Updated 16th October 2002

Henry Wilks
(1972-1991)

Arthur Pentelow


Henry Wilks was born in 1921
Died: 3 October 1991 aged 69
Father of Marian

IMDB entry: Arthur Pentelow

She Wolf's Profile (please check out her excellent site):

Henry Wilks moved to the village, after retiring from a life of commerce. But the business side of him never completely went. He not only bought the freehold of Emmerdale farm, allowing the ailing farm to be turned into a thriving business. But also the freehold of Woolpack along with Amos when the brewery wanted to sell. In his spare time Henry served as both churchwarden and parish councillor. He moved into a room at the Woolpack and worked alongside Amos. Who had been behind the bar since the end of the second world war. The partnership ended after Amos decided to retire to Spain in 1991. Alan Turner took over .But things were never the same for Henry. Who died of a heart attack that same year.


Henry Wilks fancard

A Huge Big Thank you to Paul Berridge who has made various profiles and photos availabe to me. They were previously on his Beckindale site (that is no more). The folowing is one of those profiles - although the coloured boxes have been added.

A much respected and loved actor, for almost 20 years Arthur Pentelow played businessman Henry Wilks, who brought his financial acumen to a rural community by becoming a director of Emmerdale Farm - when it switched to being a limited company - and joint owner with Amos Brearly of The Woolpack pub. Henry was the former Bradford wool merchant who had made his money and sought early retirement in Beckindale after the death of his wife, He moved into Inglebrook farm with his daughter Marian, then became a pillar of the community.
Arthur, born in Rochdale, Lancashire, in 1924, had made several switches in career himself after starting out as a cadet clerk in the local police force. He served in the Royal Navy and did radar work in Normandy during the Second World War; then he became a student teacher and acted as an amateur with the Curtain Theatre Company in Rochdale.
Arthur had fallen in love with drama while studying Shakespeare at grammar school and decided to follow acting as a career by joining the new Bradford Civic Playhouse Theatre School, under the tuition of Esme Curch.
Between jobs selling ice-cream and sliced bread, and taking people's washing to the laundry, he worked in repertory theatre at the Bristol Old Vic, Guildford and Northampton, before joining the company at Birmingham, where his contemporaries included Derek Jacobi, lan Richardson, Albert Finney, Rosemary Leach and Julie Christie. He also appeared on stage in Orson Welles's celebrated 1951 West End production of Othello.
Arthur was seen on screen in the films Charlie Bubbles, Privilege and The Peace Game, and on television in Z Cars, Emergency - Ward 10, Budgie, 'Armchair Theatre', The Troubleshooters, Hadleigh and 'Play for Today'.
Before he joined Emmerdale Farm, when it began in 1972, he had already appeared in three other serials - Compact, as Langley, United!, as the football supporters' club chairman, and Coronation Street, as both Mr Hopwood, who taught Emily Bishop to drive, and park-keeper George Greenwood, who struck up a friendship with Hilda Ogden.
Away from the studios, Arthur enjoyed walking and bird-spotting - like his screen alter ego, he had an interest in the environment. The two also shared the habit of smoking a pipe, something the actor particularly enjoyed while doing The Times crossword during breaks in rehearsals.
He and wife jacqueline met when they were both studying acting with Esme Church, but she left the theatre to follow a career in sculpture and pottery, later becoming a teacher. They had two sons, Nicholas - a musician, who played saxophone with Chas and Dave - and Simon, a freelance photographer. Arthur died suddenly of a heart attack in 1991, at the age of 67.

Taken from the emmerdale companion by Anthony Hayward

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