- Paul Darrow was born on 2 May 1941 in Surrey, England. He went to Haberdashers' Aske's School and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He performed with the Bristol Old Vic and started to get acting roles on British TV in the 1960s. After roles in such series as The Saint (1962) and Doctor Who (1963), he was cast as Avon in the cult BBC science fiction series Blake's 7 (1978). He always maintained an association with that classic series, and in time became a public advocate for its revival by means of audio dramas.
Darrow's interests included criminology, good food and wine, classical music, the cinema and military history. He supported Manchester City Football Club. His long marriage to the actress Janet Lees-Price was ended by her death in 2012.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpouseJanet Lees-Price(1966 - May 22, 2012) (her death)
- In late 2014 he suffered an aortic aneurysm. Due to complications, surgeons had to amputate both of his legs; one above the knee and the other below it.
- He appeared in 51 of the 52 episodes of Blake's 7 (1978), more than anyone other than Michael Keating. The only episode in which he did not appear was the pilot, The Way Back (1978).
- He performed all his own stunts in Blake's 7 (1978). He thinks he must have been mad, because a lot of them were quite dangerous.
- His real surname is Birkby. When an agent advised him to change it to a more easily recognisable and pronounceable one, his father suggested the name Darrow, after the American attorney Clarence Darrow.
- His nickname on the set of Blake's 7 (1978) was "Blint", because he was thought to be a mixture of Burt Lancaster and Clint Eastwood.
- David Maloney, the producer of, among many other fine works, Blake's 7 (1978), has died. Whilst there is nothing surer for any of us in life than death, it is still very difficult to come to terms with the final loss of someone for whom we felt great affection and held in esteem. It is a cliché, but David will be sorely missed by all those who knew him. His gentle humour, quiet diplomacy and undoubted skill as a director/producer are qualities all too rare, especially today. Two years ago, he looked me in the eye and asked who I thought would be the first of Blake's 7 (1978) "to go!" I thought - am I looking unwell? Soon afterwards, we lost David "Gan Jackson (David Jackson). Now, another David is gone. I cannot speak for anyone else. All I can say is that David always treated me with courtesy and respect and, from time to time, enjoyed 'sending me up.' He knew, as did I, that my 'macho' image as Avon was something of a facade. Terry Nation's Blake's 7 (1978) was, and is, a family of sorts. A quarter of a century or more since its conclusion, those of us associated with the programme are aware of this. We have lost our founder, one of our leading actors, our favourite eccentric director and now, our producer. In time, we will all pass away, leaving nothing but flickering images of a splendid enterprise that captured the imagination of so many. An achievement in no small measure attributable to David Maloney.
- [on Blake's 7 (1978)] It's a Western, really, and I've always wanted to do a Western.
- Blake's 7 (1978) was so clever because it was the first series where you had this hero who was an anti-hero.
- The difference between the United Kingdom and the United States is that in the United Kingdom, a hundred miles is a long distance; in the United States, a hundred years is a long time.
- It costs nothing to be kind.
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