Kenneth Haigh

Kenneth Haigh (born 25 March 1931 in Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English actor. Haigh studied drama at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London. He played the central role of Jimmy Porter in the first production of John Osborne's seminal play Look Back in Anger in 1956. His performance in a 1958 Broadway theatre production of that play so moved one young woman in the audience that she mounted the stage and slapped him in mid-performance. For the film version produced that year, he was passed over in favour of Richard Burton. Coincidentally, he went on to portray the explorer and adventurer Richard Francis Burton in the BBC production of The Search for the Nile. He also briefly appeared in the Beatles' 1964 film A Hard Day's Night. Later he portrayed the upstart Joe Lampton, a character created by John Braine in the novel Room at the Top, in the television series Man at the Top and the spin-off film Man at the Top (1973). Haigh has also made occasional appearances on American television, and his most recognisable appearance is that of time-travelling Flight Lieutenant William Terrance Decker in The Twilight Zone episode "The Last Flight". Haigh also portrayed Pat Casey in Lionel Bart's Maggie May.