Fine Time Fontayne
Ian Crossley (born 1951), better known by the stage name Fine Time Fontayne, is an English actor and stage director.
Fine Time Fontayne | |
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Born | Ian Crossley 1951 (age 69–70) |
Occupation | Actor, theatre director |
Early life
Fontayne was born in Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire (now South Yorkshire) into a mining family.[1] In the 1960s, he moved with his parents and brothers to Sheffield, where they ran a pub.[2] He took his stage name when he began singing and playing at a local folk club in Yorkshire.[3] He had previously called himself Ordinary Seaman Whittle.[4] He started acting in the 1970s with the Crucible Vanguard Company.[5]
Career
In the early years of his career Fontayne worked in cabaret, community and repertory theatre, as well as the Red Ladder Theatre Company.[1] He has played a variety of roles in many long-running British TV series such as All Creatures Great and Small, Coronation Street, Emmerdale as well as both Heartbeat playing the role of a journalist on the Ashfordly Gazette and The Royal in which he appeared as Nobby Jepson, an ex-coal miner turned "back setter," in the episode Consequences.
He is a frequent voice in BBC Radio drama (including The Blackburn Files and Street and Lane) and has appeared in films including 24 Hour Party People and Butterfly Kiss.[6][7]
Fontayne appeared in the 2002 radio series The Little World of Don Camillo. He directed a successful production of Sleeping Beauty at the Mercury Theatre, Essex in December 2007 and January 2008.[8] In February 2020, Fontayne portrayed the role of Ned Wainwright in the BBC soap opera Doctors.[9]
Fontaine was also a regular feature in Oldham Colliseum’s annual pantomime, co-writing and performing as the pantomime dame in things such as Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty and Mother Goose
References
- "Crossing the Picket Line" (PDF). Marxism Today. Communist Party of Great Britain. June 1985. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
- "Fine Time Fontayne comes to Hepworth". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
- "In the name of success!". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
- All Memories Great & Small, Oliver Crocker (2016; MIWK)
- "Fine Time Fontayne biography". Townsend Productions. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
- "Fontayne CV" (PDF). Retrieved 28 December 2012.
- The Blackburn Files at radiolistings.co.uk
- Review of Fontayne's production of The Sleeping Beauty, The Stage
- Writer: Katharine Way; Director: Nimer Rashed; Producer: Gail Evans (18 February 2020). "I Can See Clearly Now". Doctors. BBC. BBC One.
External links
Review of Hamlet with Fine Time Fontayne:
https://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/15-3/revham.htm