Rupert Davies

Rupert Lisburn Gwynne Davies FRSA (22 May 191622 November 1976) was a British actor best remembered for playing the title role in the BBC's 1960s television adaptation of Maigret, based on Georges Simenon's novels. Life and career Military service Davies was born in Liverpool. After service in the British Merchant Navy, he was a Sub-Lieutenant Observer with the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. In 1940, the pilot of his Swordfish aircraft in which Davies was aboard ditched into the sea off the Dutch coast, following which he was captured and interned in the Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp. He made three attempts to escape, all of which failed. During his captivity, he began to take part in theatre performances, entertaining his fellow prisoners. Acting On his release Davies resumed his career in acting almost immediately, starring in an ex-prisoner of war show, Back Home, which was hosted at the Stoll Theatre, London. In 1959, he played the role of the Colonel in Alun Owen's The Rough and Ready Lot when it received its stage debut on 1 June 1959 in a production by the 59 Theatre Company at the Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith, as well as in the television adaptation which was broadcast that September.