Died: 28th November 1993 in London, from cancer.
Age: 77
Number of Carry On Films: 17
Number of Carry On TV appearances: 17
Number of Carry On Stage productions: 2
**Made his last TV appearance 2 days before he died.
**His son, Jeremy, appeared in 4 Carry Ons – Nurse (aged 3), Dick, Behind and England.
**Married to Margaret.
**Was awarded the MBE in 1991 for services to entertainment.
**Played the undertaker M. Alphonse in ‘Allo, ‘Allo!
**Played Uncle Sammy in Hi-De-Hi!
**Height: 5' 5"
**Trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama - he was a gold medalist in his final year.
**Was a Gunner during the war, after Dunkirk he toured with Stars in Battledress
**Joined the Bristol Old Vic after the war.
**Concentrated on his West End stage career during the 1960s.
He appeared in these shows throughout his childhood both by himself and in a double act with his brother. From the age of 13 he attended a drama school in Portsmouth. By this time his father had left the navy and was running a bar.
In 1933 he won a place at Elsie Fogerty’s drama school (later the Central School of Speech and Drama) in London, and attended there whilst working in his father bar in his spare time. He was a gold medallist in his final year and played over ninety parts during his time there.
His first professional stage role after leaving drama school was in 1936 in JM Barrie’s The Boy David and his first film role came three years later with a small part in the film The Poison Pen. He was a member of the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
Unfortunately the war intervened in his acting career and in 1939 he joined the army as a gunner in the Middlesex Regiment and fought over in France until he was evacuated at Dunkirk. He then joined Stars in Battledress and toured the war zones, including Italy and Cairo with various stage shows.
It was in Cairo at the end of the war whilst waiting for demob (leaving the army) that he received telegram from William Devlin (a wartime friend) asking him to join the new Bristol Old Vic. He spent three years there, and always said the period was one of the most satisfying of his career.
He continued to make a name for himself on stage and also on radio, including Ray’s A Laugh among others. He became known for his ability in voice characterisation.
In 1957 he made his first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant (first one in the series, released 1958). His association with the Carry On films lead to more film roles, such as Watch Your Stern, What a Carve Up!, Nearly a Nasty Accident and the Dentist films with Bob Monkhouse (Dentist in the Chair and Dentist on the Job). It also lead to more stage roles and he left the Carry On series (after Carry On Cleo) in 1964 to concentrate on his West End stage career. Among the roles his played was the part of Hysterium in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum (1963 – 1965). He returned to the Carry On films in 1970 (Carry On Up the Jungle).
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he carried on making appearances on stage, television and film and in the 80s found new fame as the undertaker in ‘Allo, ‘Allo! and Uncle Sammy, the children’s entertainer in Hi-De-Hi!. He also made a return to more serious roles, including the part of Mr Warren in an episode of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (The Red Circle), which was screened in 1994.
He died 28th November 1993 after a short fight against cancer. His last TV appearance was on Noel Edmond’s Telly Addicts, just two days before he died.
