Obituary: David McKail, proud Scottish actor, playwright and Renaissance man

DAVID McKail, who died at the age of 83, was an actor best known for his longtime role as police surgeon Dr. McKenzie in the television series A Touch of Frost (1992-2008). Beyond that, he was a longtime mainstay of theater in Scotland and beyond.

In the guise of Frédéric Mohr, he was also an accomplished playwright. This pen name was taken from his German grandfather’s name out of a desire for his handwriting to conform to his own terms. All of this made McKail a proudly Scottish Renaissance man, blessed with vast intelligence and a mischievous mind.

David Fredrick Mohr McKail was born in Glasgow, the youngest of three children to David and Janetta McKail (née Mohr). He grew up in Bridgeton and as a child of war spent three years in Millport on Cumbrae Island. He attended John Street Elementary School, then John Street High School for one term before moving to Allan Glen School.

While his father was an enthusiastic amateur actor, McKail often said he was originally destined for a life in medicine, which was a family profession, before moving on to perform. In 1951 he followed his sister Elspeth in the Junior Course at the College of Drama, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, later the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and now the Royal Conservatory of Scotland. It had been decided that he would also sign up to take me out of myself, as he will write later.

He made regular appearances on BBC radio in Children’s Hour and as a teenager he appeared at the Glasgow Citizens Theater in Thornton Wilders’ play Our Town, and later in The Thistle and the Rose. He became a trainee sub-editor with the Scottish Daily Record prior to national service in the Royal Army Service Corps. After that, in 1958, he became a full-time student at the College of Drama, where he won fencing and mime awards.

The first screen work appeared in Moultrie Kelsalls Who Fought Alone: ​​Epitaph on a Scottish Soldier (1958). Graduating in 1961, he won the James Bridie gold medal and a one-season contract with the Citizens, then under the artistic direction of Callum Mill.

McKail performed in the UK and made his London debut in 1965 at the Theater Royal Stratford East in A Little Winter Love. He played a small role on the big screen in Life at the Top (1965), starring Laurence Harvey and Jean Simmons.

A year later, he appeared at the Hampstead Theater in John McGrath’s play, Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun. In 1970 he appeared at the Chichester Festival Theater as the Earl of Bothwell in the world premiere of Robert Bolts’ play Vivat, Vivat Regina !, which took place in London for thirteen months.

There were many guest spots in high-profile television series including Dr Finlays Casebook (1965-1966), Doctor Who (1977), and Poldark (1977). He also provided the voice of Adam Smith in The Age of Uncertainty, an episode of a documentary series, The Prophets and Promise of Classical Capitalism (1977).

McKail combined acting with writing, first partnering with John Cargill-Thompson under the pseudonym John Mohr. A television play, No Kind of Hero (1966), was based on McKail’s experiences in the military and was part of STV’s anthology series Scottish Playbill, with McKail himself playing the lead role.

Like Frédéric Mohr, he wrote six plays. Bozzy (1981) saw McKail play James Boswell in an award-winning solo work first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before BBC Radio Scotland broadcast a radio version of it. He continued to play Boswell in the television play scripted by Mark Harris, Boswell for the Defense (1983)

Barry (1983) was a biography of Miranda Barry, who in the 19th century disguised herself as a man to attend the University of Edinburgh medical school and become a medical officer. Hogg (1985), on the life and times of James Hogg, was originally seen at the Borders Festival.

Garden Notes (1989) was about Scottish opera singer Mary Garden; Admiral Jones (1993) focused on the father of the 18th century US Navy, John Paul Jones; and Acting Up (1997) was a biography of 18th century actress Charlotte Charke.

McKail appeared in The School for Scandal at the Perth Theater in 1993. In 1999, he played the coroner in Paul Greengrass’ television drama The Murder of Stephen Lawrence. Lately there have been guest roles on television in Absolutely Fabulous (2003) and Extras (2006).

His last appearance on stage was in 2011, when he relaunched Bozzy for a one-off concert at Boswell’s First Book Festival, held in his subjects’ family home at Auchinleck House in Ayrshire. He played villainous Johann Schmidts Artist in the movie Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and was a geographer in Paddington (2014).

In 2009, he wrote in an unpublished memoir how people often play games such as asking others what a concise obituary might contain to sum up the person; the gravestone issue. Well, my answer would be; He had his enthusiasms. It was her wish that her ashes were scattered in Millport, where I was conceived and where I spent many happy years in both innocence and playfulness.

He is survived by his partner, Sheena Hamilton, whom he first met at the Junior Course of the College of Dramatic Art, and with whom he reconnected ten years ago after the death of his wife Nicky. in 2006. He is also survived by two sisters, April and Elspeth, three nephews, two nieces and ten grandnieces and nephews. His funeral will be on January 6.