Simon Charles Pendered MacCorkindale[1] (12 February 1952 – 14 October 2010) was a British actor, film director, writer, and producer from Ely, England.

He went on to appear in numerous roles in television, including the series I, Claudius and Jesus of Nazareth, before starring as Simon Doyle in the film Death on the Nile (1978).

He returned to the United Kingdom in 2002 and joined the cast of the BBC medical drama Casualty, appearing in the role of Harry Harper for six years until 2008.

[2][7] MacCorkindale had been a fan of theatre since writing a play at the age of eight, joking that it was "unproduceable" because "it required an enormous cast and a considerable amount of rum drinking.

"[4] Making his acting debut at the same age, he went on to appear on stage and work behind the scenes of numerous school and theatre group productions throughout his childhood.

[8] Persuading his parents that he would find a "sensible job" if a career as a director was not sustaining him financially by the age of 25, MacCorkindale decided not to study at university and instead attended the Studio 68 drama school at the Theatre of Arts in London.

He made his West End theatre debut in a production of Pygmalion in 1974, appearing alongside Alec McCowen and Diana Rigg in the role of "Sarcastic Bystander".

[9][10] MacCorkindale played astronomer Joe Kapp in Nigel Kneale's TV serial Quatermass (1979), starring alongside John Mills.

Although warned that it would limit his chance of finding work, MacCorkindale refused to adopt an American accent when auditioning, believing that his British diction would help fill a "niche".

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) told MacCorkindale that he was not an "eight o'clock actor", which he took to mean that "at that time of night they didn't want viewers watching someone who sounded intellectual or who had an accent that was alien to their ears and, therefore, hard work when it came to listening.

[2][7] He was eventually cast in the adventure series Manimal for NBC in 1983, in which he played the lead character Professor Jonathan Chase, an Englishman who assists police in the fight against crime with his ability to transform into animals.

[7][13] In 1984, he was cast as Angela Channing's (Jane Wyman) lawyer Greg Reardon in the soap opera Falcon Crest, without requiring an audition.

"[13] From 1990 to 1993, MacCorkindale played former Scotland Yard inspector Peter Sinclair in the Toronto-filmed USA Network series Counterstrike, alongside Christopher Plummer.

"[16] Following Counterstrike, MacCorkindale appeared in the final episode of the TV drama E.N.G., whereafter his "media tycoon" character was planned to be the star of a spin-off alongside actress Sara Botsford, but the project was abandoned.

[13][17] Having rejected an offer to play Captain Jonathan Archer in the American science-fiction TV series Star Trek: Enterprise,[18] MacCorkindale returned to the UK in 2002 and joined the cast of the BBC One medical drama Casualty, in the role of clinical lead consultant Harry Harper.

MacCorkindale was surprised to be offered the role of Harper given the many years that he had spent working in North America, but having settled in Exmoor found Bristol to be an accessible production base.

He then returned to Casualty, but having re-discovered his taste for theatre, left the series permanently in 2008 to appear as Andrew Wyke in a UK tour of Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth.

In August 2008, he replaced Simon Burke as Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp in the London Palladium production of The Sound of Music, remaining with the show until its closure in February 2009.

[9] MacCorkindale and George purchased the rights to each project because they wished to "make the pictures that we just totally and literally believe in", regardless of their commercial success.

[13] MacCorkindale then wrote the screenplay for a biographical film of the missing peer Lord Lucan, which he also planned to produce and act in, although financial problems resulted in the cancellation of the project in 1996.

Following his divorce from Fullerton, MacCorkindale began a relationship with actress Susan George, whom he had first met in 1977; they married secretly in Fiji on 5 October 1984[34] and later held a second ceremony with family and friends in Berkshire, England.