Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Howard Lang" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Howard Lang
Howard Lang (1975)
Born	Donald Yarranton (1911-03-20)20 March 1911 Marylebone, London, England
Died	11 December 1989(1989-12-11) (aged 78) West Hampstead, London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1946–1986

Howard Lang (born Donald Yarranton; March 20, 1911 – 11 December 1989) was an English actor known for playing Captain William Baines in the BBC nautical drama The Onedin Line.

Early life

Lang was born in Marylebone, London, the son of Edward John Yarranton (1884–1954) and Clara Ann (née Malkin) (1888–1921). His father had left the family's bookbinding business to become a senior commercial traveller for Winsor & Newton, the manufacturer of artists' materials.

Lang served for seven years in the Royal Navy including during World War II. In January 1941 he was appointed Temporary Sub-Lieutenant, and in January 1942 Temporary Lieutenant, a position he held until the end of the war.

His younger brother from his father's second marriage was Sir Peter Yarranton (1924–2003), chairman of the United Kingdom Sports Council from 1989 to 1994, and a notable figure in the world of rugby union, both as a player and as an administrator, for more than 40 years.

Acting career

For his role as seafaring Captain Baines in The Onedin Line (1971–1980) he gained international attention. In a 1977 interview in Radio Times Lang recalled a personal appearance in Norway:

When the series was first shown in Norway I was asked to make a personal appearance in a small shipbuilding town. As I was brought into Grimstad by sea I caught sight of huge crowds – all of 3,000 townsfolk out on the quay to greet me. I learned afterwards that I had been received as family because almost every home had an ancient photograph of an uncle, cousin or grandfather dressed and sideburned precisely as I appear on The Onedin Line.

Lang's other parts included roles in The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), Z-Cars, Softly, Softly, The Vise, and an appearance as caveman Horg in three of the four episodes of the first Doctor Who story, An Unearthly Child. He also played Winston Churchill in the 1983 TV miniseries The Winds of War.

He also played the role of Bert Hudd in the first production of Harold Pinter's first play,The Room.

In an early seafaring role, he had a cameo in Ben-Hur as the hortator aboard a Roman galley leading up to the epic battle with an enemy fleet.

Howard Lang died in West Hampstead, London in 1989.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

1. Donald Yarranton Family Entry on Ancestry.com (subscription required)
2. UK Navy Lists, 1888–1970 (1941) for Donald Yarranton – Ancestry.com (subscription required)
3. UK Navy Lists, 1888–1970 (1942) for Donald Yarranton – Ancestry.com (subscription required)
4. UK Navy Lists, 1888–1970 (1945) for Donald Yarranton – Ancestry.com (subscription required)
5. "Life On The Ocean Wave", Radio Times, 25 June – 1 July 1977 as reproduced on the Peter Gilmore-Anne Stallybrass website

External links

• Howard Lang at IMDb

• 1911 births
• 1989 deaths
• English male film actors
• English male television actors
• Male actors from London
• People from Marylebone
• Royal Navy personnel of World War II
• 20th-century English male actors
• Royal Navy officers
• Actors from the City of Westminster