Alexander Joseph Doré (28 August 1923 – 16 April 2002) was a British actor, director and screenwriter. He was best known for his appearance as the First Spy in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.[1] He also co-starred in the 1968 TV series Virgin of the Secret Service (as villain Karl Von Brauner) as well as playing Bertram Bright in Bright's Boffins (1970-1972).[2]
Alexander Doré | |
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![]() Alexander Doré as the First Spy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) | |
Born | (1923-08-28)28 August 1923 Hampstead, London, England |
Died | 16 April 2002(2002-04-16) (aged 78) London, England |
Occupation | Actor, director, screenwriter |
Years active | 1946–1988 |
Spouse(s) | (his death) |
Children | 1 |
Doré's other screen appearances include At the Stroke of Nine (1957), Tales from Dickens (1958), ITV Television Playhouse (1958), Emergency-Ward 10 (1960), Dixon of Dock Green (1964), Casino Royale (1967), ITV Playhouse (1968), and A Very Peculiar Practice (1986).[1]
His credits as a screenwriter include Jungle Street (1961) and The Wind of Change (1961), while his directing credits include Hé... mag ik mijn echtgenote terug? (1975), Boem-Boem [nl] (1982) and Privé Voor Twee (1988) for Dutch television.[1]
He directed the plays See How They Run at London's Vaudeville Theatre, The Sunday Man at the Morosco Theatre on Broadway[3] in 1964, and the world premiere of We Who Are About To... (with Anton Rodgers) in 1968 at the Hampstead Theatre Club.[4] In 1988 he directed the Dutch-language version of the play Never Judge a Book by Its Cover which undertook a successful fifty-city tour of the Netherlands and Belgium.[5]
He married the actress Edna Doré (née Gorring) in 1946 in Pancras, London, and the two of them ran their own company for five years at the Little Theatre in Aberystwyth.[6] He died in London in 2002 aged 78. Their son, Michael, is currently the landlord of a public house in Hampshire.[6]