Howard Lang

Howard Lang
Howard Lang as Captain William Baines (15 August 1975)
Born	Donald Yarranton 20 March 1911 London, England,  United Kingdom
Died	12 December 1989 (aged 78) London, England,  United Kingdom
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1946-1986

Howard Lang (20 March 1911 – 12 December 1989) was a British actor best known for playing Captain William Baines in the BBC nautical drama The Onedin Line.

Early life

He was born in London as Donald Yarranton, the son of Edward John Yarranton (1884-1954) and Clara Ann (née Malkin) (1888-1921).^[1] His father had left the family's bookbinding business to become a senior commercial traveller for Winsor & Newton, the supplier 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,^[2] and in January 1942 Temporary Lieutenant,^[3] a position he held until the end of the war.^[4]

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.^[5]

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 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 London in 1989 aged 78.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1946	Great Expectations	Man at Magwitch's Trial	uncredited
1950	The Mudlark	Footman	uncredited
1951	Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.	Officer aboard Cassandra	uncredited
1952	The Floating Dutchman	Gaoler	uncredited
1953	The Missing Man Counterspy	Inspector Haslett Policeman	uncredited
1954	The Blazing Caravan The House Across the Lake The Men of Sherwood Forest Devil's Point	Publican Inspector Edgar Town crier Marne	uncredited uncredited
1955	The Mysterious Bullet Stolen Time	Davy Charlesworth Scotland Yard detective
1956	Keep it Clean Eyewitness Destination Death The Battle of the River Plate The Hideout	Police sergeant Cinema Commissionaire Police sergeant HMS Exeter Gunman Greeko	uncredited uncredited uncredited uncredited
1957	The Crooked Sky The Big Chance The Birthday Present	Monitoring Policeman
1958	A Night to Remember Corridors of Blood	Chief Officer Henry Wilde Chief Inspector	uncredited
1959	Behemoth the Sea Monster Innocent Meeting Man Accused Ben-Hur Date at Midnight	Naval Commander Macey Unknown Hortator Inspector	uncredited uncredited uncredited
1960	Night Train for Inverness Jackpot The Trials of Oscar Wilde Feet of Clay	Sergeant George Court Usher Warder
1961	Gorgo The Curse of the Werewolf	First Colonel Irate farmer	uncredited
1963	The Haunting The Runaway	Hugh Crain Norring	uncredited
1964	Nothing but the Best	Jutson
1965	He Who Rides a Tiger	Prison Governor
1966	A Woman's Temptation	Unknown	uncredited
1967	Frankenstein Created Woman	Guard	uncredited
1970	Perfect Friday	Bank Commissionaire
1971	Macbeth	Old Soldier	uncredited

Television

Year	Title	Role	Episodes
1952 1955	BBC Sunday-Night Theatre	Courier Pilot Party Guest	Season 3, Episode 29: ''Arrow to the Heart'' Season 6, Episode 44: ''The Makepeace Story #3: Family Business''
1954	Fabian of the Yard	Harry	Season 1, Episode 4: ''Bombs in Piccadilly''
1955	The Hole in the Wall	2nd Policeman	TV Movie
1955 1958 1959 1960	The Vise	Police Sergeant Policeman Marshall Warehouseman Mansfield Mr. Peters First Detective P.C. Price Jim	Season 2, Episode 8: ''The Broken Link'' Season 5: (2 episodes) Season 6: (4 episodes) Season 7: (2 episodes)
1956	ITV Play of the Week The Adventures of the Big Man The Crime of the Century	George Hutton Balford Mr. Barton	Season 1, Episode 37: ''Come Read Me a Riddle'' Season 1: (3 episodes) Season 1: (2 episodes)
1956 1957	The Adventures of Robin Hood	Landlord Inn Patron with Password	Season 2: (2 episodes)
1957	Sword of Freedom ITV Television Playhouse Overseas Press Club - Exclusive! White Hunter	Major Domo Watchman Polish bosun Burrows	Season 1, Episode 4: ''Caterina'' Season 2, Episode 44: ''And So to Bed'' Season 1, Episode 11: ''The Unknown Man'' Season 1, Episode 4: ''The No-Account''
1957 1958	O.S.S.	Bruehl Jean First Farmer	Season 1: (3 episodes)
1958	African Patrol The Adventures of William Tell	Brad Collins Schmidt Blacksmith Armour	Season 1: (2 episodes) Season 1: (3 episodes)
1959 1960	Interpol Calling	Commander Siddons Dutch Policeman	Season 1: (2 episodes)
1959 1962	Dixon of Dock Green	1st Carter Paul Bennet	Season 5, Episode 22: ''A Case for the Inland Revenue'' Season 9, Episode 13: ''Cash and Carry''
1960	Man From Interpol The Strange World of Gurney Slade Knight Errant Limited	Sergeant Unknown Dr. O'Kelly	Season 1, Episode 7: ''Love by Extortion'' Season 1, Episode 3 Season 3, Episode 10: ''The Conspirators''
1961	Rendezvous	Goddard	Season 1, Episode 29: ''The Executioner''
1961 1962	Sir Francis Drake	Richard Grenville	Season 1: (15 episodes)
1962	The Cheaters	Willie	Season 2, Episode 18: ''The Dashing Major''
1963	Richard the Lionheart Sergeant Cork Doctor Who	First Shepard Drayman Horg	Season 1, Episode 28: ''Capture'' Season 1, Episode 1: ''Case of the Reluctant Window'' Season 1: (3 episodes)
1964	Espionage HMS Paradise Gideon's Way	Ted Newcombe Commander Bell Sgt. Fowler	Season 1, Episode 19: ''Snow on Mount Kama'' Season 1, Episode 3: ''An Officer and a Gentleman'' Season 1, Episode 6: ''The Lady Killer''
1964 1967 1969	Z Cars	Brown Inspector Jackson Tice	Season 4, Episode 6: ''Somebody Said...'' Season 6: (3 episodes)
1965	The Scales of Justice Theatre 625	Abbott Grimmett	Season 1, Episode 6: ''Personal and Confidential'' Season 3, Episode 10: '' The World of George Orwell: Coming Up for Air''
1966	The Wednesday Play King of the River	Dart player Captain Friar	Season 1, Episode 54: ''A Walk in the Sea'' Season 1, Episode 12: ''Flash Point''
1966 1967 1969	Softly, Softly	Dobson Mr. Forbes Captain Donaldson	Season 1, Episode 19: ''The Short Cut'' Season 3, Episode 9: ''The Hunt'' Season 5, Episode 5: ''Dead Aboard''
1968	Freewheelers Georgia Brown Sings Kurt Weill	Admiral Nash Narrator	Season 1: (3 episodes) TV movie
1969	W. Somerset Maugham Detective	Clark Packer	Season 1, Episode 4: ''The Letter'' Season 3, Episode 7: ''Elimination Round''
1970	The Six Wives of Henry VIII Macbeth	Sir John Seymour Siward	Season 1, Episode 3: ''Jane Seymour'' Season 1, Episode 5
1971	The Persuaders!	Coalition Club Member	Season 1, Episode 6: ''The Time and Place''
1971- 1974 1976– 1980	The Onedin Line	Captain Baines	Season 1: (15 episodes) Season 2: (14 episodes) Season 3: (13 episodes) Season 4: (10 episodes) Season 5: (10 episodes) Season 6: (10 episodes) Season 7: (10 episodes) Season 8: (9 episodes)
1972	It's Murder But Is It Art	Chief Constable	Season 1 (3 episodes)
1974	King Thrushbeard and the Proud Princess	King Geoffrey	TV movie
1976	The Basil Brush Show	Unknown
1983	The Winds of War	Winston Churchill	Season 1 (4 episodes)
1984	The Last Days of Pompeii Jane	Medon Churchill	Season 1; (3 episodes) Season 2, Episode 5
1985	The Pickwick Papers	Tony Weller	Season 1 (3 episodes)
1986	The Pyrates	Captain Yardley	TV movie

References

1. Donald Yarranton Family Entry on Ancestry.com - pay to view
2. UK Navy Lists, 1888-1970 (1941) for Donald Yarranton - Ancestry.com - pay to view
3. UK Navy Lists, 1888-1970 (1942) for Donald Yarranton - Ancestry.com - pay to view
4. UK Navy Lists, 1888-1970 (1945) for Donald Yarranton - Ancestry.com - pay to view
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 the Internet Movie Database