Derren Nesbitt is a British actor. Nesbitt's film career began in the late 1950s and he also appeared in numerous TV series in the late 1960s into the 1970s. He is well-remembered for his role as Major von Hapen in the 1968 filmWhere Eagles Dare.
Acting career
Nesbitt's many television credits date back to the 1950s, including roles in The Invisible Man, Man of the World, Danger Man, The Prisoner, Doctor Who, UFO, The Saint and Special Branch. He has also appeared in memorable roles in a number of movies, such as a predatory blackmailer of gay men in Victim, a murderous pimp in The Informers, a slimy assassin in Nobody Runs Forever, and the suspicious Gestapo officer in Where Eagles Dare. Nesbitt was keen to be as authentic as possible with his character in Where Eagles Dare. Whilst on location, he requested to meet a former member of the Gestapo to better understand how to play the character and to get the military regalia correct. He was injured on set whilst filming the scene in which his character is killed. The blood squib attached to Nesbitt exploded with such force that he was temporarily blinded, though he made a quick recovery. In 2018, Nesbitt played the leading role, as a drag queen, in a British independent film, Tucked.
Personal life
Nesbitt has been married four times and has five children from his various marriages. In 1961 he married his first wife, the actressAnne Aubrey, and they had a daughter the next year. On 25 January 1973 he was fined £250 when he pleaded guilty to two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in October the previous year. He thrashed her with a leather strap after she told him that she was having an affair with another man. He also bruised her by grabbing her clothing the next day when she refused to tell him details about her lover. She divorced him a few months later. His third wife was an Australian beauty queen, and for a time he moved to her country. As of 2014, he lives in Worthing, West Sussex, with his fourth wife, Miranda.
