The Grave of Neil McCarthy - Zulu, Where Eagles Dare, Doctor Who Film/TV - Fordingbridge Cemetery

The Grave of Neil McCarthy at Fordingbridge Cemetery Hampshire.
McCarthy's film credits include memorable roles as a Welsh soldier (Private, Thomas ) in Zulu (1964), as Sergeant Jock McPherson in Where Eagles Dare (1967) as the villain Calibos in Clash of the Titans (1981) and as a robber in Time Bandits (1981)
His television credits include: The Avengers, The Saint, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, Great Expectations, Catweazle, Doctor Who (in the serials The Mind of Evil and The Power of Kroll), The Professionals, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, and Emmerdale Farm.
He died of motor neurone disease in Fordingbridge, Hampshire in 1985, aged 52.

[@tstuart7333]

This really does prove that no matter how rich, poor, talented, movies, music, business you are always soon forgotten. I'm amazed that not even a visitor has taken a moment to clean the memorial stone. I travel from Northern Ireland twice a years car, ferry to Middlesbrough. to clean , replace the white stone or wash them if needed. I have the letters renewed and the surrounding area cleaned. Its my way to thank those in the 60s when I was a child with nothing. These people shared their food and children's clothes and treated me as their own. They took me on trips Scarborough, Whitby, Redcar, Flamingo Land etc. Near Yes, but when you no size it seems a million miles. Are these folks relatives? No. there are were the kind people I remember. and still continue to say THANK YOU. 3 graves in total all the same family same cemetery. I would spend around 6 hours there. Should for some reason ie: C19 I even feel guilty. This Saturday 01/10/22 is this end of year travel time. Do I feel good, Yes I sure do. Can I afford it, I sure cannot, but I save for the moment. 30 years and I guess it will come to an end one day. People should always take a little moment.

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you so much for sharing your story. Very heartfelt.

[@Granto-ni9qw]

That's so nice ,, I'm just up the road fro u in Peterlee best wishes G

[@bigtone1348]

In many cases, celebrity perpetuates memory. Nobody really dies if someone keeps their memory alive.

[@sueduce8180]

We are the Catweazle fan club and we visit Neil's grave. We have raised money to clean up his resting place, put new gravel in and make it lovely, but we are currently seeking any family so we can have permission to do this.

[@johncain7949]

Here in Canada, we were lucky to get all the British shows so I remember him well. He was great in Clash of the Titans and Where Eagles Dare. So good of you to clean his headstone and lay some flowers. Very respectful for a fine actor. Several years ago I visited my grandfathers grave in Northern Canada. His headstone was covered in moss and was hard to read. I went into town and got materials to clean it up. As I worked, a warm feeling came over me. Even though it was winter, I felt like I was in Florida! I felt my grandfather was with me. Your video brought that feeling back to me! Best wishes Vancouver Island British Columbia

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you for sharing that heartfelt moment with me, so glad the video brought back memories. Again thank you for watching 😊

[@Davy.J.Y]

He was fantastic in Catweazle, which was an award winning show with an excellent group of actors. Wonderful actor and loved by the cast.

[@brianedwards7142]

"Ere, Carrot. Wot you 'angin' round wi' that old tramp for?"

[@chuckmaddison2924]

I was just thinking was he in Catweazle. Watched as a kid in UK

[@Davy.J.Y]

@@chuckmaddison2924 I had forgotten about him being in Catweazle until i watched the entire series during lockdown. He was really great , he was in the first series.

[@chuckmaddison2924]

@@Davy.J.Y I think he was a farm hand . A lot of great TV and movies came out of UK and still do .

[@Davy.J.Y]

@@chuckmaddison2924 Yes, you are correct, a farm hand. Yeah , we certainly did have a lot of comedy . We were spoiled for choice .

[@shelfstacker9317]

I met Neil socially in 1978 just after I had left drama school starting out on my acting career, something that I have recently retured to, and he was a real gem, a real gentleman. We talked about the Industry and I have never forgotten his expertise in what he was saying and his humour. He was/is, a splendid character actor, with a tremenduous focus on being in the moment in character, saying and doing. Watching a Neil McCarthy performance is a master class in acting .

[@squiddyfan1165]

He was a part of my childhood,thanks for bringing his memory back .

[@rufusgazelle]

Your welcome, thank you for watching. 😊

[@ianbrowne8871]

Neil was a cousin of my mother and I had the privilege;ege of conducting the funerals of his parents Gene and Beatie. We became aware of his illness at the same time as my mother entered her final days and we were not able to attend the funeral in Fordingbridge, so I appreciate the chance to see his resting place. I only met him a couple of times and my mother who had been close to him when he was a boy at Stamford School chiefly and news of him from his mother. The funeral was organised by Neil's partner Bob and his private life was never mentioned by his parents. He was a gifted actor and i remember meeting an actor who knew him who said he was rarely out of work. The one series not mentioned is "Who paid the Ferryman?' filmed in Crete about a wartime story - a series loved by the Queen Mother. It also provided Neil with many free holidays on the island from its tourist board! He also filmed a another BBC series in America about the life of Nancy Aster - the first woman MP. I have been contacted recently by the archivist of his school who is researching his links with Colin Dexter of Inspector Morse fame. They were friends and contemporaries. His father Gene live another 12 years after Neil's death and as executor, I found Sunday letters form his time as a boarder at Stamford School. I gave these to the archive - one in particular i remember from 1945 where comments about eating the first fresh grapefruit to arrive since 1939! I hope this response brings more light to those who have commented.

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you for your comment, unfortunately I couldn’t mention all of his fine work, it would be a long video if I did, like you said he was never out or work. I hope I did the video justice for you. 😊

[@ianbrowne8871]

I was very pleased to discover it and I hope more work will be published on Neil.

[@waynesmith4612]

Nice of you to mention all that, thankyou. I also thought he was a great actor, liked him best in some mothers do have them, his physical size made him great at comedy. A great man i hope he is in a better place RIP Neil.

[@Blaggard]

He is an actor who is widely known, very much so. Not to mention, him in the wonderful 'Catweazle'

[@rufusgazelle]

I think it depends on the age of the viewer. Older generations will definitely know of him, like you said from “Catweazle” thank you for watching 👌🏼

[@markowen2649]

I worked as a sales assistant on Merseyside in the early 80's and one day Neil McCarthy just walked in and started looking at the hi- fi we were selling ! ..I was speechless as ZULU is my favourite film of all time .. couldn't get any words out ... completely gob smacked !!

[@thekitowl]

My Nan kept Neil topped up with Tea when he spent the day filming outside our house in the mid 60s. She never missed a chance to mention it whenever he was on tv .

[@anthonyellis987]

Neil was a jobbing actor who has appeared in so many things. RIP Neil McCarthy.

[@macbroch3756]

Stoic performance in Zulu RIP 🇬🇧🤴🇬🇧

[@TheSecurdisc]

"There's no moisture in it, nothing to hold a man in his grave".....Zulu.

[@nickdavies8197]

Neil was a very underrated actor in Dr who The Power of Kroll with Philip Madoc and brilliant in the Mind Of Evil. He was memorable in Randall and Hopkirk, Freewheelers to mention a few roles and one of his hobbies was playing the piano. A very talented chap.

[@michaelspilman5220]

a great actor. so versatile. From Michael from Yorkshire and proud of it.

[@adventussaxonum448]

How apt that an Englishman played a Welshman in Zulu. A reflection of the fact that an English regiment was portrayed as a Welsh one.

[@Griffo5446]

Nice thing to do..clean the headstone....he never made a bad film..RIP..

[@frank290862]

Just another forgotten old grave now. I guess that's what happens. RIP Neil, Catweazle rules!

[@gbwildlifeuk8269]

Catweazle?

[@frank290862]

@@gbwildlifeuk8269 Yes. 70s children's program. Neil was in it. Absolutely brilliant and possibly on KZbin somewhere.

[@catholicreconquista7456]

It’s good, but also sometimes sad, to see what happened to a face familiar to many of us. The resting place of us all. Thanks for making the effort to look into this man. Also, thanks for the quite moving clip from Zulu which also showed that Mr McCarthy’s acting talents were greatly underused during his lifetime.

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it 😊 thought it would be a nice little touch at the end…

[@catholicreconquista7456]

@@rufusgazelle Indeed, it was.

[@philippapworth8020]

Neil pops up a lot in my DVD collection. He must have had a pretty prolific work life. After Philip Madoc, Neil was the other British actor I always wanted to meet. You could have had a great weekend listening to those chaps at a convention. I remember Neil in the first series of Catweasle as a farmhand and as various henchmen in other shows like The Avengers and such. I didn't know that he died in 1985 as he seemed to be forever on the TV.

[@bigtone1348]

Neil was one of those faces of the sixties. I know Fordingbridge well. It is a lovely place to rest, both for the departed and the living.

[@justaroundthecorner2883]

Neil had a very recognizable face but not easy to put a name to. Think he starred in" Clash Of The Titans ". Thanks for the video.

[@rufusgazelle]

He did star in that, I mentioned it in the video. Thank you for watching 😊

[@johnbuxton6009]

I remember him. Always had a very soft and gentle voice.

[@mildandbitter]

One of those very good character actors you can always recognise but can never name.

[@robmoon6442]

What a wonderfully humble resting place. Great video. Respectful and important!!! Subscribed.

[@waynesmith4612]

Yes i thought that, tranquil and quiet.

[@johnphilipfosterdobson551]

I watched Zulu last night for the 40th plus time.....

[@bryanbelshaw7725]

Remember him in Steptoe & Son and of course Clash of the Titans. Didn't realise he died so young. Wish he had a nicer headstone. So glad he's remembered. Thanks for the video.

[@markevans8107]

Thank you for your video. Very sad he passed away so young from such an awful disease. He was a fine actor, seen regularly in films & tv in the 60's & 70's. I saw him recently in an episode of Lord Peter Wimsey, The Nine Tailors. God rest his soul.

[@williamnethercott4364]

Good actor, lovely voice which was under-appreciated! I remember seeing him in many productions although Zulu and Lord Peter Wimsey stand out for me.

[@chapsnaps1]

He was really good in Zulu - as was the entire cast. It doesn't matter how many times you watch it, you are always impressed. It demonstrates the best and the worst of men who are placed in impossible situations. The irony is, that the South Wales Borderers and the Zulu's had much in common (farming, similar geography and both part of nations that conquered people by force). Lord Chelmsford (the British Commander) died playing billiards in his Club in 1905. Unlike a great many of his men.

[@irishboer7124]

The Zulu were conquering imperialists not indigenous to South Africa, the Welsh had more in common with the Bushmen who were.

[@adventussaxonum448]

@@irishboer7124 By "the Welsh", I presume you are referring to the minority of the soldiers of the 24th Warwickshire regiment at Rorke's Drift?

[@SpideyVids]

I couldn't have told you his name but his familiar face is a different matter entirely - I've never forgotten just how much he's contributed to films and television.

[@zen4men]

Neil was also a memorable actor in Who pays the Ferryman, playing Babis Spiridakis. I saw it when 19 in 1977 - parts of it, actually - and found the whole series recently on KZbin. ...... Well worth watching! My youthful hero was Geoffrey Moss, who wrote Ill Met By Moonlight about the capture of General Kreipe on crete, and Jack Hedley / Alan Haldane was in the same mould. The Cretan Andartes, and the British officers with them, achieved much - often at great cost, as the Germans were ruthless in executing hundreds of people in revenge for attacks.

[@mickthemerciless9694]

Great tribute thanks. He was one of those actors/faces that were part of my childhood. Was watching him in Catweazle the other weak. Sad he died so young. RIP Neil and thank you.

[@johnfellows2867]

I'll always remember Neil in Zulu, stroking the head of the little Calf, amazing film !

[@rufusgazelle]

Thats why I inserted that specific clip at the end of the Vlog… such a classic. 👍🏼

[@trailingarm63]

I remember him well. Very distinctive looking. Very handsome I thought in a rugged kind of way. Didn't realise he had medical issues. It's sad he died so young.

[@pauldurkee4764]

A lovely peaceful place to be laid to rest, I notice the Chapel has its windows covered over, its the same everywhere these days sadly. 👍

[@mooseyman74]

Love Where Eagles Dare

[@julianmizzi1295]

Great Clip - thanks for posting.

[@easystar123]

Absolutely brilliant video, thanks for making this. I've watched this actor in many films and TV programmes over the years and I never knew his name until now. He was also in one of my all time favourite war films, Operation Daybreak. He was a really good actor. Rest in Peace Neil McCarthy, you will be forever remembered.

[@michaelhiggs8657]

Total Legend! I'm surprised his work as Sam in catweazel didn't get a mention!!.....

[@rufusgazelle]

If you watch my video “The return to Neil McCarthy’s Grave” I do mention Catweazel & there is a nice little clip at the end 👌🏼

[@ANGELGMAILSIX]

I loved this guy acting.Onley 52 when he passed bless him.He was very well known to me as I lived for those old actors.Thay were great characters.And when thay were on your screens was like old friends in your home.His grave looks very neglected.He must of had no family to tend it left.Its sad to see when he brought so much happyness threw the years.r.i.p neal

[@MatthewOfLondon]

Around five years ago I looked up Neil McCarthy. Given his age onscreen I couldn't work out why he had just disappeared, as he was ever present when I was a little boy. Yes, I saw the reason..........😒. Thank you for a lovely tribute vid.

[@tonyhelliar3719]

A really nice tribute.

[@rollingthunder4]

Thank you for this it is much appreciated.

[@rufusgazelle]

Your very welcome 🙏🏻

[@francesthompson593]

Yes he had a very dramatic appearance, I think I remember him in ‘The Hill’ with Sean Connery and Ian Hendry

[@brianedwards7142]

To me he will always be Sam Woodyard from Catweazel. ❤

[@CRISIS550166]

Utter respect for mentioning the war grave.

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you 😊

[@cobbler40]

In Zulu in the scenes where he says how dry the soil is with no moisture to hold you in your grave is Shakespearean scene. A great actor.

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you for watching 😊

[@englishbull1949]

I new him from steptoe and son. Sad about the greave but it happens over time. Great video.

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you for watching 😊

[@nobbytang]

There’s a Rorkes drift soldier buried at Layton cemetery in Blackpool…l remember a team of ex servicemen clearing it up in about 2005 ….made the local paper too .

[@bluepeter128]

he was in catwizel, loved that show.

[@rufusgazelle]

He was indeed. 👌🏼

[@aaronleverton4221]

Appeared in Zulu with (Sir) Michael Caine and The Hill with (Sir) Sean Connery before Where Eagles Dare with Richard Burton.

[@jiggermast]

A nice respectful video my friend, I always liked to see Neil McCarthy acting. but sadly never knew his name. It always amazes my how many celebrities/actors etc appear regularly in stereotypical roles that suit their physical appearance & just haw many of them are in fact the complete opposite in reality & often very well read academic individuals, several examples being the likes of Bernard Bresslaw, Les Dawson, Kenneth Conner, Rowan Atkinson & not forgetting the late Jane Mansfied, who was in fact surprisingly a fully trained classical Violinist. Of course this doesn't automatically make them better people, but I do find it interesting. A nice calm vidio my friend, happy to subscribe.

[@rufusgazelle]

So lovely to here your thoughts, I appreciate you watching 😊

[@petenicholson3318]

Just came across this quite randomly today. I remember the actor, especially Zulu. I didn't know he was an acromegalian. It's where the pituitary gland goes awry. Such people can be phenomenally strong - such as The Angel, a French wrestler

[@skylongskylong1982]

In the sixties he always seemed to turn up in ITC productions as bad guys , example The Saint.

[@jeremypearson6852]

I’ll always picture him from Zulu, not a name easily remembered, but more of a face you recognize. Sad to think he passed relatively young.

[@westernsharpie]

Bang up job sir. Good work.

[@rich8436]

Interesting video mate, I have a kind of contention with Neil McCarthy in a very abstract way. My dad was a TV engineer and one of his customers was Neil McCarthy. He meet him a few times but he was more often than not out working on films and the such like. Though, he did get to know his family a bit as TVs in them days are not as reliable as today. Now MvCarthy was in a very successful TV miniseries called Shogun this would be my first introduction to Japan as kid and would spark my interest in Japanese history, it was when watching this that my dad told me about fixing his TV, that I thought was kind of cool. Later in life I meet a Japanese girl in a pub in Harrow we became good friends over the length of time she was in England when she moved back to Japan we stayed in touch and went to see her in 2005. Her father (who unfortunately died two years before I went there) was a quite a prominent professor of Japanese history and had ancestral ties to a Dimyo (Japanese feudal lord). We went to her family home outside of Tokyo and when there I saw a picture of her farther with some of the cast and crew from Shogun, it turn out that he had done a lot of work as an historical adviser in many TV shows and moves Shogun being one of them! Now every time I watch Shogun I think of that connection and wonder if they ever meet during filming. Small world, Thanks for showing me his final resting place.

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you for sharing your story, & taking time to watch my video - really appreciate it 😊

[@johnsessions1389]

Thank you for pointing out the Military Headstone, I am a Military Veteran and always pay my respects when i see a soldiers headstone.

[@rufusgazelle]

Your very welcome 😊

[@ellenthorne8222]

I remember him in Turtle's Progress and The Professionals .

[@terryhorne2582]

Never knew this actors name, but liked him in movies I have seen.

[@derekbell4173]

Thanks for this

[@paulhobday9272]

Great video Top Guy!

[@sueamos3860]

A lovely tribute

[@rufusgazelle]

Thank you 😊

[@TheWorldofGood79]

I've just watched him hereon KZbin play a deaf man in an episode of Softly Softly Task Force.

[@34ofaninchofbrain80]

I always thought he was a very well known and accoumplished actor and I'm surprised he was not laid to rest with more pomp. It does not even look like any family members go there. How sad is that. Goes to show - Live for yourself and live for the day.

[@patrickmccarthy7068]

I’m a McCarthy and love this!

[@rufusgazelle]

I’m going back tomorrow to clean up the head stone a little more & do another video. Thank you for watching 👌🏼

[@TheWizardOfTheFens]

He was also in “Catweasle” with Geoffrey Bayldon…

[@dorkarama3135]

I remember him in an episode of 'Only When I Laugh'.

[@francesthompson593]

RIP Neil McCarthy 💖

[@michaelhall2138]

I remember seeing him in a play on tv called When the Bough Breaks. He played a guy suspected,wrongly, of mistreating his young child. The guy was a bit antisocial, kept himself to himself and was disliked for no petiticular reason.I remember in it he was in a relationship with a younger woman, maybe living in a caravan. Must have made a mighty impression on me in the 70s.

[@Sparkles505]

Very interesting.

[@silverfox1silverfox496]

Used to live in Dulwich

[@view1st]

He was a great actor and had a very recognisable face and voice. Incidentally, was his acromegaly in some way related to the motor neurone disease that he had later in life?

[@meeruisland]

Nice one on the RAF head stone

[@deanwebb4809]

I've just found this channel I'm already a big fan of unusual things with Paul and Hollywood grave yard. I'm now subbed to you bud

[@rufusgazelle]

Appreciate it, thank you for watching 👌🏼

[@rufusgazelle]

Unlike Paul I will be doing a mixture of many different things on here, not just dedicated to famous graves, like filming locations, random vlogs, and of course more graves for sure…

[@bolshevikproductions]

Your narrative reminds my slightly of art historian Waldemar Januszczak. 👍🏻

[@garydavis9554]

Thanks! A fan.

[@anthonyleighton4754]

He sounded like he had a bit of countryside in him.....calibos was great...

[@sandemike]

He made was really good as a Military Policeman in The Hill.

[@michaeld.5699]

May you rest in peace sadly Grave restoration needed

[@burntbacon7995]

Remember McCarthy from the excellent "Zulu".

[@tonytee5435]

RIP SIR 🙏

[@jamescarter5493]

He was in Emmerdale as well.

[@rufusgazelle]

Yea I mentioned that in my return video to his grave that I did on Sunday. Go check it out 👌🏼

[@pauljones1350]

A memorable actor was he very tall or what may he rest in peace

[@oddsandwindsocks5905]

Nicely done Rufus. That soldiers head stone looks way too clean for 80 years old.

[@rufusgazelle]

I think war graves are maintained, not too sure tho. Thanks for watching 👌🏼

[@rufusgazelle]

@@Calvi36 I thought they might me & so they should. Thank you for the information on this, appreciate it.

[@zen4men]

Idea. ...... Either the stone was damaged and replaced, or the body was recovered and buried fairly recently, accounting for a new looking headstone.

[@stephenchappell7512]

Clash of the Titans too (the original and best version)

[@rebornitsybitsy7515]

Interesting videos, just subscribed, I cannot believe 31,000 people watch the video and no one subscribes!

[@rufusgazelle]

Maybe it’s just me… 🤔

[@eugeneActor]

Hello Rufus, I enjoyed your Video on Neil McCarthy. I just saw him this evening on an old episode of Some Mothers Do Have Em. Sounds like his family might have originally come from Co.Cork. Do you have any further information on his heritage? Thanks Eugene (Anthony) McCarthy, Dublin

[@rufusgazelle]

Thanks for watching I don’t unfortunately have any other links on his Irish heritage… maybe worth looking into tho 👍🏼

[@robertwilson123]

Yes, he was excellent in Zulu and many other roles. Yes his lantern jaw an pronounced angular large facial features and size are classic pituitary tumour causing acromegaly due to increased growth hormone a somatotroph adenoma. Greek:Acros = extremities , magas =large. Untreated the patients usually die young.

[@mikelandy2078]

Thought that was Rab Nesbit 😂

[@conradryan1654]

He also played a part in steptoe and son

[@rufusgazelle]

He did indeed. Steptoe & Son Ride again - as mentioned in the video. Thank you for watching 😊👍🏼

[@stevemohammed4518]

Just found out he was Calibus

[@asa1973100]

He drove a dark green wolseley 6/100 Reg DNT 133C that was sold after his death . Is it still on the road ?

[@RussEdgar445y7tlfj]

Just checked it on the DVLA website and last had a road fund licence until 1st March 2000, and showing an export marker. So presumably gone somewhere else in the world. Hope the current owners know of its celebrity past.

[@robplazzman6049]

Wasn’t he called ‘carrot’ or something similar in one of his roles ?

[@rufusgazelle]

Not too sure on that one if I’m honest.

[@ivanmoore3503]

Calibos

[@Irish780]

Mccarthy is a irish name

[@gbwildlifeuk8269]

Why are you narrating in bullet points? Try and string the sentence together!

[@rufusgazelle]

I am sorry, will try harder next time. Didn’t realise I was under scrutiny from the KZbin Police… 🤣

[@catholicreconquista7456]

No need to be negative. He is not charging you and, but for him, we would not have this interesting information. His delivery is clear and is not a problem.

[@nickjames3049]

Try not to be rude and ill mannered!

[@waynesmith4612]

@@rufusgazelle Your not, most normal mannered people will all agree it's decent of you to take the time and an enjoyable video. Well worth another subscriber, thank you.

[@davedase5622]

Nice video, thanks for the effort to keep some of our childhood memories and theirs alive. I never forget kalibos....

[@martymartin2894]

Nor me one of my favorite movies as a child great memories watching it with my now deceased parents and my siblings.

[@jeniferallan6693]

Bizarre