Charles Edward Underdown (3 December 1908 – 15 December 1989) was an English theatre, cinema and television actor. He was born in London and educated at Eton College in Berkshire.

Early theatre credits include: Words and Music, Nymph Errant, Stop Press and Streamline.

His film credits include: They Were Not Divided, Beat the Devil, Wings of the Morning, The Rainbow Jacket, The Woman's Angle, Her Panelled Door, The Camp on Blood Island, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Thunderball, Khartoum, The Magic Christian and Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World.

Television appearances include: Dad's Army, Danger Man, The Saint, The Avengers, The Rat Catchers, Weavers Green, Man in a Suitcase, Doomwatch, The Regiment, Colditz, Upstairs, Downstairs, Survivors, The Duchess of Duke Street and Doctor Who (in the serial Meglos).

Both Wings of the Morning and The Rainbow Jacket were set in his beloved racing world, the former being set on Epsom Downs. Wings of the Morning, starring Henry Fonda, was Britain's first Technicolor film.

Edward Underdown was also a gentleman jockey and rode with great aplomb both on the flat and over sticks (see references to his riding career in John Hislop's books).

In 1950 he was voted by British exhibitors as the most promising male newcomer in the country.

Biography

Edward Underdown was born on 3 December 1908 in London.

Underdown was the son of Harry Charles Baillie Underdown and Rachel Elizabeth Orr. He married Hon. Rosemary Sybella Violet Grimston, daughter of Robert Grimston, 1st Baron Grimston of Westbury and Sybil Rose Neumann, on 10 February 1953. Charles Underdown and Rosemary Grimston are sixth cousins through their common grandparents Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon and Lady Charlotte Capell.

He died on 15 December 1989 in Hampshire aged 81.