Peter Wyngarde, Charismatic Star of 'Jason King,' Dies at 90
by Rhett Bartlett Hollywood Reporter 1/18/2018
Aside from playing the louche spy, Wyngarde headlined the horror film 'Burn, Witch, Burn!' opposite Janet Blair, and popped up as a villain in the campy classic 'Flash Gordon.'
Peter Wyngarde, the charismatic star of spy series Department S and its spinoff show Jason King and a mainstay of British television, has died. He was 90.
Wyngarde died at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital on Monday, his agent Thomas Bowington announced.
Wyngarde appeared in films such as Alexander the Great (1956), The Siege of Sidney Street (1960), The Innocents (1961), and seminal British television shows such as The Avengers, The Saint, The Champions, Doctor Who and The Prisoner where he portrayed Number Two in the episode "Checkmate."
Wyngarde is most fondly remembered for Department S, a spy series which ran for two seasons in the United Kingdom from 1969. Wyngarde played the suave handlebar moustachioed Jason King, an author of adventure novels and a key member of the Interpol department who always seemed to get the girl.
Following the success of Department S, Wyngarde's character was given his own spin-off show, simply titled Jason King, that ran for 26 episodes in the U.K., and was syndicated around the world. Mike Myers has cited Wyngarde's dandy lothario spy Jason King as an inspiration for Austin Powers.
In the camp cult classic Flash Gordon (1980) Wyngarde, behind a gold metallic mask, played the menacing General Klytus, commander of Ming the Merciless' police force. He meets his gruesome end at the hands of the title character (played by Sam J. Jones), who throws him on a platform of spikes.
Wyngarde, who was born in Marseille, France, also headlined the horror film Burn, Witch, Burn! (1962) playing a professor whose wife (Janet Blair), unbeknownst to him, is practising witchcraft. Aside from acting, Wyngarde also had a modest career as a recording artist at the height of his Jason King fame.
R.I.P. Peter Wyngarde
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