Michael Billington
Biography
EDITBorn
12/24/1941 , Blackburn, Lancashire, England, UKDied
6/3/2005Birth Name
Gender
MaleBiography
Michael Billington was born on Christmas Eve in Blackburn, Lancashire. After leaving school, he trained as an engineer. Despite this training, Mike's love of acting in his local amateur dramatics group led him to decide that he wanted to pursue a career as a professional actor.
His first parts were dancing in muscials such as 'Broadway Goes Latin', and in cabaret, playing straight man to Danny La Rue for a year ! After taking voice and drama lessons, Mike secured a part in the West End production of 'Incident at Vichy' with Alec Guinness and Anthony Quayle. Soon after this break into straight acting, he played a footballer in the TV series 'United', followed by work for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
It is, however, Mike's portrayal of Colonel Paul Foster in the classic British science-fiction series 'U.F.O.' for which he is probably best known. His appearance in the episode 'A Change of Mind' in 'The Prisoner' television series brought his acting talents to the attention of 'U.F.O.'s co-producer Sylvia Anderson, and later to casting director Rose Tobias Shaw, which led him to be eventually cast in the role of Foster in twenty one episodes of the cult TV series.
Mike's extensive list of UK and US TV and film credits include the roles of Daniel Fogarty in the BBC TV historical drama series 'The Onedin Line' and Sergeant 'Jacko' Jackson in the first series of 'Spearhead', a guest starring role in the UK TV series 'The Professionals', starring in the US film 'KGB - The Secret War', and guest roles in such hit US TV shows as 'Magnum' and 'Hart to Hart'. Mike last lived in Kent with his son, Michael Junior, and his main priority was helping develop Michael Jr's career as a footballer. He passed away in 2005 within a week of his 'UFO' castmate Ed Bishop.
His first parts were dancing in muscials such as 'Broadway Goes Latin', and in cabaret, playing straight man to Danny La Rue for a year ! After taking voice and drama lessons, Mike secured a part in the West End production of 'Incident at Vichy' with Alec Guinness and Anthony Quayle. Soon after this break into straight acting, he played a footballer in the TV series 'United', followed by work for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
It is, however, Mike's portrayal of Colonel Paul Foster in the classic British science-fiction series 'U.F.O.' for which he is probably best known. His appearance in the episode 'A Change of Mind' in 'The Prisoner' television series brought his acting talents to the attention of 'U.F.O.'s co-producer Sylvia Anderson, and later to casting director Rose Tobias Shaw, which led him to be eventually cast in the role of Foster in twenty one episodes of the cult TV series.
Mike's extensive list of UK and US TV and film credits include the roles of Daniel Fogarty in the BBC TV historical drama series 'The Onedin Line' and Sergeant 'Jacko' Jackson in the first series of 'Spearhead', a guest starring role in the UK TV series 'The Professionals', starring in the US film 'KGB - The Secret War', and guest roles in such hit US TV shows as 'Magnum' and 'Hart to Hart'. Mike last lived in Kent with his son, Michael Junior, and his main priority was helping develop Michael Jr's career as a footballer. He passed away in 2005 within a week of his 'UFO' castmate Ed Bishop.
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