This tall, lithe Scottish actor won international recognition as Olympic hopeful Eric Lidell, the Presbyterian missionary who refused to compete on the Sabbath, in Hugh Hudson's Oscar-winning "Chariots of Fire" (1981). Although he only appeared in a handful of films, Ian Charleson had a distinguished stage career for close to two decades before his untimely death from AIDS complications in 1990.The red-haired Edinburgh native began his career as a child performer in local productions, but it wasn't until 1972 that he burst onto the London scene with an acclaimed portrayal of Jimmy Porter in a
