{{Short description|Gambian-born British actor (1938–2020)}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Louis Mahoney | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Louis Felix Danner Mahoney | birth_date = 8 September 1938 | birth_place = Bathurst, British Gambia | death_date = 28 June 2020 (aged 81) | death_place = London, England | other_names = | education = Central School of Speech and Drama | occupation = Actor | spouse = | years_active = 1962–2020 | children = }}
'''Louis Felix Danner Mahoney''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|u:|i:|m|ə|ˈ|h|oʊ|n|i}}; 8 September 1938 – 28 June 2020)<ref name="tg jul 2020">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jul/09/louis-mahoney-obituary|title=Louis Mahoney obituary|first=Toby|last= Hadoke|newspaper=The Guardian|date=9 July 2020|access-date=10 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Michael Quinn|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--archive/obituaries/louis-mahoney|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709025640/https://www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries-archive/obituaries/louis-mahoney|url-status=live|archive-date=July 9, 2020|title=Louis Mahoney|work=The Stage|date=7 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53233171|title=Louis Mahoney: Trailblazing actor and activist dies at 81|work=BBC News|date=30 June 2020}}</ref> was a Gambian-born British actor, based in Hampstead in London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/louis-mahoney-p44656|title=Louis Mahoney | Movies and Filmography|website=AllMovie}}</ref> He was an anti-racist activist and long-time campaigner for racial equality within the acting profession.<ref name=Catalyst /> He represented African-Asian members on the council of the actors' union, Equity, and served as joint Vice-President between 1994 and 1996.<ref name=AAM>{{cite web|url=https://www.aamarchives.org/archive/interviews/louis-mahoney.html|title=Louis Mahoney|work=Forward to Freedom: A history of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement 1959–1994|year=2013}}</ref>
==Early life== Mahoney was born in Bathurst (now Banjul), the Gambia, in 1938, the eldest of six children to James Mahoney and Princess (née Danner). Mahoney attended the Methodist Boys' High School.<ref name="tg jul 2020"/> In 1957, he moved to England to study medicine at University College London. He also joined the university's cricket team and played for Essex and Ilford. However, he left to pursue drama at the (now Royal) Central School of Speech and Drama in the 1960s.<ref name=IMDBbio>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0537158/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bth_nm|title=Louis Mahoney Biography|work=IMDb}}</ref><ref name=AAM />
==Career== After graduating, Mahoney worked with Colchester Rep and the Mercury Theatre before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967 – he was one of the first black actors in the Company.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.sky.com/story/louis-mahoney-fawlty-towers-and-doctor-who-actor-dies-aged-81-12018463|title=Louis Mahoney: Fawlty Towers and Doctor Who actor dies aged 81|publisher=Sky News|date=30 June 2020}}</ref> He worked regularly on the stage throughout his career including shows at the National Theatre, Young Vic, Royal Court, Almeida and his final stage performances were in Alan Bennett's ''Allelujah!'' at the Bridge Theatre in 2018. He helped found Performers Against Racism in the 1980s to campaign against apartheid in South Africa and was Joint Vice President of Equity between 1994 and 1996.
He was seen most frequently on television in series such as: ''Danger Man'', ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''Z-Cars'', ''Special Branch'', ''The Troubleshooters'', ''Menace'', ''Doctor Who'' (in the stories ''Frontier in Space'', ''Planet of Evil'' and ''Blink''), ''Quiller'', ''Fawlty Towers'' (as Dr Finn in ''The Germans'', 1975), ''The Professionals'' (as Dr Henry in the episode "Klansmen", never transmitted on terrestrial TV in the UK, and in "Black Out", again as a doctor), ''Miss Marple'', ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ''Bergerac'', ''The Bill'', ''Casualty'', ''Holby City'' and ''Sea of Souls''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=10916|title=Louis Mahoney|website=www.aveleyman.com}}</ref>
His films included ''The Plague of the Zombies'' (1966), ''Omen III: The Final Conflict'' (1981), ''Rise and Fall of Idi Amin'' (1981), ''White Mischief'' (1987), ''Cry Freedom'' (1987), ''Shooting Fish'' (1997), ''Wondrous Oblivion'' (2003) and ''Shooting Dogs'' (2005).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1873623|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425020842/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1873623|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 25, 2017|title=Louis Mahoney|website=BFI}}</ref>
He featured in the Channel 4 documentary ''Random'' (2011), and in the BBC Three drama ''Being Human'' (2012) as Leo, an aged and dying werewolf.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scifinow.co.uk/blog/being-human-series-4-episode-1-the-eve-of-war-review/ |title=Being Human Series 4 Episode 1 'The Eve Of War' review |website=SciFiNow |author=Jodie Tyley |date=6 February 2012 |accessdate=26 August 2014}}</ref>
Mahoney's last TV appearance was in the Tracy Beaker CBBC spin-off, ''The Dumping Ground'', as Henry Lawrence, the grandfather of Charlie Morris (Emily Burnett).
==Campaign work== Mahoney was a long-standing campaigner for racial equality within the acting profession, as a member of the Equity Afro-Asian Committee (previously called the Coloured Actors Committee until he renamed it), founding Performers Against Racism to defend Equity policy on South Africa,<ref name=AAM /> and as co-creator, with Mike Phillips and Taiwo Ajai, of the UK's Black Theatre Workshop in 1976.<ref name=Catalyst>{{cite web|author=Abigail Dunn|url=http://www.juliushonnor.com/catalyst/Default.aspx.LocID-0hgnew0r3.RefLocID-0hg01b001006009.Lang-EN.htm|title=Reflections of a firebrand|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903142805/http://www.juliushonnor.com/catalyst/Default.aspx.LocID-0hgnew0r3.RefLocID-0hg01b001006009.Lang-EN.htm|archive-date=3 September 2014|work=Catalyst|date=2 March 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tradingfacesonline.com/narratives-of-slavery-text.asp|title=Historical Notes > 1958 - 1982|website=Trading Faces: Recollecting Slavery}}</ref>
==Personal life== Mahoney was married in 1971 and later divorced, and had daughters.<ref name="cssd 2021"/> For decades a resident in Hampstead, London,<ref>{{cite web|author=Sam Volpe|url=https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/louis-mahoney-pioneering-actor-and-hampstead-icon-dies-at-81-1-6724361|title=Louis Mahoney: 'Real Hampstead character' and much-loved campaigning actor who starred in Doctor Who and Fawlty Towers dies at 81|work=Ham & High|date=1 July 2020}}</ref> Mahoney lived on the corner of Gayton Road and Willow Road, and was a regular in local pubs.<ref name="cnj dec 2020"/> He was athletic and played cricket as a fast bowler, joining the Gentlemen of Hampstead club.<ref name="tg jul 2020"/>
==Death== In 2016, Mahoney was diagnosed with cancer. He died on 28 June 2020, aged 81.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/louis-mahoney-obituary-hampstead-icon-s-death-marks-end-of-an-era-in-nw3-1-6728925|title=Louis Mahoney obituary: Death of Hampstead icon and passionate antiracist marks 'end of an era' in NW3|author=Sam Volpe|work=Ham & High|date=6 July 2020|access-date=7 July 2020}}</ref> His funeral took place at Hampstead Parish, attended by his friends and community.<ref name="cnj dec 2020">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/stars-support-tribute-to-tv-pioneer-louis-mahoney|title=Stars support tribute to TV pioneer Louis Mahoney|journal=Camden New Journal|first=Tom|last=Foot|date=1 December 2020|accessdate=19 March 2023}}</ref>
==Legacy== The Louis Mahoney Scholarships at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama were initiated in his memory to encourage applications from Black and global majority students, beginning from the academic year 2021/22, supporting one undergraduate and one postgraduate candidate in each of the following three years.<ref name="cssd 2021">{{cite web|url=https://www.cssd.ac.uk/news/central-announces-louis-mahoney-scholarships-support-black-and-global-majority-students|title=Central Announces the Louis Mahoney Scholarships to support Black and Global Majority Students|date=9 February 2021|access-date=12 September 2022}}</ref>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1964|| ''Guns at Batasi'' || Soldier || Uncredited |- |1965|| ''Curse of Simba'' || African expert || |- |1966|| ''The Plague of the Zombies'' || Coloured Servant || |- |1967|| ''Prehistoric Women'' || Head Boy || |- |1970|| ''Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition'' || Julius || |- |rowspan="2"|1973|| ''Live and Let Die'' || Fillet of Soul Patron (New York) || Uncredited |- |''Doctor Who'' || Newscaster || Serial: ''Frontier in Space'', 2 episodes |- |1974|| ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' || Frank || Episode: "In Harm's Way" |- |rowspan="3"|1975|| ''Doctor Who'' || Ponti || Serial: ''Planet of Evil'', 2 episodes |- | ''Fawlty Towers'' || Doctor Finn || Episode: "The Germans" |- | ''The Fight Against Slavery'' || Olaudah Equiano || |- |rowspan="2"|1981|| ''Omen III: The Final Conflict'' || Brother Paulo || |- | ''Rise and Fall of Idi Amin'' || Freedom fighter Ofumbi || |- |1984|| ''Sheena'' || Elder 1 || |- |rowspan="2"|1987|| ''Cry Freedom'' || Lesotho government official || |- | ''White Mischief'' || Abdullah || |- |1987|| ''The Lenny Henry Show'' || Jake || |- |1997|| ''Shooting Fish'' || Magistrate || |- |2003|| ''Wondrous Oblivion'' || Mr. Johnson || |- |rowspan="2"|2005|| ''Shooting Dogs'' || Sibomana || |- | ''Holby City'' || Raymond Opoku || 1 episode |- |2007|| ''Doctor Who'' || Old Billy || Episode: "Blink" |- |2012-13|| ''Being Human'' || Leo || 2 episodes |- |2013|| ''Captain Phillips'' || Maersk Alabama Crew || |- |2016|| ''Holby City'' || Thomas Law || 1 episode |- |rowspan="2"|2018|| ''National Theatre Live: Allelujah!'' || Neville || |- | ''The Dumping Ground'' || Henry Lawrence || |}
==Theatre== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Show ! Role ! Theatre |- |?|| ''Talking To You'' || Various || Duke of York's Theatre |- |?|| ''Cato Street'' || Conspirator || Young Vic |- |?|| ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' || Caiaphas || Gaiety Theatre, Dublin |- |?|| ''Murderous Angels'' || Diallo Diop || Gaiety Theatre, Dublin |- |rowspan="2"|1967|| ''Coriolanus'' || Lieutenant to Aufidius || Royal Shakespeare Company |- |''Romeo and Juliet'' || Musician || Royal Shakespeare Company |- |rowspan="5"|1970|| ''Robinson Crusoe'' || Friday || Mercury Theatre |- |''Night and Day'' || President Mageeba || Watford Palace Theatre
|- |''Hutch Builder to Her Majesty'' || Various || Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
|- |''White Devil'' || Antonelli || Oxford Playhouse
|-
|''I am Tomarienka'' || Various || Watermill Theatre
|- |1990|| ''Desire'' || Kindo || Almeida |- |1997|| ''Romeo & Juliet'' || Friar John and Monatague || Royal Shakespeare Company |- |2007|| ''Generations'' || Grandfather || Young Vic |- |rowspan="2"|2009|| ''As You Like It'' || Adam and Sir Oliver Martext ||Leicester Curve |- | ''The Observer'' || Muturi and Dr Durami || Royal National Theatre |- |2010|| ''Love Thy Sinner'' || Paul || Royal National Theatre |- |2011||''Truth & Reconciliation'' || Rwandan Grandfather || Royal Court |- |2013|| ''Feast'' || Papa Legba || Young Vic and Royal Court |- |2018|| ''Allelujah'' || Neville || Bridge Theatre |}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name}} * {{Discogs artist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, Louis}} Category:1938 births Category:2020 deaths Category:20th-century British male actors Category:21st-century British male actors Category:Gambian anti-apartheid activists Category:British Anti-apartheid activists Category:Black British activists Category:Black British male actors Category:British male film actors Category:British male television actors Category:Deaths from cancer in England Category:Gambian activists Category:Gambian Creole people Category:Gambian emigrants to England Category:People from Banjul Category:Actors from the London Borough of Camden Category:Wesleyan Methodists Category:People from Hampstead Category:Male actors from London Category:Gambian male actors