| Biography | Alan Wheatley born Tolworth, Surrey, was a radio announcer who turned to stage and screen acting in the 1930s and was much seen in British films, being a television actor during the black and white era.
Wheatley left his job as an industrial psychologist to start an acting career. The suave, debonair actor with the golden voice made his film debut in the 1936 film Conquest of the Air, which was not released until four years later. During the Second World War, he worked for BBC Radio, both as an actor and as an announcer.
He is probably best known for his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood in the 1950s, where he played the malevolent adversary to Richard Greene's squeaky clean Robin Hood. Wheatley was the Sheriff in the first three series but had only a few appearances in the fourth and final series, his place being taken by a Deputy Sheriff played by John Arnatt. The programme, which began in 1955, was one of ITV's first adventure series, made with a view to getting a screening in America. It lasted for four years and 143 episodes, Wheatley's character becoming one of those whom viewers loved to hate. |