Mark McManus (21 February 1935 – 6 June 1994) was a Scottish actor known for his roles in the British television seriesSam,Bulman,The Brothers,Strangers, andDramarama and the feature film2000 Weeks. He was best known for playing the toughGlaswegianDetective Chief InspectorJim Taggart in the long-runningSTV television seriesTaggart from 1983 until his death in 1994.

McManus was born inHamilton, Scotland, and moved toHillingdon in London, England when he was three years old, until he moved again at the age of 16 to Australia, where he performed in amateur theatre groups that led him to becoming a professional actor. He appeared in the children's TV seriesSkippy the Bush Kangaroo and had a guest appearance in the long-running Australian police dramaHomicide. He also starred inTim Burstall's feature film2000 Weeks (1969), which was the first full-length Australian-produced feature made in Australia sinceCharles Chauvel'sJedda in 1954.

McManus also appeared in the American-produced historical dramaAdam's Woman and co-starred withMick Jagger in theTony Richardson film version of theNed Kelly story,Ned Kelly (both 1970).

McManus returned to the UK in 1971, and was known to a wider audience when he played roles such as Harry Carter inThe Brothers and Sam Wilson, a coal miner in the 1973 TV seriesSam. McManus appeared oppositePeter O'Toole in the 1976 TV movieRogue Male, and starred as a dour Scots police officer, Jack Lambie, inStrangers, a role he reprised as a guest star in the spin-off,Bulman.^[1] McManus also had roles in productions at theNational Theatre and theRoyal Court Theatre.^[2]

McManus was also a boxer before he moved into acting.^[3][2] He is not to be confused with the boxer of the same name (born 1974) fromBasildon in England.

McManus began playing the title character in the crime dramaTaggart in September 1983, alongsideNeil Duncan,Tom Watson andRobert Robertson. Thepilot attracted an estimated 7.6 million viewers. When Duncan left the show in 1987,James MacPherson joined as new character Michael Jardine, immediately promoted to replace Duncan's character as detective sergeant. This was preceded by the arrival of a newsuperintendent, Jack McVitie, in the 1985 episode "Murder In Season". A new female detective constable, Jackie Reid (portrayed byBlythe Duff), was introduced in 1990 and, in "Secrets" (1994), Taggart promoted her to detective sergeant.

McManus drank heavily and, after several years of declining health, died from an alcohol-related illness.^[4] He was hospitalised with severejaundice in May 1994,^[5] and died inGlasgow ofpneumonia brought on byliver failure,^[6] on 6 June 1994, aged 59, eight months after the death of his second wife Marion. In the last two years of his life McManus had also lost his mother, his brother and his two sisters.^[2] The actor was the first person to be posthumously awarded theLord Provost of Glasgow's Award for Performing Arts.^[7]

McManus's final Taggart episode was "Hellfire" (Season 11 Episode 1). After his death, his character was given an on-air funeral in the final episode of the 11th season, "Black Orchid".

The McManus family adoptedBrian Connolly, later of 1970sglam rock bandthe Sweet; the brothers perceived a resemblance between them, and supposed they shared a father.^[8]

• No Matter What They Say - The Story of Sweet (HomeSweetHome Publishing, 2009).

• Mark McManus atIMDb
• Taggart Fan ClubArchived 26 July 2011 at theWayback Machine

• 1935 births
• 1994 deaths
• Scottish people of Irish descent
• Deaths from pneumonia in Scotland
• Male actors from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
• Scottish male television actors
• 20th-century Scottish male actors

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