Tony AnholtLONDON--Anthony "Tony" Anholt, the handsome stage, TV and film actor best-known to his fellow Britons for his role as the smarmy tycoon Charles Frere in the British primetime soap "Howard's Way," died here July 26 of a brain tumor. He was 61. He is best known to MSTies as oft-abducted first officer Tony Verdeschi in the TV series "Space 1999," two episodes of which were featured in episode K10- COSMIC PRINCESS. Anholt was born in Singapore in 1941, and never knew his father. When the island fell to the Japanese shortly after he was born, his father, a Dutch-born insurance salesman, was captured and eventually died as a forced laborer in Malaysia. His mother brought him to England and after finishing school he went through a series of jobs: He taught English in Paris and Spain, worked for a toy company and even sold insurance at his father's old firm. He finally turned to acting at age 26, working in TV commercials and rural repertory companies, and eventually making his West End debut in "The Boys in the Band" in 1969. Anholt was soon a regular on the West End stage, in productions including "The Tempest," "The Importance of Being Ernest," "Sleuth," "My Fair Lady," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," Amadeus" and "Whose Life is it Anyway?" In addition, for many years was an announcer on the BBC's World Service. He also appeared in numerous British television series, including spy thriller "The Protectors," (starring Robert Vaughn) and "Space 1999." Anholt joined the series for its controversial second season, when the grim but serious-minded plots of the first season were abandoned for a more whimsical tone derided by some fans and appreciated by others. "It's the happiest unit I've ever worked on," he once noted about his work on "Space 1999." "I think some scripts on 1999 worked...but some were just awful. But on the whole I think it was a very well made series." Most recently, he appeared in several episodes of the cult TV series "Lexx." Anholt married Sheila Wallet in 1964; their son Christien is now an actor in his own right (he co-stars in the series "Relic Hunter"). The couple split in 1986 when the British tabloids began running articles about his affair with "Howard's Way" co-star Tracey Childs. Anholt and Childs married in 1990 and divorced in 1998. Both Anholt's ex-wives were reportedly by his bedside when he passed away. 
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