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Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908-24 June 1985) was an English character actor, the son of veteran actor Franklin Dyall, who was especially popular as a voice actor. He was known for many years as "The Man in Black", narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear.
Dyall also made guest appearances in several episodes of The Goon Show, parodying his familiar radio persona.
He appeared in Robert Wise's 1963 film The Haunting as the sinister caretaker of the haunted Hill House.
He voiced the character of evil mastermind Dr. Noah in the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale.
He later appeared in the radio version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy playing Gargravarr (appropriately, a disembodied voice), and on the television and LP versions, where he played the voice of the computer Deep Thought.
He portrayed the Black Guardian in several Doctor Who serials, and also voiced a major role in the Doctor Who radio serial Slipback. He also played Norl in the episode "City at the Edge of the World" in the series Blake's 7.
Dyall also made regular appearances in all three seasons of the series Secret Army as Dr. Pascal Keldermans.
In his early career, he appeared in one movie with his father, the spy thriller Yellow Canary, which starred Anna Neagle and Richard Greene. His part was that of a German U-boat commander attempting to kidnap a British agent from a ship in the Atlantic, Franklin Dyall playing the ship's captain.
Dyall's last role, in the year of his death, was as Marcade in Love's Labour's Lost, in the BBC Television Shakespeare.
He could have been described as the "British Vincent Price (I)". This distinguished actor was probably best known for his voice work. His low, resonant and mellifluous tones were employed to chill and excite for at least half a century. His most famous radio role was as "The Man In Black", back in the late 1940s, but he was making radio appearances as late as 1980 in "The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy", and undoubtedly later, and was in the BBC Television Shakespeare in the year of his death, at 77.







