Simon MacCorkindale

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Acting career

MacCorkindale began his acting career in theatre by touring the United Kingdom with a repertory theatre company. At the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry in 1973, his first professional stage appearance was during A Bequest to the Country. In 1974, he made his West End theatre debut in Pygmalion, appearing alongside Alec McCowen and Diana Rigg in the role of "Sarcastic Bystander." The Pathfinder, a 1973 film, had the honor of bringing MacCorkindale his first television appearance. He went on to appear in a number of other television shows, including Within These Walls, Sutherland's Law, I, Claudius (as Lucius Caesar) and Jesus of Nazareth.

MacCorkindale's film debut came in 1974 with Juggernaut. In the 1978 film version of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, Simon Doyle appeared as Simon Doyle. The job raised MacCorkindale's public profile and was seen as a career break, according to the actor. For this part, he received the London Evening Standard Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer. In The Riddle of the Sands (1979), the film version of the celebrated Erskine Childers' book, MacCorkindale went on to star as sailor and spy Arthur Davies.

In Nigel Kneale's television serial Quatermass (1979), MacCorkindale played astronomer Joe Kapp, starring John Mills. He had appeared in an episode of Kneale's series Beasts before and loved being in Kapp's role, finding it a change from the typecast romantic roles that he was used to portraying, though he said it was "challenging" depicting the character's deep Jewish faith. Kneale expressed disappointment with MacCorkindale's results later, saying, "We had him in Beasts playing an idiot, and he was really good at it."

MacCorkindale was sent to the United States in 1980 following the success of Death on the Nile. MacCorkindale refused to use an American accent when auditioning, fearing that his British diction would fill a "niche" and being warned that it would reduce his chances of finding work. However, he did not attend the audition stage for any major parts for two years due to his nationality. The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) told MacCorkindale that he was not a "eight o'clock actor" in the sense that "at that time of night, they didn't want viewers to be listening to someone who was intellectual or had an accent that was foreign to their ears, causing heavy listening." During this period, he appeared in single-episode films like Dynasty, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, Matt Houston, and The Dukes of Hazzard, as well as playing David Clement, an aristocrat, in the mini-series Manions of America.

He was eventually cast in the adventure series Manimal for NBC in 1983, in which he portrayed lead character Professor Jonathan Chase, an Englishman who assists police in the fight against gangs due to his ability to transform into animals. The role piqued MacCorkindale's interest, who regarded Chase as a "very cerebral individual." Along with Joan Collins in Dynasty, he also "found himself in the first wave of British actors to make it big in America," which resulted in a large influx of British actors looking for jobs in the United States. Manimal's filming sessions can last anywhere from 14 to 16 hours a day, and MacCorkindale will often be required to work at weekends to be equipped with the prosthetics required for Manimal's transformation sequences. Manimal's poor ratings, which culminated in the cancellation of one season and eight episodes, was in part due to NBC broadcasting the series at the same time as Dallas on CBS, Manimal losing out to the more popular "soap" style. Since it was the network's most expensive show, budget cuts also contributed to the series's demise. Manimal has since cultivated a worldwide fanbase.

In 1984, he was cast as Angela Channing (Jane Wyman) lawyer Greg Reardon in the soap opera Falcon Crest, without needing an audition. MacCorkindale ordered that the character, who was originally an American named Brad, be rewritten in English, and that one episode was also produced. Since appearing in 59 episodes and leaving the series in 1986, he refused a contract extension, but not as long as I wanted or needed. I was also finding fault with a lot of the company's, not just Falcon Crest, but also everything else. "I was actually planning to quit acting and try producing so I could put myself on the line."

MacCorkindale appeared in the films Caboblanco (1980) and The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982, as Prince Mikah) and appeared in the third part of the Jaws film film series Jaws 3-D (1983). MacCorkindale was considered as a potential successor to actor Sean Connery and Roger Moore in the mid-1980s, but was not cast. Jaws 3-D was his last big film role.

After a sabbatical in which he had concentrated on production work, MacCorkindale returned to acting in the 1990s. He worked on a variety of projects in Canada, where he said, "could be at the crossroads of international production." MacCorkindale appeared in the USA Network series Counterstrike, from 1990 to 1993, alongside Christopher Plummer. He was directed by producer Robert Lantos, who wanted to work with MacCorkindale, but for his part, the actor wanted to return to acting after three years as Amy International. MacCorkindale became a writer for the series after completing production on several episodes, feeling that the show was "too plot-driven rather than character-driven." He was hired as an executive production consultant who promised that he "could make quicker [on-set] decisions on behalf of the company."

Following Counterstrike's death, MacCorkindale appeared in the last episode of the television drama E.N.G., whereafter his "media tycoon" character, alongside actress Sara Botsford, was supposed to be the protagonist of a spin-off, but the initiative was cancelled. Throughout the 1990s, he appeared in numerous television films, including a role as the villain in The Girl Next Door. As "more exciting than [playing] the straitlaced hero," MacCorkindale was content to "gradually [switch] to villains." In addition to prosthetic makeup, MacCorkindale retold Dr Chase from Manimal in an episode of Night Man in 1998, which used computer-generated images for the transformations as opposed to prosthetic makeup, and also directed an episode of the series. The TV show Earth: Final Conflict, La Femme Nikita, and the 2000 TV film The Dinosaur Hunter were among the others on display.

MacCorkindale returned to the United Kingdom in 2002 and appeared in the role of clinical lead consultant Harry Harper after refusing an invitation to play Captain Jonathan Archer in the American science-fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise. In an interview with the Daily Record, he said he was a long-time fan of the show, saying that it was "great to be joining an established show with a large group of people." In comparison, Liverpool Daily Post founder Neil Bonner said he had never seen a single episode of the show in the city's then-16-year history. Given the many years he had spent in North America, MacCorkindale was surprised to be given the role of Harper, but Exmoor found Bristol to be a dependable production base. "Never too young as a young actor" was on display, and "always felt that [his] best time in the industry would come around [the age of 50]." MacCorkindale wrote that he "loved [his] time on Casualty" and spent time researching all of the medical terms used by his character to ensure that he understood it. Harper appeared in the Casualty spin-off series Holby City and Casualty@Holby City. Many commentators were divided on MacCorkindale's appearance in Casualty: Rupert Smith of The Guardian called MacCorkindale "fantastically wooden," while fellow Guardian journalists Sarah Dempster and Jim Shelley referred to MacCorkindale's "loud" delivery of his lines. Shelley referred to Harper as a "human Foghorn Leghorn," while Dempster said that casualty was "above all [...]" about Simon MacCorkindale. Then panting as he peer through some blinds is alarming. "Then screaming began right away."

MacCorkindale was given a five-month absence from Casualty in January 2007 because a plotline had demanded that his character be temporarily deleted from the film. In a revival of the Agatha Christie murder mystery play The Unexpected Guest, he had the opportunity to explore the United Kingdom. He returned to Casualty, but having regained his passion for theater, he continued to appear in Andrew Wyke's Sleuth in the United Kingdom. He had appeared in 229 episodes of Casualty by the time he left Casualty.

In August 2008, he replaced Simon Burke as Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp in the London Palladium's production of The Sound of Music, remaining with the performance until its end in February 2009. In what was his last television appearance after small parts in the films 13 Hrs and A Closed Book, he returned to television as Sir David Bryant in the 2010 series New Tricks.

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