Return of the Saint Ogilvy is best known as the star of the television series
Return of the Saint (1978–79), in which he assumed the role of
Simon Templar from
Roger Moore (1962–69). The role led to his being considered a leading contender for the role of
James Bond in the early 1980s, when Moore announced his intention to leave the role. He never played the part (in part due to Moore's reconsidering his resignation on several occasions), although he did play a Bond-like character in a series of North American TV commercials broadcast in the early 1990s. At least once, in an episode of
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, "Dragon's Wing II", he played a Bond-like British agent, complete with white dinner jacket. He recorded a series of readings of
Ian Fleming's James Bond novels in the early 1980s, which were released on
audio cassette by the
Listen for Pleasure label.
Other notable roles Ogilvy has had an extensive career in the theatre playing leading roles in many
London West End productions, including
Design for Living,
Happy Family,
Three Sisters,
Rookery Nook by
Ben Travers,
Run for Your Wife,
The Millionairess by
Shaw,
The Waltz of the Toreadors, and others. He has also worked widely in the American theatre. Among his films, Ogilvy had a major part in the 1970 epic film
Waterloo. He co-starred with
Boris Karloff in
The Sorcerers (1967); with
James Mason,
Bobby Darin, and
Geraldine Chaplin in
Stranger in the House (also 1967); with
Vincent Price in
Witchfinder General (also known as
The Conqueror Worm, 1968); with
Tom Courtenay and
Candice Bergen in
The Day the Fish Came Out (1967); with
Meryl Streep and
Goldie Hawn in
Death Becomes Her (1992); with
Peter Cushing in two films for horror specialists
Amicus and with
Richard Dreyfuss and
Nia Vardalos in
My Life in Ruins (2009) – among others. He was a friend of the film-maker
Michael Reeves and starred in all three of Reeves's films:
Revenge of the Blood Beast (1966),
The Sorcerers and
Witchfinder General. He also had a role in the short-lived 1990s American soap opera,
Malibu Shores. He has had roles in over one hundred television shows, often appearing as a guest star. He appeared in the television series
Upstairs, Downstairs (as
Lawrence Kirbridge). He guest-starred in
The Avengers in the 1968 episode "They Keep Killing Steed" as Baron Von Curt, and on the BBC in
Somerset Maugham's
The Door of Opportunity, opposite
Marianne Faithfull. In 1976, he featured in the pilot episode of the
BBC television comedy series
Ripping Yarns as The School Bully in “Tomkinson’s Schooldays”;he also appeared in
I, Claudius (1976, as
Drusus), and guest-starred in 6 episodes of
Murder, She Wrote and 4 episodes of
Diagnosis Murder. He appeared as Edgar Linton in a film version of
Wuthering Heights (1970) and as Owen Gereth in BBC dramatisation of
The Spoils of Poynton (also 1970). In the 1990s, he guest-starred in the American television series
Babylon 5, in the episode "
In the Kingdom of the Blind" (1998). The series' star,
Bruce Boxleitner, is the former husband of Ogilvy's second wife, actress Kathryn Holcomb. In 2000 he guest starred in
Dharma & Greg, season 3 episode 15, "The Trouble with Troubadours", as the sarcastic British hotel night manager. Appeared in a episode of Call My Bluff on 13/05/1977, the panel game of word definitions and deceptions. He was the subject of
This Is Your Life in 1979 when he was surprised by
Eamonn Andrews.
Writing career Ogilvy is also a playwright and novelist, currently working on a series of children's books:
Measle and the Wrathmonk,
Measle and the Dragodon,
Measle and the Mallockee,
Measle and the Slitherghoul, and
Measle and the Doompit. The books have been translated into at least 15 languages. He has written and published two novels –
Loose Chippings and
The Polkerton Giant – and two plays:
A Slight Hangover and
Swap!, which ran in
Poland in its third successful year. His memoir,
Once a Saint, was published by Little Brown/Constable, in May 2016. His book of film reviews,
Withering Slights, based on his
Facebook page, was published by
Spiteful Puppet in 2020. ==Personal life==