Ray Henwood: The voice...

Ray Henwood, ONZM  — father of comedian Dai —  arrived in New Zealand from Wales, just in time for the birth of professional theatre downunder. Best known to TV viewers for five seasons playing Hugh on hit comedy Gliding On, Henwood’s screen roles included villains (The Legend of William Tell)  and surgeons (Shortland Street). On stage he played Stalin, Einstein and Richard Burton, and starred in early plays at Wellington theatres Downstage and Circa.

In this ScreenTalk interview conducted in 2012, Henwood talked about:

• Falling in love with New Zealand after arriving here on a gap year in the 1960s, to work as a teacher
• How his long Kiwi acting career began after impressing theatre legend Nola Millar as Henry V, at a British Drama League festival
• How in the days before the birth of the drama school, Kiwi actors often trained overseas, and never returned
• Balancing a famous Moro bar commercial with his job as a forensic toxicologist
• The breakthrough success of Roger Hall play Glide Time
• His annoyance at the first television adaptation of Glide Time, from 1978
• Warm memories of acting in Gliding On with a live audience at Avalon’s Studio 8 — and how few times things went wrong on set
• Surviving a runaway horse while playing second villain to actor Andrew Robertt, on the set of The Legend of William Tell
• Being proud Dad to comedian Dai Henwood

This video was first uploaded on 11 July 2012, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview - Ian Pryor. Camera and Editing - Alex Backhouse