto at the Zoo|date=|website=allinlondon.co.uk|access-date=2 November 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221009110903/https://www.allinlondon.co.uk/whats-on/event-4486-dick-whittington-his-magical-cat-panto-at-the-zoo|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>
Aside from ''Hiss & Boo'', Liston produced seven plays in the West End (including ''An Ideal Husband'', ''Groucho: A Life in Revue'', ''Last of the Red Hot Lovers'' and ''Nunsense'').<ref name=H&B/> For 20 years, he was also an active council member of the Theatrical Management Association.<ref name="obit"/> In 2005, he was initiated as the 854th member of the Grand Order of Water Rats.<ref name="GOWR"/>
==Other work== Liston also authored several plays for BBC Radio 4.<ref>{{cite web |date= |title=Wes Janson - Actor Ian Liston |url=http://www.laurencepayne.co.uk/wesjanson/actor.html |access-date=16 November 2025 |website=laurencepayne.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5862f036849346eabba118a081c7d3e7 |access-date=1 January 2024 |title=The Night We Closed the Empire (Wed 29th Dec 1976, 17:00) |work=Radio Times |date=16 December 1976 |issue=2771 |via=BBC Archives}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Ian is fond of his own company |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/858524506/ |date=22 September 1981 |accessdate=1 January 2026 |work=Birmingham Evening Mail |page=2}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/cf3601fa41df46aa99437da69c2f9622 |access-date=1 January 2026 |title=Beautiful for Ever (Sat 26th Sep 1981, 22:15) |work=Radio Times |date=24 September 1981 |issue=3020 |via=BBC Archives}} (wrongly credited as Ian Linton)</ref>
==Personal life==
In April 1995, Liston married Vivien, a lawyer. They moved to West Sussex two years later where they spent the rest of their lives together.<ref name="OOS"/>
==Death==
In 2003, Liston was diagnosed with prostate cancer (his father, a docker for Cunard, had died of this when he was 72). It spread to his bones and the actor was told he had months to live. Instead of going into a hospice, Liston was referred to Royal Marsden Hospital, taking part in drug trials over the next 12 years based upon revolutionary sampling of his DNA,<ref>{{cite web |title=Prostate cancer and me: Clinical trials |url=https://prostatecanceruk.org/about-us/news-and-views/2015/1/prostate-cancer-and-me-clinical-trials |website=Prostate Cancer UK |publisher=prostatecanceruk.org |access-date=16 November 2025}}</ref> which made headline news.<ref>{{cite news |title=Combination drugs offer hope for cancer cure |url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/article/combination-drugs-offer-hope-for-cancer-cure-knxpr378hnf |date=9 March 2013 |accessdate=8 November 2025 |work=The Times |page=35}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=13 March 2013|title=The man who battled cancer thanks to experimental drugs|url=https://www.itv.com/news/london/story/2013-03-13/prostate-cancer-survivor/|access-date=5 May 2025|website=ITV News|language=en}}</ref> This in turn led to Liston becoming a stalwart supporter and advocate of prostate cancer research, globe-trotting to events and places such as the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in New Orleans, San Francisco and Detroit, discussing cancer survivorship with other people.<ref>{{Cite web|date=21 October 2016|title=Gerald Home Remembers The Late Ian Liston|url=https://www.jedinews.com/film-music-tv/articles/gerald-home-remembers-late-ian-liston/|access-date=5 May 2025|website=Jedi News|language=en}}</ref>
Contrary to reports that the actor had beaten cancer in March 2016,<ref>{{cite news |title=When I was told that the cancer had spread in my body I was stunned and thought 'why me?' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1057173051/ |date=3 June 2016 |accessdate= 5 May 2025 |work=The Argus |page=24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='I'm one of the first patients in the world to be saved by DNA cancer treatment'|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/im-one-first-patients-world-8112028.amp |date=4 June 2016 |accessdate=5 May 2025 |work=Daily Mirror}}</ref> this was not the case. As a result of many years of treatment, his immune system was destroyed, leaving him vulnerable to further illness. This led to Liston catching pneumonia and sepsis, which took his life seven months later.<ref name="OOS"/> Vivien died that Christmas, a couple of months after her husband.<ref>{{cite web|title=RIP - Ian Liston|url=https://forum.rebelscum.com/threads/rip-ian-liston.1130761/|date=5 October 2016|publisher=Rebelscum.com|access-date=16 November 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0514282}} * [https://theatricalia.com/person/1175/ian-liston Ian Liston] at Theatricalia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liston, Ian}} Category:1948 births Category:2016 deaths Category:English male film actors Category:English male soap opera actors Category:English male television actors Category:People from Crosby, Merseyside Category:Alumni of Middlesex University