David Spenser
British actor, director, producer and writer
title: "David Spenser" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1934-births", "2013-deaths", "20th-century-english-male-actors", "british-expatriates-in-spain", "british-male-child-actors", "british-male-film-actors", "british-male-television-actors", "english-radio-producers", "english-television-producers", "english-television-writers", "english-gay-actors", "british-gay-writers", "british-lgbtq-screenwriters", "english-lgbtq-writers", "people-from-colombo", "british-male-television-writers", "21st-century-british-screenwriters", "20th-century-english-businesspeople", "21st-century-british-lgbtq-people"] description: "British actor, director, producer and writer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Spenser" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary British actor, director, producer and writer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | David Spenser |
| birth_name | David De Saram |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Colombo, Ceylon |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Spain |
| occupation | Actor, television producer, radio producer |
| domesticpartner | Victor Pemberton (1931–2013) |
| relatives | Jeremy Spenser (brother) |
| years_active | 1945–1972 |
| :: |
|image = |imagesize = | name = David Spenser | birth_name = David De Saram | birth_date = | birth_place = Colombo, Ceylon | death_date = | death_place = Spain | occupation = Actor, television producer, radio producer | domesticpartner = Victor Pemberton (1931–2013) | relatives = Jeremy Spenser (brother) | years_active = 1945–1972
David Spenser (né De Saram; 12 March 1934 – 20 July 2013) was a British actor, director, producer and writer. Spenser played the title role in a 1948 radio production of Richmal Crompton's Just William, and also appeared in popular films and TV series including Doctor Who. His documentary about Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies won an International Emmy Award. He was the elder brother of actor Jeremy Spenser.
Aged 11 he appeared in plays on BBC radio's Children's Hour. He was cast in Just William by the author of the books, Richmal Crompton.
He played Harry in the first production of Benjamin Britten's opera Albert Herring.
Spenser was a regular on television, with appearances in episodes of Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, and The Saint. In 1967 Spenser appeared as Thonmi in the Doctor Who serial The Abominable Snowmen alongside Patrick Troughton. Spenser later worked as a radio producer for the BBC. He produced several radio plays including Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now in 1988, and Christopher Isherwood's Mr Norris Changes Trains in 1984.
Spenser wrote a historical drama about the Egyptian pharaoh Akhnaton, The City of the Horizon. It was broadcast in 1972 and 1976. Spenser subsequently produced documentaries about figures such as Benny Hill, Angus Wilson, Dodie Smith and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies.
He was survived by his brother, and by his partner Victor Pemberton.
Filmography
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Conflict of Wings | Corporal, Flying Control | |
| 1959 | The Stranglers of Bombay | Gopali Das | Uncredited |
| 1962 | Play It Cool | Reporter #1 | Uncredited |
| 1962 | In Search of the Castaways | South American Guide | |
| 1964 | The Earth Dies Screaming | Mel | |
| 1967 | Battle Beneath the Earth | Maj. Chai | |
| 1967 | Some May Live | Inspector Sung | |
| 1968 | Carry On... Up the Khyber | Bungdit Din's servant | |
| :: |
References
References
- [[John Tydeman]] [https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/aug/01/david-spenser David Spenser obituary], ''The Guardian'', 1 August 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013
- (21 July 2013). "Original Just William radio star David Spenser dies aged 79". BBC News Online.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20081025163806/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/255722 BFI.org]
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::