Denis Shaw

Denis Shaw (7 February 1921 – 28 February 1971) was a British character actor who specialised in portraying slimy villains.

Shaw was born in Dulwich on 7 February 1921, as Douglas Findlay Shaw. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was frequently cast as villains in film and television, most memorably as the German guard Priem in The Colditz Story (1955). Shaw also appeared in a number of British horror films. These include Jack the Ripper (1959), The Mummy (1959) and The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). He was cast in the leading role of The Great Van Robbery (1959) as the judo-throwing Interpol detective Caesar Smith.

Shaw's many television credits include The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Avengers, Danger Man, Dixon of Dock Green, The Prisoner, Sherlock Holmes and Z-Cars.

Shaw died from a heart attack in London on 28 February 1971, at the age of 50. A familiar face around the bars of Soho in London, he is mentioned in Keith Waterhouse's play Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell.