Gerry Sundquist

Sundquist was born in Manchester.

He appeared in various film & television roles during the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably Soldier & Me, The Mallens and The Siege of Golden Hill, with guest appearances on shows such as Space: 1999 alongside Martin Landau and fellow guest star Patrick Troughton (episode "The Dorcons"). He appeared as Alan Strang in Equus at the Albery theatre in the mid-1970s.

His films included The Black Panther (1977), Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979), Passion Flower Hotel (1978), aka Boarding School, playing Fibs alongside Nastassja Kinski, whom he dated for a while, and the 1979 British disco film The Music Machine. He had a part in Youssef Chahine's acclaimed Alexandria... Why? (1978, Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear winner). He played Pip in Great Expectations (1981) and Gringoire in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982), and appeared to have a promising career, but after his appearances in The Last Days of Pompeii (1984) and the horror film Don't Open Till Christmas (1984), his career and personal life went into steep decline, with him later developing a drug problem. He played a character role in an episode of the TV police serial The Bill in 1992, his first acting role in eight years.

In 1993, Sundquist committed suicide by jumping under a train at Norbiton railway station.

Gerry's brother, Geoffrey, later wrote the children's book Father Christmas and the Missing Reindeer, which was dedicated to Gerry. It was later made into an animated short film, with David Jason among the voice actors.

• Tragedy Behind a Magical Fantasy Daily Mirror interview with Geoffrey Sundquist, Nov 27 1997. Retrieved from The Free Library, 10 January 2012.
• IMDB biography

• Gerry Sundquist at IMDb