Edward Woodward, OBE, Succumbs to Pneumonia at 79

The actor and singer Edward Woodward died on Monday at the age of 79 due to a bout of pneumonia. Best known in America as Robert McCall in the TV program "The Equalizer" and in Britain for the title role in the show "Callan," Mr. Woodward was a star of stage and screen and recorded around a dozen albums. Having a knee injury prevented this working-class lad from Croydon, Surrey, from playing more than three soccer matches for Brentford in the English League. Yet football's loss was acting's gain.

In his mid-teens, he was an associate member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and took on amateur roles. He also had an interest in journalism but took work in sanitation before entering RADA proper at 16. From there, his career was rather typical of a RADA grad. He did loads of Shakespeare in repertory theater before landing a London job in "Where There's a Will" in 1955. It took him 8 years to get to Broadway in "Rattle of a Simple Man."

The "Callan" gig got him type cast him somewhat, but he did other things apart from secret agent roles that are most noteworthy. In the 1973 film "The Wicker Man" he played Sergeant Neil Howie, a Calvinist among pagans. Acting opposite Christopher Lee, Mr. Woodward gave one of the best performances in all of horror and suspense. In 1980, he played the title role in the Australian film "Breaker Morant," about three Aussies who get railroaded by the British government while serving in the Boer War. The final scene in which he and Bryan Brown walk from the jail to their place of execution is pure dignity and defiance; "Shoot straight, you bastards" are pretty good last words.

Nor was Mr. Woodward averse to comedy. In 2009, he appeared in "Hot Fuzz," Simon Pegg's follow up to "Sean of the Dead." Actually, Mr. Woodward's comedic skills went greatly under-appreciated. He appeared on the old "Morecombe and Wise" program and more than held his own. One of Ernie Wise's favorite jokes which he told on the program with Mr. Woodward was "Why does Edward Woodward have so many d's in his name? Because if he didn't, he would be called 'Ewar Woowar'."

The late Mr. Woodward told that at a party in New York shortly before the heart attack that ended "The Equalizer." At that same party, he asked a youngish man what he did for a living. When the actor found he had a writer on his hands, he mentioned his love of journalism. He then wondered if the young man ever wrote for TV. He laughed when he got the answer, "Not yet." Within two weeks, he had read the young man's script for an episode of "The Equalizer," proclaiming it, in need of some work, but not very much.

Mr. Woodward was that rarest of birds, a gentleman.

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