Denys Vernon Hawthorne (9 August 1932 – 16 October 2009) was an actor from Northern Ireland who was known for his work in theatre, film, television and radio.
Denys Hawthorne was born into an upper middle-class Protestant family in Portadown, County Armagh in 1932; his father had a linen business.
He studied law at Queen's University Belfast, and afterwards joined the Ulster Group Theatre; other actors in the company included Patrick Magee, James Ellis, Stephen Boyd and Colin Blakely.
He appeared as Mr Starling, the first-ever headteacher, in Grange Hill (1978), the Doctor Who adventure Terror of the Vervoids (1986), in Capital City (1989–1990), in the BBC drama Dangerfield (1995) and in the Father Ted episode Tentacles of Doom (1996).
[1] Among several official recognitions, Denys Hawthorne was awarded a Society of Authors' prize for his dramatization of Jennifer Johnston's novel How Many Miles to Babylon?