Peter Wyngarde, actor who made Jason King moustache a fashion icon, dies at 90

The actor Peter Wyngarde, whose TV character in the 1970s made the Jason King moustache a fixture above many a tip lip, has died at 90.
Peter Wyngarde, who has died aged 90.Peter Wyngarde, who has died aged 90.
Peter Wyngarde, who has died aged 90.

Wyngarde became an instant star at the playboy crimefighter King, first in ATV’s Department S and then in a spinoff series which took the character’s name as its title.

His flamboyant performance as the foppish and louche secret agent is said to have inspired the Hollywood star Mike Myers to create the parody Austin Powers films in the 1990s.

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Wyngarde had been a familiar face on TV and in the cinema since the early 1960s , popping up in such shows as The Avengers, The Saint and The Prisoner. Later, he appeared as the villain Klytus in Flash Gordon and as Timanov in Doctor Who: Planet Of Fire.

But it was Department S that put his name above the title. He had signed his contract on the back of a napkin in a restaurant and was forever associated with the handlebar moustache, frilly shirts and foulard draped from his top pocket.

The typecasting was not always a blessing and his later career suffered as he battled alcohol and the ignominy of a 1975 conviction, under his real name of Cyril Goldbert, for gross indecency.

The son of a French-born diplomat, Wyngarde acknowledged his demons. “Jason King had champagne and strawberries for breakfast, just as I did myself. I’m amazed I’m still here,” he said.

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