02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Obituary: P.H. Moriarty, actor
P.H. Moriarty attends a drinks reception celebrating the new co-production agreement between Anchor Bay Films and Richwater Films at The Groucho Club on September 26, 2013 in London, England.
Boxer and docker turned actor, P.H. (Paul) Moriarty always said the camera was good to him. A Londoner, he was discovered by a film crew filming at the dock where he worked.
Having followed the producer's suggestion he try acting, Moriarty made his film debut in Quadrophenia, the 1979 drama based on The Who's rock opera of the same name. Moriarty often portrayed violent characters, perhaps most famously, Hatchet Harry in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Razors in Long Good Friday — both characters were named after their preferred weapons. Moriarty also appeared in Jaws 3 and Patriot Games, as well as several television dramas.
P. H. Moriarty died on February 2 aged 86. — APL/agencies