- Born
- Died
- Birth nameColin Edward Williams
- Height5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
- In a career of over 30 years this Lancashire-born former art teacher has achieved great success in acting, both in television and film and writing, for television, film and stage.
His first film appearance is perhaps still his best-loved, the sympathetic Mr Farthing in Kes (1969), for which he won a BAFTA. Welland started in television in 1962 with his role of Constable David Graham in the long-running police serial Z Cars (1962). With its groundbreaking grittiness the series introduced a new realism to the genre. Welland stayed with the show until 1965, by which time he was a household name.
In the 70s, Welland combined careers as an actor and writer. On the film side he put in a nice turn as a laconic policeman in Villain (1971) and featured in the controversial Straw Dogs (1971) and in an episode of the popular TV series Faces (1975) and its big-screen adaptation Sweeney! (1977). In this time he had also been writing and appearing (sometimes both) in several plays and TV movies - he was voted Best TV Playwright in Britain in 1970, 1973 and 1974. In 1972 he won a BAFTA for Kisses at Fifty (1973). His plays were known for their earthy humour and working-class themes.
He reappeared with the other stars from the early years of Z Cars in the show's finale in 1978. In 1979 he put in one of his most memorable TV performances in Dennis Potter's award-winning play Blue Remembered Hills (1979) which recalled the days of the author's childhood. Playing the role of a child, Welland cavorted gleefully around woods and fields crammed into a pair of boy's shorts.
His first film as a writer was the successful John Schlesinger wartime culture clash drama Yanks (1979) and after this he decided to focus on his writing. He followed Yanks up with the multi award-winning, box office smash Chariots of Fire (1981), for which he won the Best Screenplay Oscar.
If his heralded arrival of the Brits didn't quite materialise, Welland did write some other worthy films - Twice in a Lifetime (1985) was an effective blue-collar drama starring Gene Hackman, A Dry White Season (1989) starred Donald Sutherland and dealt with the cruelties imposed by apartheid in South Africa (co-written with Euzhan Palcy) and War of the Buttons (1994) was an offbeat and entertaining tale of warring children.
He has put in occasional acting appearances over the years and was last seen in Our Brave Boys (1998) and Loose Women (1998) in 1998.
In 1962 he married Patricia Sweeney, they have 4 children. Genevieve, Catherine, Caroline and Christie.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Graham William
- SpousePatricia Sweeney(1962 - November 2, 2015) (his death, 4 children)
- Overbite, and Strong Build
- His famous "The British Are Coming" cry at the 1982 Academy Awards was not an open display of jingoism or patriotic call to arms. He was at the time doing research in a small Washington state town in order to adapt his television play Kisses at Fifty (1973) to an American location (this would be the movie Twice in a Lifetime (1985)). Welland insists that "The British are Coming" is what several of the local barflies would shout at him when he would frequent the bar close to his hotel.
- Colin made his famous boast of "The British Are Coming" at the 1982 Academy Awards where he received the Best Writing award for Chariots of Fire (1981).
- Won a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Best Single Television Play award in 1972 for Kisses at Fifty (1973).
- Before "Chariots of Fire," Colin Welland had only one feature film screenplay credit -- for co-writing with Walter Bernstein the film "Yanks" starring Richard Gere, Vanessa Redgrave and Lisa Eichborn. It was about the impact of American GIs on Britain during World War II and partly based on Welland's childhood experiences. Los Angeles Times critic Charles Champlin praised the writing in "Yanks," saying the film is "subtle and surprising, its emotions strong yet far removed from the tonight-we-love-tomorrow-we-die simplicities of the genre.".
- Producer David Puttnam was looking for a story in the mold of "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), regarding someone who follows their conscience; he felt sports provided clear situations in this sense, and happened upon the story by accident while thumbing through an Olympic reference book in a rented house in Los Angeles. "Chariots of Fire" producer David Puttnam asked Welland to look into the stories of two runners in the 1924 Olympics: Scottish missionary Eric Liddell, who refused to run in races on Sundays, and Jewish Cambridge student Harold Abrahams, who battled anti-Semitism. Screen-writer Colin Welland spent months researching their stories, even taking out news-paper advertisements in London seeking memories, people who had participated in the Olympic Games held in 1924 Paris. Many athletes were still living, he spoke to several athletes, but one of the most meaningful finds was a stack of letters written by an Olympian to his family; Aubrey Montague's son sent him copies of the letters his father had sent home - which gave Welland something to use as a narrative bridge in the film. The letters expressed an unabashed love of sports for sports alone. "I was absolutely amazed at the naiveté of them," Welland said in a 1981 New York Times interview. "A 21-year-old man, writing in terms that in today's world would be naive to the point of being ridiculous." The letters gave Welland the emotional tone for the screenplay. "Colin's writing has a great lack of embarrassment," the producer David Pittman told the L.A. Times in 1981. "English screen-writing is cool, it's blue if you like. Colin's writing isn't purple, but it has a lot of red and yellow." Having completed his first draft, screenwriter Colin Welland was unable to conceive a title for the film beyond the somewhat uninteresting "Runners". The inspiration came one Sunday evening when Welland turned on the television to the BBC's religious music series "Songs of Praise" (1961) - featuring the stirring hymn "Jerusalem" (written by William Blake and set to music by C.H.H. Parry), its chorus including the words "Bring me my chariot of fire"; the writer leapt up to his feet and shouted to his wife Patricia, "I've got it, Pat! 'Chariots of Fire'!".
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