Suave actor known for his roles in Falcon Crest and Casualty
In common with his contemporaries Jeremy Irons, Michael York and Hugh Grant, the actor Simon MacCorkindale, who has died of cancer aged 58, on screen projected the very English persona of an ex-public schoolboy. But unlike them, MacCorkindale never made it big in films. Nevertheless, his “posh” accent, his suave demeanour and patrician good looks made him a natural for roles in television soap operas, from the opulent mansions of Falcon Crest (1984-1986), to the hospital corridors of Casualty (2002-2008). In the latter, he played the autocratic clinical consultant Harry Harper, who ran Holby City hospital’s emergency department. A doctor of the old school, he sweeps through the wards, advising, cajoling, admonishing and seducing colleagues and patients alike.
THE actor Simon MacCorkindale has died after a four-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. The 58-year-old, who had a wide-ranging career including six years in the BBC medical drama Casualty as Dr Harry Harper, died on Thursday in the arms of his wife, the actress Susan George at a London clinic.
Miss George said: “To me, he was simply the best of everything, and I loved him with all my heart. He will live on in me forever.”
Actor who specialised in handsome, roguish charmers and was once hailed as the new Errol Flynn
SIMON MacCORKINDALE, the actor, who died on October 14 aged 58, built a 30-year stage and television career playing handsome, often roguish, charmers – most recently the consultant Harry Harper in the popular BBC hospital drama Casualty.
Early in his career, his talent for playing stiff-upper-lipped romantic leads won him flattering accolades such as “Boy’s Own Brit”. He was acclaimed as a new Errol Flynn or David Niven, whose “flawless looks, perfect features, perfect hair, perfect skin” were admired by one breathless female critic in The Sunday Telegraph
CASUALTY star Simon MacCorkindale died peacefully in his wife’s arms after bravely battling cancer in secret.
Devastated actress Susan George said yesterday: “No one could have fought this disease any harder. To me, he was simply the best of everything, and I loved him with all my heart.”
The suave actor, whose wide-ranging career also took in US shows Manimal and Falcon Crest, died on Thursday night aged 58.
TV smoothie Simon MacCorkindale has lost his four-year battle with cancer. The 58-year-old – Dr Harry Harper in Casualty – died in the arms of wife Susan George. “He was the best of everything,” she said.
Simon, star of Casualty, dies in arms of his wife Susan George
SIMON MacCorkindale, the film star who became a stalwart of the BBC drama Casualty, has died after a four-year battle with cancer.
The 58-year-old died in the arms of his wife, Susan George, at a clinic in Harley Street.
In a statement released last night, the actress said: ‘No one could have fought this disease any harder than he did since being diagnosed four years ago.
‘He fought it with such strength, courage and belief. Last night, he lost this battle, and he died peacefully in my arms.
TELL WHY THEY ARE FOCUSING ON THE POSITIVE AS THEY TACKLE HIS ILLNESS TOGETHER
‘Simon is not dying of cancer – he’s living with it, That’s really important’
Actor Simon MacCorkindale is looking a picture of health, riding his quad bike across the Exmoor farm he shares with his actress wife Susan George. His rosy cheeks and positive energy make the knowledge that he is battling cancer all the harder to comprehend.
It was only last month that former Casualty star Simon, 57, revealed the secret he’d been harbouring for three and a half years. During that time, he’d thrown himself into a grueling work schedule. A schedule he now admits was ridiculous given that, when not filming the BBC medical drama, he was undergoing surgery for bowel cancer.
After that, he took on two national tours and the exacting role of Captain Georg Von Trapp in The Sound of Music in the West End, while quietly coping with the knowledge that the cancer had spread to his lungs.
But Simon is not the sort of character to sit and brood over what life throws at him. Being told he may have only five years to live has made him all the more determined to confound the doctors’ prognosis.
“There’s not a single cancer that exists that someone hasn’t survived, so therefore nothing is incurable,” he says in his distinctive deep voice
“Never underestimate the power of the mind and spirit.”
This positive approach, coupled with homeopathic treatments and a macrobiotic diet has, he says, yielded significant results.
“I have rarely felt fitter or had more energy,” he says. But, right now, he has reduced his workload as he undergoes a six-month course of chemotherapy, a treatment that he believes will shrink the cancer and stop it spreading.
Doctors Gave Me 5 Years to Live . . But I’ll Beat It
CASUALTY STAR SIMON TALKS MOVINGLY OF THREE YEAR BATTLE WITH CANCER
CASUALTY star Simon MacCorkindale today reveals his secret THREE YEAR battle against cancer—and tells how he aims to beat the disease.
Tenderly holding hands with actress wife Susan George, the TV heart-throb recalls how a REAL doctor working on the BBC hospital drama first spotted his symptoms early and urged him to get a check-up.
And despite being given only five years to live in May 2006, defiant Simon, 57, vows: “I’m going nowhere. I don’t think about a day when it comes to an end.
“It’s not happening. It’s just a bloody nuisance.
“I don’t want people to think I’m sitting here pale, losing weight and my hair and on the way out. I’m not. I’m as active as I’ve ever been.”
When Simon MacCorkindale suddenly left TV’s Casualty no one suspected that he was keeping a tragic secret: he had cancer and had been given just five years to live. Now, in this raw and inspiring interview, he and his wife Susan George reveal their daily battle to be strong – and prove doctors wrong
FOR more than three years, he kept it a secret even from his closest friends. Former Casualty star Simon MacCorkindale, who played handsome consultant Harry Harper in the popular BBC series, told very few he was battling cancer. Even after the disease had spread to his lungs and doctors gave him just five years to live, he and his wife, the iconic Seventies actress Susan George, decided they did not want everyone to know.
‘I didn’t want to make a fuss,’ says Simon. ‘We are very private people and wanted to deal with it on our own.’
Simon and Susan speak with the News of the World and Daily Mail about his brave continuing battle with cancer. Beautifully dignified interviews about this three year struggle. Brilliant man describing his inspirational journey over the past three years.
A message of support has already been sent to Simon from the site. We obviously will continue sending our devoted love and support to both Simon & Susan for the future & believe one hundred percent he will get through this.
They are both in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.
HOYS have updated their website and removed the interview 🙁 . Fortunately I had a copy saved, if they put this back online, I’ll remove this copy and link back to them
Formerly known for her work on the big screen, these days Susan George can be forgiven for horsing around behind the camera. The actress turned equestrian photographer has been celebrating her first major exhibition in Mayfair. The Straw Dogs star and film icon of the 1970s has latterly turned her attention to Arabian horses, which she breeds at the farm in Somerset that she owns with her husband of 23 years, Casualty star Simon MacCorkindale.
Sad news for all those female fans who tune in to BBC1 on Saturday nights to gaze adoringly at Simon MacCorkindale. After five years playing consultant Harry Harper in Casualty the smoothy actor is hanging up his stethoscope.
Pictured At Home With Her Magnificent Arabian Horses
Actress Susan George Reveals Why She Gave Up Hollywood For The Good Life
(Mainly a Susan George article)
While Susan George remains firmly embedded in the nation’s psyche for her illustrious film career, these days the actress is more likely to to be found delivering foals than lines from a script
In a move that has taken her far from the bright lights of Hollywood, the Straw Dogs star now spends her time breeding Arabian horses at the farm she shares with her husband of 22 years, Casualty star Simon MacCorkindale. In turn, the magnificent animals have led to Susan’s inspired venture into photography.
Simon MacCorkindale, back on television as Casualty’s new consultant, has been delivering foals rather than lines of late…
This site looks like it’s no longer online, so here is the full article.
I was never too comfortable as a young actor and always felt that my best time in the business would be around now – I’m 50 – through to the age of 65 I’ve been doing a lot of production work in the past ten years, as well as writing and directing, so the opportunity to do something very visible – in a great part – was much too good to miss My character in Casualty [new consultant Harry Harper] is a disciplinarian, slightly old-fashioned, but pretty cool I’ve been filming since February and it’s a really nice show to be in – egos are at a minimum.
Simon MacCorkindale: Why I need time away from Susan
This site looks like it’s no longer online, so here is the full article.
Simon MacCorkindale is convinced he would have become the Army’s youngest general. He feels his dogged determination, dashing looks and slavish adherence to discipline would have sent him hurtling up the ranks. Indeed, thanks to his father’s contacts, a glittering military career was once guaranteed; instead, he chose to become the nearly man of British cinema, a decision he puts down to an in-built self-destruct button which he presses whenever his life is running smoothly.
To the horror of his family, Simon put showbusiness before the Army, and his role opposite Mia Farrow in Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile in 1978 won him the Most Promising Film Actor award when he was 26. From there, anything seemed possible. Only now, years later, after disappearing from the movie actor radar, is he acting again, this time as Harry Harper, a dashing doctor in the BBC’s hospital drama, Casualty. He is expected to cause a stir with his character, who is married but has a penchant for sexy girls; a natural extension to the love-rat image from his TV heyday in the 1980s, when he played Greg Reardon in Falcon Crest.
Take A Break In Mauritius Before She Launches Her New Singing Career And He Prepares For A Starring Role In Hit Hospital Drama Casualty
Even the most assiduous actress needs rest and refreshment. But seven long years had passed without Susan George taking time out in the sun. “I’d almost forgotten how much I enjoyed holidays,” says the fine-boned blonde with the fierce work ethic and a long-ago romantic link with Prince Charles.
Dedicating the Success of Her New Venture to Her Beloved Late Sister
Susan George Tells Why Christmas Will Be Tingled With Sadness
(Mainly a Susan George article)
It won’ t be stockings but stable duty for Susan George on Christmas morning. In “scruffy jeans and a flat cap”, she’ll be outdoors early, feeding, watering and hanging hay nets for her 20-odd Arabian horses. It’s a long way from Hollywood for the star of Straw Dogs and many other films, but the 12-acre Northants stud farm Susan shares with her husband, actor Simon MacCorkindale, is the fulfillment of a long-held dream.
This site looks like it’s no longer online, so here is the full article.
For an instant, the Range Rover was travelling on two wheels. Then, with a terrifying inevitability, it rolled over on to its side and skidded across three lanes of heavy traffic before coming to a stop on the hard shoulder of the motorway.
Inside the car, Susan George was stunned, battered and bruised. Her head was gushing blood. But when she heard her husband’s voice say: ‘It’s all right darling, we’re alive,’ she knew she was going to survive. It was, without a doubt, nothing short of a miracle that the couple escaped such a crash with their lives. Their Range Rover, on the other hand, was a complete write-off.
Susan George and husband Simon MacCorkindale had a narrow escape earlier this week when the car they were travelling in crashed on the M40 in Oxfordshire.
The couple were taken to Radcliffe Infirmary where Susan was treated for a head wound and Simon, who injured his neck, was kept in overnight for observation.
The couple were on their way to London for the Stella Artois tennis tournament when the accident happened. Their Range Rover hit the central barrier, somersaulted
An Arabian Night in Dubai and a Day At The Races For The Horse-Loving Acting Couple
(Mainly a Susan George article)
Susan George and Simon MacCorkindale, both great horse lovers, glance across the paddock enclosure with wonderment written across their faces. “We’ve been to race meetings all over the world, but we’ve never seen anything quite like this,” says Susan. “There is something very special about this race, which has attracted the world’s best horses, owners, trainers and jockeys.”
The acting couple shows us the dream farm that’s allowed them to put down their roots and provides a break from their hectic film careers
This site looks like it’s no longer online, so here is the full article.
Susan George and Simon MacCorkindale have been cruising along the movie world’s jet-set super-highway for over 20 years. They have probably spent more time in exotic film locations than in their native Britain. Even on their wedding day they were to be found exchanging sacred vows on the paradise isle of Fiji.
But now Susan, at 44, and Simon, at 43, have finally stopped roaming – and it is largely due to the farm they have just moved to on the edge of an old-world village.
The idyllic 17th-century property with its 12 lush acres on the Oxfordshire-Northamptonshire border has given them a clearer perspective, a degree of tranquillity – and forced them to re-evaluate their lives.
Simon MacCorkindale
