Rest In Peace - Legends of British Comedy
A list of some of my favourite British Comedy actors, who have passed on. Whilst they no longer occupy the land of the living, their artistic brilliance and sheer force of talent will go on for aeons.
This list is a work in progress and is currently in the initial stages. Last Updated April 27th 2019.
This list is a work in progress and is currently in the initial stages. Last Updated April 27th 2019.
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- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Peter started off as a junior bank clerk but he had always been interested in the theatre and went every week to the Intimate Theatre in Palmers Green in London which was run by actor John Clements. Serving in the RAF as a radio instructor one of his pupils was Peter Bridge (now a theatre impresario) who later asked him to play David Bliss in his production of 'Hay Fever', He enjoyed the experience so much that he decided to make the theatre his profession.- Actor
- Writer
- Music Department
This English actor was born of humble, working class beginnings and became well-known for playing the same kind of blokes on both film and TV. Born William Rowbotham, he was the son of a tram driver and laundress. He knew early on that entertaining was the life for him. He worked in odd jobs as a printer's apprentice and band vocalist to make do and, when he became of legal age, started playing drums in London nightclubs and toured music halls with his own cabaret act to pay for acting classes. He entertained at Butlin's holiday camps and performed in repertory, joining the Unity Theatre where he attained respect as a stage producer. His career was interrupted by military service with the Royal Army Ordinance Corps and was injured in an explosion during battle training course.
Returning to acting, he was taken to post-war films after notice in a play. He started making a blue-collar character name for himself in such films as Johnny in the Clouds (1945), Secret Flight (1946), When the Bough Breaks (1947), Maniacs on Wheels (1949), The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), The Square Ring (1953) and PT Raiders (1955). He continued to perform in the theatre limelight and peaked in roles with Katharine Hepburn in "As You Like It" in 1950, and with "The Threepenny Opera" and "The Mikado", which made sturdy use of his musical talents. A writer at heart, he penned songs, musicals and plays over the years. Partnered with Mike Sammes, he wrote songs recorded by Pat Boone, Harry Secombe, Engelbert Humperdinck, and Sir Cliff Richard, who made a hit of his 1980 song "Marianne". In the 60s, he produced the stage musical, "The Matchgirl", and focused heavily on film slapstick with the "Carry On" series, adding also to the lowbrow fun found in the comedy On the Fiddle (1961). TV stardom and a sense of renewed career came late after landing the role of "Compo" in the BBC's Last of the Summer Wine (1973) series in 1973, his scruffy, mischievous charm endearing audiences for decades.
Bill was awarded the MBE in 1976 for his steadfast work for the National Association of Boys Clubs and for his role as chairman of the Performing Arts Advising Panel. He was also awarded an honorary degree by Bradford University in 1998. For the rest of his life, Bill would be identified with the lovable scamp "Compo", complete with woolly hat and threadbare jacket.
Most fittingly, when he died of pancreatic cancer in 1999, he asked to be buried in the Yorkshire village of Holmfirth, where the TV series was filmed and the townspeople had taken him close to their hearts. Married twice, his actor/son Tom Owen joined the "Last of the Summer Wine" series in 2000.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Geoffrey began his extensive stage career at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool. He then appeared in several West End productions, such as Say Goodnight to Grandma and Run for Your Wife. He appeared in numerous TV shows, including Coronation Street (1960) and Keeping Up Appearances (1990), where he played the slob Onslow. When not acting, Geoffrey enjoyed sailing, cricket, and music. He died on the Isle of Wight- Yootha Joyce was born on 20 August 1927 in Wandsworth, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Having a Wild Weekend (1965), Man About the House (1973) and George and Mildred (1980). She was married to Glynn Edwards. She died on 24 August 1980 in Westminster, London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Brian Wilde was born on 13 June 1927 in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Doing Time (1979), Last of the Summer Wine (1973) and Porridge (1974). He was married to Eva Stuart. He died on 20 March 2008 in Ware, Hertfordshire, England, UK.- In a career than spanned eight decades, Thora Hird was widely-regarded as one of Britain's finest character actresses. She made over 100 films as well as starring in a host of TV comedies and, as a straight actress, excelled in the works of playwright Alan Bennett. Even in her 90s, she was working almost daily.
Born in Morecambe, Lancashire, the daughter of the manager of the local Royalty Theatre, she was carried on to the stage in a melodrama at the age of eight weeks. When old enough, she joined the Royalty's theatre company, although she kept a day job as a cashier in a grocery store. "I spent 10 years working in that grocery store", she recalled, "and I've played nearly all the customers I used to serve - maids, landladies, cleaners, forthright parents. When I'm acting, I'll do some little thing I've remembered, so simple". At the theatre, she appeared in over 500 plays and, in 1941, the comedian George Formby, on a visit to the theatre, recommended her to Michael Balcon at Ealing Film Studios. Put under contract, she first appeared in Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942) with Will Hay and a string of comedy films and dramas followed. In the same vein as the saucy seaside postcards of her Morecambe birth, Hird was usually cast as the all-seeing boarding house landlady, a gossiping neighbour or a sharp tongued mother-in-law.
In the 1950s, Hird was under contract to the Rank Organisation and was established as a major character actress. She worked with some of Britain's finest directors, including Herbert Wilcox, Lewis Gilbert and John Schlesinger but, by her own account, was not easily awed. "I've appeared in hundreds of films and television things and, in some cases, I literally mean 'appeared' around the door, that was all. Like anybody earning a living, I took most of the work that came along". She gave outstanding performances in Simon and Laura (1955) and The Entertainer (1960), opposite Laurence Olivier, but one of her best- remembered roles was that of the monstrous TV-addicted mother in A Kind of Loving (1962).
As her career progressed, she frequently returned to the stage, often in comedies, with comedians such as Arthur Askey and Harry Secombe, and, in 1964, she was memorably team with the comedian Freddie Frinton in the TV series, Meet the Wife (1963). She starred in a succession of hit TV comedies throughout the 70s and 80s but proof of her talent as a straight actress came in 1987, when she starred in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologue, A Creamcracker under the Settee for which she won a BAFTA award. She wrote several volumes of autobiography, including "Scene and Hird" and "Not in the Diary" and, in 1995, was the subject of a South Bank Show (ITV) monograph. One of the show's contributors, the actor Alan Bates, said of her, "Thora always had a grasp of her character immediately. She didn't have to work herself into a state to get it right. She is a naturally funny woman whose comedy is on the edge of tragedy. It's instinctive and very understanding of life itself". - Actress
- Editor
- Soundtrack
Mary Millar had a very successful stage career in the West End. She began singing arias at the age of fourteen. Her London stage debut was in the 1962 production "Lock Up Your Daughters". She was in the original cast of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, "The Phantom of the Opera", and can be heard on the cast recording performing the role of "Madame Giry". Her final performance was in 1996 as Mrs. Potts in the West End production of "Beauty and the Beast".- Shirley Stelfox was born on 11 April 1941 in Dukinfield, Cheshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for 1984 (1984), Emmerdale Farm (1972) and Making Out (1989). She was married to Don Henderson and Keith Edmundson. She died on 7 December 2015 in Nottinghamshire, England, UK.
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Ronnie Corbett began his successful show business career in the early 1950s. Amongst many other things he performed on stage with Danny La Rue in a cacophony of well received variety and cabaret shows.
It was whilst performing in these shows that Corbett attracted the attention of several top TV producers and executives who were impressed with his abilities as a stand up comedian, compare and all round entertainer.
Before too long Corbett found himself being offered roles in various sitcoms, films and family shows.
His varied film roles include "Polo" in the spoof Bond film Casino Royale (1967), "Drooby" in Mad Little Island (1958) and finally the hapless "Chumleigh" in Fun at St Fanny's (1955).
On television he provided light hearted comedy in Crackerjack! (1955) for many years.
His big break came during the 1960s when he was asked to join the cast of the hugely popular The Frost Report (1966) which included the likes of John Cleese and of course David Frost.
The show also saw him performing alongside Ronnie Barker for the very first time. All aspects of "The Frost Report" were very funny but some of the most enjoyable involved Barker and Corbett who shared a rare comic chemistry between each other.
TV producers recognized this chemistry and there were talks of giving the pair their own comedy series.
Corbett had numerous projects in the late sixties including the enjoyable The Corbett Follies (1969) and No - That's Me Over Here! (1967). Then in 1971 Barker asked him to star in the comedy sketch series The Ronnie Barker Yearbook (1971).
The rest is history - the Two Ronnies had arrived together - it was simply comic genius, Barker and Corbett were made for each other, a pairing that was just destined to be. Later on that year The Two Ronnies (1971) show was born on BBC 1 and remained incredibly popular well into the late eighties when Barker sadly announced his retirement from television.
There is no doubt that Ronnie Barker is the best comedy actor of his generation, but over the years many critics have unfairly overlooked the brilliant talents of Corbett - he is a fantastically versatile comedy actor in his own right. He was an equal part in the relationship - put simply he complemented Barker and Barker complemented him.
As well as being a wonderful comedy actor Corbett is also an accomplished after dinner speaker and of course a very very funny stand up comedian. During the filming of the "Two Ronnies" Corbett found time to branch off into a whole host of other projects as did Ronnie Barker.
First there were his own shows such as The Saturday Special: All This and Ronnie Corbett Too (1975), The Prince of Denmark (1974) and The Ronnie Corbett Special (1979). Then came his excellent sitcom Sorry! (1981) which ran for over seven years. There were also films such as No Sex Please - We're British (1973).
Ronnie Corbett has enjoyed continued success in both film and television. He starred alongside old friend John Cleese, and Jamie Lee Curtis in the film Timbuctoo (1998), has done numerous pantomimes with Frank Skinner and Paul Merton and is one of the stars in The All Star Comedy Show (2004) with Steve Coogan, Vic Reeves, Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
In 2005 Corbett reunited with Barker to present a special six part series looking back at their favorite moments from the "Two Ronnies".
Corbett is a charismatic and extremely likable man - there is absolutely no doubt that he will be fondly remembered by millions of people as being not only half of one of the most successful comedy duos of all time, but also as a truly brilliant entertainer.- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Inman was born on 28 June 1935 in Preston, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Are You Being Served? (1972), Are You Being Served? (1977) and Odd Man Out (1977). He was married to Ron Lynch. He died on 8 March 2007 in Paddington, London, England, UK.