James Hazeldine

James Anthony Hazeldine (4 April 1947 – 17 December 2002) was an English actor and director who worked across stage, television, and film. Born in Salford, Lancashire, the son of a dustman, he grew up on a council estate and left school at fifteen following the death of his mother. As a child he developed an obsession with the films of director Elia Kazan, and upon learning at age eleven that Kazan had begun his career as an actor and stage manager, Hazeldine resolved to follow the same path. He was accepted as a student assistant stage manager at Salford Repertory, where he began taking on small acting roles. Further experience came through seasons at Liverpool Playhouse, Newcastle Playhouse, and Manchester Library Theatre.

Hazeldine made his London debut at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square at the age of twenty, initially engaged to understudy the role of Cliff in Look Back in Anger. He went on to take small roles in Edward Bond's Narrow Road to the Deep North and Early Morning, and worked continuously at the Royal Court during the 1969–1970 season. Director Peter Gill, recognising his potential, cast him in Over Gardens Out and subsequently directed him in Crete and Sergeant Pepper by John Antrobus. Further stage work during this period included The Old Ones by Arnold Wesker, The Foursome by E.A. Whitehead, and Cato Street by Peter Gill. In 1981 Hazeldine joined the Royal Shakespeare Company for a season that included productions of Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens, Richard III, and Edward Bond's The Fool.

Hazeldine made his Broadway debut in 1984, playing Sam Evans in Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude alongside Glenda Jackson. He returned to Broadway in 1998 to play Harry Hope in The Iceman Cometh, a production starring Kevin Spacey. His final stage appearance came in 2000, when he played Joe Keller in Arthur Miller's All My Sons at the Cottesloe Theatre. Shortly before his death, he portrayed Sigmund Freud in Christopher Hampton's The Talking Cure, also at the Cottesloe, on 9 December 2002.

On television, Hazeldine is perhaps best known for playing firefighter Mike "Bayleaf" Wilson in the LWT drama London's Burning, a role he held from 1986 to 1996 and for which he also directed several episodes. Earlier television credits include the role of Frank Barraclough in the drama series Sam (1973–1975) and journalist Tom Crane in the paranormal thriller series The Omega Factor (1979). He starred in the children's series Chocky (1984) and its sequels Chocky's Children (1985) and Chocky's Challenge (1986), all scripted by Anthony Read. In 1983 he played Kidder in Willy Russell's five-part Channel 4 drama One Summer, alongside David Morrissey. Later television work included the role of haulage firm owner Picard in Truckers (1987), Bernie in Streets Apart (1988–1989), and Austin Danforth in the ITV drama The Last Train (1999). In 2001 he appeared as Ivan Braithwaite in Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years, and his final television credit was the role of Detective Inspector Stan Egerton in the ITV drama Shipman (2002). He also directed the Heartbeat episode "Forget Me Not" in September 1996. Additional television appearances include Granada Television's The Return of Sherlock Holmes, in which he played Richard Brunton in "The Musgrave Ritual" alongside Jeremy Brett, and the Miss Marple story "The Murder at the Vicarage," in which he played Lawrence Redding alongside Joan Hickson, Paul Eddington, and Cheryl Campbell.

His film work began with a screen debut as Stalin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). Subsequent film credits include The National Health (1973), The Medusa Touch (1978), and Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982).

Hazeldine was taken ill on 10 December 2002, one day after his performance in The Talking Cure. He died on 17 December 2002 of an aortic dissection, a complication arising from a triple heart bypass he had undergone six months earlier. Following his death, Trevor Nunn, director of the Royal National Theatre, described him as a leading actor of minutely observed truthfulness, comic brio, and emotional daring, and noted that he was universally popular among his colleagues.