JOHN ABINERI

Born in 18 May 1828, John Abineri was a frequent face who appeared in four Doctor Who serials between 1968 to 1978.  Trained at the Old Vic Theatre from a young age, and a speaker of various languages, Abineri was often cast as characters from different nationalities, one of which saw him play a dutchman in his first Doctor Who role. John Abineri landed parts in both TV and Film, and was even nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his performance as Chingachgook in Last of the Mohicans (1971). Abineri once described himself as ‘well educated’, and his career certainly reflected that.

            Beginning his career in television saw him appear as Oswald in The Children of the New Forest (1955) with an early film role coming with Devil’s Bait (1959); although his acting credits bio and IMDb page state it [is] an ‘Undetermined Role’. Abineri’s early career saw him being a ‘jobbing actor’, floating between single appearances on television shows and landing small, supporting film roles. Chances are though, his face would have been recognizable by the general British viewer; but his name had yet to catch the eyes and mind of the general public. He appeared in single episodes of popular shows of the 1960s: Suspense (1963), Moonstrike (1963) and The Protectors (1964) and Out of the Unknown (1965). Early film credits however, saw Abineri being uncredited for his work: Operation Crossbow (1965) and Attack on the Iron Coast (1968). His skills at speaking various languages saw him play German parts. He was a regular on No Hiding Place, playing no less than 6 different parts (5 one-off) between 1959 -67. In 1968 he entered the Doctor Who universe.

            He first appeared in Fury from the Deep, as the Dutch government official Van Lutyens, who fell victim to the Weed Creature. Thankfully thanks to The Second Doctor, Van Lutyens was eventually freed. Oddly though, Van Lutyens was absent for the final two episodes. He then played General Carrington in The Ambassadors of Death, as the scheming and manipulative General Carrington who played to use Alien Ambassadors as dangerous weapons of war and destruction. Carrington planned for the human race to turn against the titular Alien Ambassadors in a full-scale attack, after a fellow astronaut, Jim Daniels was killed by the Ambassador’s deadly radiation touch. It is perhaps, Abineri’s most remembered and ‘grounded’ performance in his Doctor Who career. It is also marked the first time the Third Doctor came up against a human antagonist. A few years later, John Abineri would find himself meeting the Third Doctor (again); but this time on the correct side. Appearing as Richard Railton in Death to the Daleks, the character was short-lived as he was fatally killed by an Exxilon. The character had successfully sought an alliance between his fellow human Marine Space Corps a small, platoon of Daleks. By his third appearance, Abineri was becoming a regular face with the Doctor Who universe. His fourth (and final) Doctor Who appearance, was the first time Abineri did not play a human character. As the Swampie Ranquin, Abineri got the chance to play a religious leader of a group of exiled and persecuted primitives on a swamp laden moon, who worshipped the biggest Doctor Who monster that had featured on the show. His character came to an end when the very [he] worshipped grabbed hold of him with one of its tentacles, and dragged him to his demise.

            Abineri was later considered for the roles of Garif in Full Circle and Renis in Timelash. Had he been cast, Abineri would have had an impressive six credits to his impressive Doctor Who resume.

            John Abineri aside from Doctor Who found success elsewhere with TV and Film. He played, the previously mentioned Chingachook in Last of the Mohicans (1971) and Hubert in Survivors (1976-77). He was Herne the Hunter, a horse rider, ghost figure with antlers in Robin Hood (1984-86) and he played Arnold Rimmer’s Dad in Red Dwarf (1988) episode “Better than Life” . Fans of the popular mob trilogy of films The Godfather can see him as Hamilton Banker in The Godfather Part III (1990). Abineri landed other regular roles in The Moon Stallion (1978) and Emmerdale Farm (1980) as Jesse Gillin.

            John Abineri sadly died on June 29 2000, aged just 72.