fbpx
Wikipedia

John Le Mesurier

May 17, 2023

For other people of this name, see John Le Mesurier (disambiguation).

John Le Mesurier (/lə ˈmɛʒərə/,[1] born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 1912 – 15 November 1983) was an English actor. He is probably best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation comedy Dad's Army (1968–1977). A self-confessed "jobbing actor",[2] Le Mesurier appeared in more than 120 films across a range of genres, normally in smaller supporting parts.

Le Mesurier in 1973

Le Mesurier became interested in the stage as a young adult and enrolled at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art in 1933. From there he took a position in repertory theatre and made his stage debut in September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre in Edinburgh in the J. B. Priestley play Dangerous Corner. He later accepted an offer to work with Alec Guinness in a John Gielgud production of Hamlet. He first appeared on television in 1938 as Seigneur de Miolans in the BBC broadcast of The Marvellous History of St Bernard. During the Second World War Le Mesurier was posted to British India, as a captain with the Royal Tank Regiment. Following the war, he returned to acting and made his film debut in 1948, starring in the second feature comedy short Death in the Hand, opposite Esme Percy and Ernest Jay.

Le Mesurier had a prolific film career, appearing mostly in comedies, usually in roles portraying figures of authority such as army officers, policemen and judges. As well as Hancock's Half Hour, Le Mesurier appeared in Tony Hancock's two principal films, The Rebel and The Punch and Judy Man. In 1971, Le Mesurier received his only award: a British Academy of Film and Television Arts "Best Television Actor" award for his lead performance in Dennis Potter's television play Traitor; it was one of his few lead roles.

He took a relaxed approach to acting and felt that his parts were those of "a decent chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own making."[3] Le Mesurier was married three times, most notably to the actress Hattie Jacques. A heavy drinker of alcohol for most of his life, Le Mesurier died in 1983, aged 71, from a stomach haemorrhage, brought about as a complication of cirrhosis of the liver. After his death, critics reflected that, for an actor who normally took minor roles, the viewing public were "enormously fond of him".[4]

Biography

Early life

 
Sherborne School, Dorset, which Le Mesurier disliked intensely

Le Mesurier was born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley, in Bedford on 5 April 1912.[5] His parents were Charles Elton Halliley, a solicitor,[6] and Amy Michelle (née Le Mesurier), whose family were from Alderney in the Channel Islands;[1] both families were affluent, with histories of government service or work in the legal profession.[7][a] While John was an infant the family settled in Bury St Edmunds, in West Suffolk. He was sent to school, first to Grenham House in Kent, and later to Sherborne School in Dorset, where one of his fellow pupils was the mathematician Alan Turing.[8]

Le Mesurier disliked both schools intensely,[9] citing insensitive teaching methods and an inability to accept individualism.[10][11] He later wrote: "I resented Sherborne for its closed mind, its collective capacity for rejecting anything that did not conform to the image of manhood as portrayed in the ripping yarns of a scouting manual".[12]

From an early age Le Mesurier had been interested in acting and performing; as a child he had frequently been taken to the West End of London to watch Ralph Lynn and Tom Walls perform in the series of farces at the Aldwych Theatre. In his childhood in Bury St Edmunds, the family lived less than 300 yards from the Theatre Royal, and his autobiography records meeting actors from that theatre as his earliest childhood memory.[13] These experiences fuelled an early desire to make a career on the stage.[14][15] After leaving school he was initially persuaded to follow his father's line of work, as an articled clerk at Greene & Greene, a firm of solicitors in Bury St Edmunds; in his spare time he took part in local amateur dramatics.[14] In 1933 he decided to leave the legal profession, and in September he enrolled at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art; a fellow student was the actor Alec Guinness, with whom he became close friends.[16]

In July 1934, the studio staged their annual public revue in which both Le Mesurier and Guinness took part; among the judges for the event were John Gielgud, Leslie Henson, Alfred Hitchcock and Ivor Novello.[17] Le Mesurier received a Certificate of Fellowship, while Guinness won the Fay Compton prize.[18] After the revue, rather than remain at the studio for further tuition, Le Mesurier took an opportunity to join the Edinburgh-based Millicent Ward Repertory Players at a salary of £3.10s (£3.50) a week.[14][19]

Career

1934–1946

The Millicent Ward repertory company typically staged evening performances of three-act plays; the works changed each week, and rehearsals were held during the daytime for the following week's production.[20] Under his birth name John Halliley, Le Mesurier made his stage debut in September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre, Edinburgh in the J. B. Priestley play Dangerous Corner, along with three other newcomers to the company.[21] The reviewer for The Scotsman thought that Le Mesurier was well cast in the role.[21] Appearances in While Parents Sleep and Cavalcade were followed by a break, as problems arose with the lease of the theatre. Le Mesurier then accepted an offer to appear with Alec Guinness in a John Gielgud production of Hamlet, which began in Streatham in the spring of 1935 and later toured the English provinces. Le Mesurier understudied Anthony Quayle's role of Guildenstern, and otherwise appeared in the play as an extra.[22]

 
Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, where Le Mesurier appeared in numerous roles during 1938

In July 1935, Le Mesurier was hired by the Oldham repertory company, based at the Coliseum Theatre; his first appearance with them was in a version of the Wilson Collison play, Up in Mabel's Room; he was sacked after one week for missing a performance after oversleeping.[23][b] In September 1935, he moved to the Sheffield Repertory Theatre to appear in Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, and also played Malvolio in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Le Mesurier later commented on the slow progress of his career: "had I known it was going to take so long, I might well have given the whole thing up".[26] In 1937 he joined the Croydon Repertory Theatre, where he appeared in nine productions in 1936 and 1937. During this period Le Mesurier changed his professional name from John Halliley to John Le Mesurier; his biographer Graham McCann observes that "he never bothered, at least in public, to explain the reason for his decision".[27] Le Mesurier used his new name for the first time in the September 1937 production of Love on the Dole.[28]

Le Mesurier first appeared on television in 1938, thus becoming one of the medium's pioneering actors. His initial appearance was in a production of The Marvellous History of St Bernard in which he appeared as Seigneur de Miolans in a play adapted from a 15th-century manuscript by Henri Ghéon.[29] Alongside the television appearance, he continued to appear on stage in Edinburgh and Glasgow with the Howard and Wyndham Players, at least until late 1938 when he returned to London and re-joined Croydon Repertory Theatre.

His second spell with the troupe ended a few months later when, from May to October 1939 he appeared in Gaslight, first in London and subsequently on tour. The reviewer in The Manchester Guardian considered that Le Mesurier gave "a faultless performance", and that "the character is not overemphasised. One may praise it best by saying that Mr. Le Mesurier gives one a really uncomfortable feeling in the stomach".[30]

From November to December 1939, Le Mesurier toured Britain in a production of Goodness, How Sad,[31] during which time he met the director's daughter, June Melville, whom he married in April 1940.[32] After spending January and February 1940 in French Without Tears at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool, he returned to London where he was employed by the Brixton Theatre, appearing in a series of productions.[33] In his time in repertory, Le Mesurier took on a variety of roles across several genres; his biographer Graham McCann observed that his range included "comedies and tragedies, thrillers and fantasies, tense courtroom dramas and frenzied farces, Shakespeare and Ibsen, Sheridan and Wilde, Molière and Shaw, Congreve and Coward. The range was remarkable".[22]

In September 1940 Le Mesurier's rented home was hit by a German bomb, destroying all his possessions, including his call-up papers.[34] In the same bombing raid, the theatre in Brixton in which he was working was also hit.[35] A few days later he reported for basic training with the Royal Armoured Corps;[36] in June 1941 he was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment.[37] He served in Britain until 1943 when he was posted to British India where he spent the rest of the war.[14] Le Mesurier later claimed that he had had "a comfortable war, with captaincy thrust upon me, before I was demobbed in 1946".[38]

1946–1959

On his return to Britain, Le Mesurier returned to acting; he initially struggled for work, finding only a few minor roles.[39] In February 1948 he made his film debut in the second feature comedy short Death in the Hand,[40] which starred Esme Percy and Ernest Jay.[41] He followed this with equally small roles in the 1949 film Old Mother Riley's New Venture—where his name was misspelt on the credits as "Le Meseurier"[42][43]—and the 1950 crime film Dark Interval.[44] During the same period he also frequently appeared on stage in Birmingham.[33]

Le Mesurier undertook several roles on television in 1951, including that of Doctor Forrest in The Railway Children,[45] the blackmailer Eduardo Lucas in Sherlock Holmes: The Second Stain,[46] and Joseph in the nativity play A Time to be Born.[47] The same year Tony Hancock joined Le Mesurier's second wife, Hattie Jacques (the couple had married in 1949 following his divorce from June Melville earlier that year) in the radio series Educating Archie. Le Mesurier and Hancock became friends; they would often go for drinking sessions around Soho, where they ended up in jazz clubs.[48] After Hancock left Educating Archie in 1952 after one season, [49] the friendship continued, and Jacques joined the cast of Hancock's Half Hour during the fourth radio series in 1956.[50]

 
Terry-Thomas, alongside whom Le Mesurier appeared in Private's Progress and Carlton-Browne of the F.O.

In 1952, as well as appearing in the films Blind Man's Bluff and Mother Riley Meets the Vampire,[51] Le Mesurier also appeared as the doctor in Angry Dust at the New Torch Theatre, London. Parnell Bradbury, writing in The Times, thought Le Mesurier had played the role extraordinarily well;[52] Harold Hobson, writing in The Sunday Times, thought that "the trouble with Mr. John Le Mesurier's Dr. Weston is that he approaches the man too snarlingly ... [it is] a notion of genius that would be unacceptable anywhere outside Victorian melodrama".[53] In 1953, he had a role as a bureaucrat in the short film The Pleasure Garden, which won the Prix du Film de Fantaisie Poétique at the Cannes Film Festival in 1954.[54] After a long run of small roles in second features, his 1955 portrayal of the registrar in Roy Boulting's comedy Josephine and Men, "jerked him out of the rut", according to Philip Oakes.[24]

Following his appearance in Josephine and Men, John and Roy Boulting cast Le Mesurier as a psychiatrist in their 1956 Second World War film, Private's Progress. The cast featured many leading British actors of the time, including Ian Carmichael and Richard Attenborough.[55] Dilys Powell, reviewing for The Sunday Times, thought that the cast was "embellished" by Le Mesurier's presence, among others.[55] Later in 1956 Le Mesurier again appeared alongside Attenborough, with small roles in Jay Lewis's The Baby and the Battleship and Roy Boulting's Brothers in Law, the latter of which also featured Carmichael and Terry-Thomas.[56][57] He was also active in television, in a variety of roles in episodes of Douglas Fairbanks Presents, a series of short dramas.[58]

Le Mesurier's friendship with Tony Hancock provided a further source of work when Hancock asked him to be one of the regular supporting actors in Hancock's Half Hour, when it moved from radio to television. Le Mesurier subsequently appeared in seven episodes of the show between 1957 and 1960, and then in an episode of a follow-up series entitled Hancock.[59] In 1958 he appeared in ten films, among them Roy Boulting's comedy Happy Is the Bride,[60] about which Dilys Powell wrote in The Sunday Times: "[M]y vote for the most entertaining contributions ... goes to the two fathers, John Le Mesurier and Cecil Parker".[61] In 1959, the busiest year of his career, Le Mesurier took part in 13 films, including I'm All Right Jack,[62] which was the most successful of Le Mesurier's credited films that year;[63] he also had an uncredited role as a doctor in Ben-Hur.[64][c]

1960–1968

Le Mesurier appeared in nine films in 1960,[66][d] as well as nine television programmes, including episodes of Hancock's Half Hour, Saber of London and Danger Man.[67][e] His work the following year included a part in Peter Sellers's directorial debut Mr. Topaze, a film which failed both critically and commercially.[68] He provided the voice of Mr. Justice Byrne in a recording of excerpts from the transcript of R v Penguin Books Ltd.—the court case concerning the publication of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover—which also featured Michael Hordern and Maurice Denham. J.W. Lambert, reviewing for The Sunday Times, wrote that Le Mesurier gave "precisely the air of confident incredulity which the learned gentleman exhibited in court".[69] Later that year he played Hancock's office manager in the first of Tony Hancock's two principal film vehicles, The Rebel.[70]

 
Peter Sellers, with whom Le Mesurier appeared in several films

In 1962 he appeared in Wendy Toye's comedy film We Joined the Navy[71] before reuniting with Peter Sellers in Only Two Can Play, Sidney Gilliat's film of the novel That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis; Powell noted with pleasure "the armour of his gravity pierced by polite bewilderment".[72] She compared Le Mesurier with the well-known American straight-face comedian, John McGiver.[72] After appearing in another Sellers film in 1962—Waltz of the Toreadors—Le Mesurier joined him in the 1963 comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law.[66] Powell again reviewed the pair's film, commenting that "I thought I knew by now every shade in the acting of John Le Mesurier (not that I could ever get tired of any of them); but there seems a new shade here".[73] The same year, he appeared in a third Sellers film, The Pink Panther, as a defence lawyer,[74] and in the second and last of Tony Hancock's starring vehicles, The Punch and Judy Man. Le Mesurier played Sandman in the latter film; Powell wrote that the role "allowed a gentler and subtler character than usual".[75] He also appeared in a series of advertisements for Homepride flour in 1964, providing the voice-over for the animated character Fred the Flourgrader; he continued as the voice until 1983.[76][77]

In a change from his usual comedic roles, Le Mesurier portrayed the Reverend Jonathan Ives in Jacques Tourneur's 1965 science fiction film, City Under the Sea, before returning to comedy in Where the Spies Are, a comedy-adventure film directed by Val Guest, which starred David Niven. In 1966 Le Mesurier also played the role of Colonel Maynard in the ITV sitcom George and the Dragon, with Sid James and Peggy Mount. The programme ran to four series between 1966 and 1968, totalling 26 episodes.[78] He also took a role in four episodes of a Coronation Street spin-off series,[79] Pardon the Expression, in which he starred opposite Arthur Lowe.[80]

1968–1977

In 1968 Le Mesurier was offered a role in a new BBC situation comedy playing an upper-middle-class Sergeant Arthur Wilson in Dad's Army;[81] he was the second choice after Robert Dorning.[82] Le Mesurier was unsure about taking the part as he was finishing the final series of George and the Dragon and did not want another long-term television role.[83] He was persuaded both by an increase in his fee—to £262 10s (£262.50) per episode—and by the casting of his old friend Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones.[84] Le Mesurier was initially unsure of how to portray his character, and was advised by series writer Jimmy Perry to make the part his own.[85] Le Mesurier decided to base the character on himself, later writing that "I thought, why not just be myself, use an extension of my own personality and behave rather as I had done in the army? So I always left a button or two undone, and had the sleeve of my battle dress slightly turned up. I spoke softly, issued commands as if they were invitations (the sort not likely to be accepted) and generally assumed a benign air of helplessness".[86] Perry later observed that "we wanted Wilson to be the voice of sanity; he has become John".[87]

 
Le Mesurier (second from left) with the cast of Dad's Army, from the 1971 Christmas Special Battle of the Giants!

Nicholas de Jongh, in a tribute written after Le Mesurier's death, suggested that it was in the role of Wilson that Le Mesurier became a star.[2] His interaction with Arthur Lowe's character Captain George Mainwaring was described by The Times as "a memorable part of one of television's most popular shows".[88] Tise Vahimagi, writing for the British Film Institute's Screenonline, agreed, and commented that "it was the hesitant exchanges of one-upmanship between Le Mesurier's Wilson, a figure of delicate gentility, and Arthur Lowe's pompous, middle class platoon leader Captain Mainwaring, that added to its finest moments".[89] Le Mesurier enjoyed making the series, particularly the fortnight the cast would spend in Thetford each year filming the outside scenes.[90] The programme lasted for nine series over nine years, and covered eighty episodes, ending in 1977.[91]

During the filming of the series in 1969, Le Mesurier was flown to Venice over a series of weekends to appear in the film Midas Run, an Alf Kjellin-directed crime film that also starred Richard Crenna, Anne Heywood and Fred Astaire.[92][93] Le Mesurier became friends with Astaire during the filming and they often dined together in a local cafe while watching horse-racing on television.[94] In 1971 Norman Cohen directed a feature film of Dad's Army;[95] Le Mesurier also appeared as Wilson in a stage adaptation, which toured the UK in 1975–76.[96] Following the success of Dad's Army, Le Mesurier recorded the single "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" with "Hometown" on the reverse side (the latter with Arthur Lowe). This, and an album, Dad's Army, featuring the whole cast, was released on the Warner label in 1975.[97]

In between his performances in Dad's Army, Le Mesurier acted in films, including the role of the prison governor opposite Noël Coward in the 1969 Peter Collinson-directed The Italian Job.[98] The cinema historian Amy Sargeant likened Le Mesurier's role to the "mild demeanour" of his Sergeant Wilson character.[99] In 1970, Le Mesurier appeared in Ralph Thomas's Doctor in Trouble as the purser;[100] he also made an appearance in Vincente Minnelli's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, a romantic fantasy musical.[101]

In 1971 Le Mesurier played the lead role in Dennis Potter's television play Traitor, in which he portrayed a "boozy British aristocrat who became a spy for the Soviets";[102] his performance won him a British Academy of Film and Television Arts "Best Television Actor" award.[103] Writing for the British Film Institute, Sergio Angelini considered "Le Mesurier is utterly compelling throughout in an atypical role".[104] Chris Dunkley, writing in The Times, described the performance as "a superbly persuasive portrait, made vividly real by one of the best performances Mr Mesurier [sic] has ever given".[105] The reviewer for The Sunday Times agreed, saying that Le Mesurier, "after a lifetime supporting other actors with the strength of a pit-prop, gets the main part; he looks, sounds and feels exactly right".[106] Reviewing for The Guardian, Nancy Banks-Smith called the role "his Hamlet", and said that it was worth waiting for.[107] Although delighted to have won the award, Le Mesurier commented that the aftermath proved "something of an anticlimax. No exciting offers of work came in".[108]

Le Mesurier made a cameo appearance in Val Guest's 1972 sex comedy Au Pair Girls, and starred alongside Warren Mitchell and Dandy Nichols in Bob Kellett's The Alf Garnett Saga.[109] In 1974 he played a police inspector in a similar Val Guest comedy, Confessions of a Window Cleaner, alongside Robin Askwith and Antony Booth.[110] The following year he also narrated Bod, an animated children's programme from the BBC; there were thirteen episodes in total.[111]

1977–1983

In 1977 Le Mesurier portrayed Jacob Marley in a BBC television adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which starred Michael Hordern as Ebenezer Scrooge;[112] Sergio Angelini, writing for the British Film Institute about Le Mesurier's portrayal, considered that "although never frightening, he does exert a strong sense of melancholy, his every move and inflection seemingly tinged with regret and remorse".[112] In 1979 he portrayed Sir Gawain in Walt Disney's Unidentified Flying Oddball, directed by Russ Mayberry, and co-starring Dennis Dugan, Jim Dale and Kenneth More.[113] The film, an adaptation of Mark Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, was hailed by Time Out as "an intelligent film with a cohesive plot and an amusing script" and cited it as "one of the better Disney attempts to hop on the sci-fi bandwagon".[114] The reviewers praised the cast, particularly Kenneth More's Arthur and Le Mesurier's Gawain, which they said were "rather touchingly portrayed as friends who have grown old together".[114]

Le Mesurier played The Wise Old Bird in the 1980 BBC Radio 4 series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and appeared on the same station as Bilbo Baggins in the 1981 radio version of The Lord of the Rings.[115] In the spring of 1980 he took the role of David Bliss alongside Constance Cummings—as Judith Bliss—in a production of Noël Coward's 1920s play Hay Fever.[116][117] Writing for The Observer, Robert Cushman thought that Le Mesurier played the role with "deeply grizzled torpor",[117] while Michael Billington, reviewing for The Guardian, saw him as a "grey, gentle wisp of a man, full of half-completed gestures and seraphic smiles".[118]

He took on the role of Father Mowbray in Granada Television's 1981 adaptation of Brideshead Revisited.[119] He guest-starred in episodes of the British comedy television series The Goodies, and in an early episode of Hi-de-Hi!.[120] His final film appearance was also Peter Sellers's final cinema role, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, which was completed just months before Sellers's death in July 1980.[121]

In 1982 Le Mesurier reprised the role of Arthur Wilson for It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a radio sequel to Dad's Army, in which Wilson had become the bank manager of the Frambourne-on-Sea branch, while Arthur Lowe's character, Captain George Mainwaring, was trying to apply for a loan to renovate the local pier. The death of Lowe in April 1982 meant that only a pilot episode was recorded, and the project was suspended.[122] It was revived later that year with Lowe's role replaced by two other Dad's Army cast members: Pike, played by Ian Lavender, and Hodges, played by Bill Pertwee. A pilot and twelve episodes were subsequently recorded,[123] and broadcast in 1984.[58] Le Mesurier also teamed up with another ex-Dad's Army colleague, Clive Dunn, to record a novelty single, "There Ain't Much Change from a Pound These Days"/"After All These Years", which had been written by Le Mesurier's stepson, David Malin.[122] The single was released on KA Records in 1982.[97]

He appeared opposite Anthony Hopkins in a four-part television series, A Married Man, in March 1983, before undertaking the narration on the short film The Passionate Pilgrim, an Eric Morecambe vehicle, which was Morecambe's last film before his death.[124]

Personal life

JOHN LE MESURIER Wishes it to be known that he conked out on November 15th. He sadly misses family and friends.

Self-penned death notice in The Times, 16 November 1983[125]

In 1939, Le Mesurier accepted a role in the Robert Morley play Goodness, How Sad!, directed by June Melville—whose father Frederick owned several theatres, including the Lyceum, Prince's and Brixton.[31] Melville and Le Mesurier soon began a romance, and were married in April 1940.[32] Le Mesurier was conscripted into the army in September 1940; after his demobilisation in 1946, he discovered that his wife had become an alcoholic: "She became careless about appointments and haphazard professionally".[126] As a result, the couple separated and were divorced in 1949.[14][127]

In June 1947, Le Mesurier went with fellow actor Geoffrey Hibbert to the Players' Theatre in London, where among the performers was Hattie Jacques.[128] Le Mesurier and Jacques began to see each other regularly; Le Mesurier was still married, albeit estranged from his wife.[127] In 1949, when his divorce came through, Jacques proposed to Le Mesurier, asking him, "Don't you think it's about time we got married?".[129] The couple married in November 1949[130][131] and had two sons, Robin and Kim.[132]

Jacques began an affair in 1962 with her driver, John Schofield, who gave her the attention and support that Le Mesurier did not.[133] When Jacques decided to move Schofield into the family home, Le Mesurier moved into a separate room and tried to repair the marriage.[134] He later commented about this period: "I could have walked out, but, whatever my feelings, I loved Hattie and the children and I was certain—I had to be certain—that we could repair the damage".[135] The affair caused a downturn in his health; he collapsed on holiday in Tangier in 1963 and was hospitalised in Gibraltar.[136] He returned to London to find the situation between his wife and her lover was unchanged, which caused a relapse.[137]

During the final stages of the breakdown of his marriage, Le Mesurier met Joan Malin at the Establishment club in Soho in 1963.[138] The following year he moved out of his marital house, and that day proposed to Joan, who accepted his offer.[139] Le Mesurier allowed Jacques to bring a divorce suit on grounds of his own infidelity, to ensure that the press blamed him for the break-up, thus avoiding any negative publicity for Jacques.[140] Le Mesurier and Malin married in March 1966.[79][141] A few months after they were married, Joan began a relationship with Tony Hancock,[142] and left Le Mesurier to move in with the comedian.[143] Hancock was a self-confessed alcoholic by this time,[144] and was verbally and physically abusive to Joan during their relationship.[145]

After a year together, with Hancock's violence towards her worsening, Joan attempted suicide; she subsequently realised that she could no longer live with Hancock and returned to her husband.[146] Despite this, Le Mesurier remained friends with Hancock, calling him "a comic of true genius, capable of great warmth and generosity, but a tormented and unhappy man".[147] Without Le Mesurier's knowledge, Joan resumed her affair with Hancock and, when the comic moved to Australia in 1968, she planned to follow him if he was able to overcome his alcoholism. She abandoned these plans and remained with Le Mesurier after Hancock committed suicide on 25 June 1968.[148]

 
The grave of Le Mesurier and his son Kim at St George's Church, Ramsgate, Kent

Le Mesurier was a heavy drinker, but was never noticeably drunk.[149] In 1977 he collapsed in Australia and flew home, where he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and ordered to stop drinking.[150] Until then he had not considered himself an alcoholic; he accepted that "it was the cumulative effect over the years that had done the damage".[151] It was a year and a half before he drank alcohol again, when he avoided spirits and drank only beer.[152]

Jacques claimed that his calculated vagueness was the result of his dependence on cannabis,[153] although according to Le Mesurier the drug was not to his taste; he smoked it only during his period of abstinence from alcohol.[154] Le Mesurier's favoured pastime was visiting the jazz clubs around Soho, such as Ronnie Scott's, and he observed that "listening to artists like Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson or Alan Clare always made life seem that little bit brighter".[147]

Towards the end of his life Le Mesurier wrote his autobiography, A Jobbing Actor; the book was published in 1984, after his death.[155] Le Mesurier's health visibly declined from July 1983 when he was hospitalised for a short time after suffering a haemorrhage.[124] When the condition recurred later in the year he was taken to Ramsgate Hospital;[156] after saying to his wife, "It's all been rather lovely", he slipped into a coma[157] and died on 15 November 1983, aged 71.[158] His remains were cremated, and the ashes buried at the Church of St. George the Martyr, Church Hill, Ramsgate. His epitaph reads: "John Le Mesurier. Much loved actor. Resting."[159] His self-penned death notice in The Times of 16 November 1983 stated that he had "conked out" and that he "sadly misses family and friends".[125][157]

After Le Mesurier's death fellow comedian Eric Sykes commented: "I never heard a bad word said against him. He was one of the great drolls of our time".[160] Le Mesurier's fellow Dad's Army actor Bill Pertwee mourned the loss of his friend, saying, "It's a shattering loss. He was a great professional, very quiet but with a lovely sense of humour".[160] Director Peter Cotes, writing in The Guardian, called him one of Britain's "most accomplished screen character actors",[38] while The Times obituarist observed that he "could lend distinction to the smallest part".[88]

The Guardian reflected on Le Mesurier's popularity, observing that "No wonder so many whose lives were very different from his own came to be so enormously fond of him".[4] A memorial service was held on 16 February 1984 at the "Actors' Church", St Paul's, Covent Garden, at which Bill Pertwee gave the eulogy.[161]

Approach to acting

The character he cumulatively created will be remembered when others more famous are forgotten, not just for the skill of his playing but because he somehow embodied a symbolic British reaction to the whirlpool of the modern world—endlessly perplexed by the dizzying and incoherent pattern of events, but doing his best to ensure that resentment never showed.

—The Guardian, 16 November 1983[4]

Le Mesurier took a relaxed approach to acting, saying, "You know the way you get jobbing gardeners? Well, I'm a jobbing actor ... as long as they pay me I couldn't care less if my name is billed above or below the title".[2] Le Mesurier played a wide range of parts, and became known as "an indispensable figure in the gallery of second-rank players which were the glory of the British film industry in its more prolific days".[14] He felt his characterisations owed "a lot to my customary expression of bewildered innocence"[3] and tried to stress for many of his roles that his parts were those of "a decent chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own making".[3]

Philip French of The Observer considered that when playing a representative of bureaucracy, Le Mesurier "registered something ... complex. A feeling of exasperation, disturbance, anxiety [that] constantly lurked behind that handsome bloodhound face".[162] The impression he gave in these roles became an "inimitable brand of bewildered persistence under fire which Le Mesurier made his own".[4] The Times noted of him that although he was best known for his comedic roles, he, "could be equally effective in straight parts", as evidenced by his BAFTA-award-winning role in Traitor.[88] Director Peter Cotes agreed, adding, "he had depths unrealised through the mechanical pieces in which he generally appeared";[38] while Philip Oakes considered that, "single-handed, he has made more films watchable, even absorbing, than anyone else around".[24]

Portrayals

Le Mesurier's second and third marriages have been the subject of two BBC Four biographical films, the 2008 Hancock and Joan on Joan Le Mesurier's affair with Tony Hancock—with Le Mesurier played by Alex Jennings[163]—and the 2011 Hattie on Jacques's affair with John Schofield—with Le Mesurier played by Robert Bathurst.[164][f] In We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story, a 2015 comedy drama about the making of Dad's Army, Le Mesurier was portrayed by Julian Sands.[166] Le Mesurier was portrayed by Anton Lesser in the BBC Radio 4 drama Dear Arthur, Love John on 7 May 2012.[167]

Filmography and other works

Main article: John Le Mesurier on stage, radio, screen and record

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ On his father's side, the Halliley family had been civil servants based abroad; Elton's father, Charles Bailey Halliley, was brought up in Ceylon where his father was a senior civil servant in the Customs Department.[6] Other members of the Halliley family held high ranks in the services, or positions of power in Whitehall.[1] Amy Le Mesurier's family included the Rev. Thomas Le Mesurier, a British cleric, lawyer and polemicist; John Le Mesurier, the last hereditary governor of Alderney; and Colonel Frederick Le Mesurier, the inventor of the screw gun.[7]
  2. ^ On hearing the story later, Noël Coward told Le Mesurier "A very sensible choice of play to sleep through, dear boy".[24][25]
  3. ^ The thirteen films in which Le Mesurier appeared in 1959 were: Our Man in Havana, The Captain's Table, Operation Amsterdam, Ben-Hur, The Lady Is a Square, Jack the Ripper, The Wreck of the Mary Deare, Desert Mice, Follow a Star, Too Many Crooks, Carlton-Browne of the F.O., The Hound of the Baskervilles and I'm All Right Jack.[65][66]
  4. ^ The nine films were School for Scoundrels, The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, Never Let Go, Doctor in Love, The Bulldog Breed, The Pure Hell of St Trinian's, A Touch of Larceny, Let's Get Married and Dead Lucky.[65][66]
  5. ^ The nine television programmes were Saber of London (two episodes), Hancock's Half Hour, The Somerset Maugham Stories, Play Gems, The Adventures of William Tell, Jazz Session, Danger Man and The Third Man.[66][67]
  6. ^ Robert Bathurst was subsequently cast to play Sergeant Wilson, Le Mesurier's character in Dad's Army, when UKTV recreated the series' three missing episodes in 2019.[165]

References

  1. ^ a b c McCann 2010, p. 2.
  2. ^ a b c de Jongh, Nicholas (16 November 1983). "Dad's Army star dies". The Guardian. London. p. 1.
  3. ^ a b c Le Mesurier 1984, p. 72.
  4. ^ a b c d "The ubiquitous second row". The Guardian. London. 16 November 1983. p. 10.
  5. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 1.
  6. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 1.
  7. ^ a b McCann 2010, pp. 1–2.
  8. ^ McCann 2010, p. 33.
  9. ^ McCann 2010, p. 42.
  10. ^ McCann 2010, p. 39.
  11. ^ McCann 2010, p. 31.
  12. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 17.
  13. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 10.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Nimmo, Derek (January 2011). "Le Mesurier, John (1912–1983)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31350. Retrieved 21 August 2012. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  15. ^ McCann 2010, p. 53.
  16. ^ McCann 2010, p. 58.
  17. ^ McCann 2010, p. 61.
  18. ^ "Multiple Classified Advertising Items". The Sunday Times. London. 22 July 1934. p. 6.
  19. ^ McCann 2010, pp. 63–64.
  20. ^ McCann 2010, p. 67.
  21. ^ a b "Palladium Theatre: 'Dangerous Corner'". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 4 September 1934. p. 6.
  22. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 69.
  23. ^ McCann 2010, p. 71.
  24. ^ a b c Oakes, Philip (7 February 1971). "Worrier on the Warpath". The Sunday Times. London. p. 26.
  25. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 29.
  26. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 18.
  27. ^ McCann 2010, p. 77.
  28. ^ McCann 2010, p. 78.
  29. ^ Barry 1992, p. 190.
  30. ^ "The Prince's Theatre: 'Gas Light'". The Manchester Guardian. Manchester. 24 October 1939. p. 4.
  31. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 83.
  32. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 86.
  33. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 306.
  34. ^ McCann 2010, p. 88.
  35. ^ McCann 2010, p. 89.
  36. ^ McCann 2010, p. 90.
  37. ^ "No. 35218". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 July 1941. pp. 4055–4056.
  38. ^ a b c Cotes, Peter (16 November 1983). "The quiet man of comedy: Peter Cotes pays tribute to John Le Mesurier". The Guardian. London. p. 9.
  39. ^ McCann 2010, p. 104.
  40. ^ McCann 2010, p. 111.
  41. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  42. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  43. ^ McCann 2010, p. 112.
  44. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 21 December 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  45. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  46. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  47. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 19 January 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  48. ^ McCann 2010, p. 136.
  49. ^ Foster & Furst 1996, p. 188.
  50. ^ McCann 2010, p. 24.
  51. ^ Browning & Picart 2010, p. 127.
  52. ^ Bradbury, Parnell (17 January 1952). "New Torch Theatre". The Times. London. p. 2.
  53. ^ Hobson, Harold (20 January 1952). "Drama's Essence". The Sunday Times. London. p. 2.
  54. ^ "The Pleasure Garden". British Film Institute. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  55. ^ a b Powell, Dilys (19 February 1956). "Spellbound". The Sunday Times. London. p. 6.
  56. ^ Dimmitt 1967, p. 51.
  57. ^ Castell 1984, p. 120.
  58. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 308.
  59. ^ McCann 2010, p. 138.
  60. ^ Maltin, Anderson & Sader 2003, p. 584.
  61. ^ Powell, Dilys (23 February 1958). "A Heroine from the Crowd". The Sunday Times. London. p. 23.
  62. ^ Mayer 2003, p. 206.
  63. ^ McCann 2010, p. 130.
  64. ^ Lloyd & Robinson 1988, p. 294.
  65. ^ a b McCann 2010, pp. 310–311.
  66. ^ a b c d e . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  67. ^ a b McCann 2010, pp. 308–310.
  68. ^ "Mr Topaze". Radio Times. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  69. ^ Lambert, J. W. (28 May 1961). "Hazards of the Old Bailey". The Sunday Times. London. p. 33.
  70. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 17 January 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  71. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 19 January 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  72. ^ a b Powell, Dilys (22 May 1966). "Faces to remember". The Sunday Times. London. p. 29.
  73. ^ Powell, Dilys (17 March 1963). "Old faces, new jokes". The Sunday Times. London. p. 41.
  74. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 17 January 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  75. ^ Powell, Dilys (7 April 1963). "Skirmish at the beach". The Sunday Times. London. p. 41.
  76. ^ Breese, James (21 August 2005). "Your Money: Treasure Hunters". Sunday Mirror. London. p. 55.
  77. ^ Evans, Ann (24 April 2004). "Weekend: Food: Fred Has Still Got Flour Power". Coventry Evening Telegraph. Coventry. p. 27.
  78. ^ McCann 2010, p. 309.
  79. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 180.
  80. ^ McCann 2010, p. 215.
  81. ^ McCann 2010, p. 208.
  82. ^ McCann 2001, p. 56.
  83. ^ McCann 2010, p. 209.
  84. ^ McCann 2010, p. 214.
  85. ^ McCann 2010, p. 217.
  86. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 118.
  87. ^ Hutchison, Tom (15 August 1970). "Last of the breed". The Guardian. London. p. 6.
  88. ^ a b c "Obituary: John Le Mesurier". The Times. London. 16 November 1983. p. 14.
  89. ^ Vahimagi, Tise. "Le Mesurier, John (1912–1983)". Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  90. ^ McCann 2010, p. 245.
  91. ^ McCann 2010, p. 257.
  92. ^ . Screenonline. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  93. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 134.
  94. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 137.
  95. ^ Slide 1996, p. 151.
  96. ^ Pertwee 2009, p. 165.
  97. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 311.
  98. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  99. ^ Sargeant 2005, p. 246.
  100. ^ Halliwell 1994, p. 304.
  101. ^ Harvey 1990, p. 311.
  102. ^ Jerry Roberts (15 June 2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. Scarecrow Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8108-6138-1.
  103. ^ "BAFTA Awards 1971". BAFTA Awards Database. British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  104. ^ Angelini, Sergio. "Traitor (1971)". Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  105. ^ Dunkley, Chris (15 October 1971). "Traitor". The Times. London. p. 12.
  106. ^ "Inside the enigmatic spy". The Sunday Times. London. 10 October 1971. p. 53.
  107. ^ Banks-Smith, Nancy (15 October 1971). "Traitor on television". The Guardian. London. p. 10.
  108. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 127.
  109. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 17 January 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  110. ^ Halliwell 1994, p. 231.
  111. ^ Lister, David (26 September 2002). "Bod Recreated For a New Generation of Fans". The Independent. London. p. 11.
  112. ^ a b Angelini, Sergio. "Christmas Carol, A (1977)". Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  113. ^ Umland & Umland 1996, p. 188.
  114. ^ a b "Unidentified Flying Oddball". Time Out. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  115. ^ McCann 2010, p. 287.
  116. ^ McCann 2010, p. 283.
  117. ^ a b Cushman, Robert (4 May 1980). "Inside Pinter's Hothouse: Theatre". The Observer. London. p. 16.
  118. ^ Michael Billington, Michael (30 April 1980). "Hay Fever". The Guardian. London. p. 10.
  119. ^ . Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  120. ^ McCann 2010, p. 310.
  121. ^ Evans 1980, p. 245.
  122. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 290.
  123. ^ McCann 2010, p. 292.
  124. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 294.
  125. ^ a b Le Mesurier, John (16 November 1983). "Announcements". The Times. London. p. 26.
  126. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 62.
  127. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 114.
  128. ^ McCann 2010, p. 107.
  129. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 74.
  130. ^ Merriman 2007, p. 60.
  131. ^ General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, volume 5c, p. 2328.
  132. ^ McCann 2010, p. 123.
  133. ^ Merriman 2007, pp. 122–123.
  134. ^ McCann 2010, p. 162.
  135. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, pp. 86–87.
  136. ^ McCann 2010, p. 165.
  137. ^ McCann 2010, p. 166.
  138. ^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 96.
  139. ^ Le Mesurier 1988, pp. 69–70.
  140. ^ Merriman 2007, p. 136.
  141. ^ General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, volume 5b, p. 1040.
  142. ^ McCann 2010, p. 183.
  143. ^ McCann 2010, p. 186.
  144. ^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 76.
  145. ^ McCann 2010, p. 187.
  146. ^ Le Mesurier 1988, pp. 140–141.
  147. ^ a b Le Mesurier 1984, p. 111.
  148. ^ McCann 2010, pp. 203–205.
  149. ^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 143.
  150. ^ McCann 2010, p. 262.
  151. ^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 144.
  152. ^ McCann 2010, p. 277.
  153. ^ Lewis, Roger (18 October 2007). "Carry On Hattie Jacques". telegraph.co.uk. London.
  154. ^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 156.
  155. ^ McCann 2010, p. 302.
  156. ^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 189.
  157. ^ a b McCann 2010, p. 298.
  158. ^ General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, volume 16, p. 1890.
  159. ^ Farndale, Nigel (24 February 2008). "Joan Le Mesurier had affair with Tony Hancock". telegraph.co.uk. London.
  160. ^ a b Marshall, William (16 November 1983). "Just tell them I've conked out". Daily Mirror. London. p. 11.
  161. ^ "Deaths: Memorial services". The Times. London. 17 February 1984. p. 14.
  162. ^ French, Philip (20 November 1983). "Mesurier's multitude". The Observer. London. p. 34.
  163. ^ "Hancock and Joan". BBC: Drama. BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  164. ^ Chamberlain, Laura. "Ruth Jones stars in BBC Four drama Hattie". BBC: Wales. BBC. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  165. ^ "Kevin McNally and Robert Bathurst to star in new Dad's Army". comedy.co.uk. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  166. ^ "We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story!". BBC. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  167. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Roy Smiles - Dear Arthur, Love John". BBC. Retrieved 10 May 2022.

Bibliography

External links

May 17, 2023
john, mesurier, other, people, this, name, disambiguation, born, john, elton, mesurier, halliley, april, 1912, november, 1983, english, actor, probably, best, remembered, comedic, role, sergeant, arthur, wilson, television, situation, comedy, army, 1968, 1977,. For other people of this name see John Le Mesurier disambiguation John Le Mesurier l e ˈ m ɛ ʒ e r e 1 born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley 5 April 1912 15 November 1983 was an English actor He is probably best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation comedy Dad s Army 1968 1977 A self confessed jobbing actor 2 Le Mesurier appeared in more than 120 films across a range of genres normally in smaller supporting parts Le Mesurier in 1973 Le Mesurier became interested in the stage as a young adult and enrolled at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art in 1933 From there he took a position in repertory theatre and made his stage debut in September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre in Edinburgh in the J B Priestley play Dangerous Corner He later accepted an offer to work with Alec Guinness in a John Gielgud production of Hamlet He first appeared on television in 1938 as Seigneur de Miolans in the BBC broadcast of The Marvellous History of St Bernard During the Second World War Le Mesurier was posted to British India as a captain with the Royal Tank Regiment Following the war he returned to acting and made his film debut in 1948 starring in the second feature comedy short Death in the Hand opposite Esme Percy and Ernest Jay Le Mesurier had a prolific film career appearing mostly in comedies usually in roles portraying figures of authority such as army officers policemen and judges As well as Hancock s Half Hour Le Mesurier appeared in Tony Hancock s two principal films The Rebel and The Punch and Judy Man In 1971 Le Mesurier received his only award a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Television Actor award for his lead performance in Dennis Potter s television play Traitor it was one of his few lead roles He took a relaxed approach to acting and felt that his parts were those of a decent chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own making 3 Le Mesurier was married three times most notably to the actress Hattie Jacques A heavy drinker of alcohol for most of his life Le Mesurier died in 1983 aged 71 from a stomach haemorrhage brought about as a complication of cirrhosis of the liver After his death critics reflected that for an actor who normally took minor roles the viewing public were enormously fond of him 4 Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early life 1 2 Career 1 2 1 1934 1946 1 2 2 1946 1959 1 2 3 1960 1968 1 2 4 1968 1977 1 2 5 1977 1983 1 3 Personal life 2 Approach to acting 3 Portrayals 4 Filmography and other works 5 Notes and references 5 1 Notes 5 2 References 6 Bibliography 7 External linksBiography EditEarly life Edit Sherborne School Dorset which Le Mesurier disliked intensely Le Mesurier was born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley in Bedford on 5 April 1912 5 His parents were Charles Elton Halliley a solicitor 6 and Amy Michelle nee Le Mesurier whose family were from Alderney in the Channel Islands 1 both families were affluent with histories of government service or work in the legal profession 7 a While John was an infant the family settled in Bury St Edmunds in West Suffolk He was sent to school first to Grenham House in Kent and later to Sherborne School in Dorset where one of his fellow pupils was the mathematician Alan Turing 8 Le Mesurier disliked both schools intensely 9 citing insensitive teaching methods and an inability to accept individualism 10 11 He later wrote I resented Sherborne for its closed mind its collective capacity for rejecting anything that did not conform to the image of manhood as portrayed in the ripping yarns of a scouting manual 12 From an early age Le Mesurier had been interested in acting and performing as a child he had frequently been taken to the West End of London to watch Ralph Lynn and Tom Walls perform in the series of farces at the Aldwych Theatre In his childhood in Bury St Edmunds the family lived less than 300 yards from the Theatre Royal and his autobiography records meeting actors from that theatre as his earliest childhood memory 13 These experiences fuelled an early desire to make a career on the stage 14 15 After leaving school he was initially persuaded to follow his father s line of work as an articled clerk at Greene amp Greene a firm of solicitors in Bury St Edmunds in his spare time he took part in local amateur dramatics 14 In 1933 he decided to leave the legal profession and in September he enrolled at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art a fellow student was the actor Alec Guinness with whom he became close friends 16 In July 1934 the studio staged their annual public revue in which both Le Mesurier and Guinness took part among the judges for the event were John Gielgud Leslie Henson Alfred Hitchcock and Ivor Novello 17 Le Mesurier received a Certificate of Fellowship while Guinness won the Fay Compton prize 18 After the revue rather than remain at the studio for further tuition Le Mesurier took an opportunity to join the Edinburgh based Millicent Ward Repertory Players at a salary of 3 10s 3 50 a week 14 19 Career Edit 1934 1946 Edit The Millicent Ward repertory company typically staged evening performances of three act plays the works changed each week and rehearsals were held during the daytime for the following week s production 20 Under his birth name John Halliley Le Mesurier made his stage debut in September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre Edinburgh in the J B Priestley play Dangerous Corner along with three other newcomers to the company 21 The reviewer for The Scotsman thought that Le Mesurier was well cast in the role 21 Appearances in While Parents Sleep and Cavalcade were followed by a break as problems arose with the lease of the theatre Le Mesurier then accepted an offer to appear with Alec Guinness in a John Gielgud production of Hamlet which began in Streatham in the spring of 1935 and later toured the English provinces Le Mesurier understudied Anthony Quayle s role of Guildenstern and otherwise appeared in the play as an extra 22 Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh where Le Mesurier appeared in numerous roles during 1938 In July 1935 Le Mesurier was hired by the Oldham repertory company based at the Coliseum Theatre his first appearance with them was in a version of the Wilson Collison play Up in Mabel s Room he was sacked after one week for missing a performance after oversleeping 23 b In September 1935 he moved to the Sheffield Repertory Theatre to appear in Mary Mary Quite Contrary and also played Malvolio in Shakespeare s Twelfth Night Le Mesurier later commented on the slow progress of his career had I known it was going to take so long I might well have given the whole thing up 26 In 1937 he joined the Croydon Repertory Theatre where he appeared in nine productions in 1936 and 1937 During this period Le Mesurier changed his professional name from John Halliley to John Le Mesurier his biographer Graham McCann observes that he never bothered at least in public to explain the reason for his decision 27 Le Mesurier used his new name for the first time in the September 1937 production of Love on the Dole 28 Le Mesurier first appeared on television in 1938 thus becoming one of the medium s pioneering actors His initial appearance was in a production of The Marvellous History of St Bernard in which he appeared as Seigneur de Miolans in a play adapted from a 15th century manuscript by Henri Gheon 29 Alongside the television appearance he continued to appear on stage in Edinburgh and Glasgow with the Howard and Wyndham Players at least until late 1938 when he returned to London and re joined Croydon Repertory Theatre His second spell with the troupe ended a few months later when from May to October 1939 he appeared in Gaslight first in London and subsequently on tour The reviewer in The Manchester Guardian considered that Le Mesurier gave a faultless performance and that the character is not overemphasised One may praise it best by saying that Mr Le Mesurier gives one a really uncomfortable feeling in the stomach 30 From November to December 1939 Le Mesurier toured Britain in a production of Goodness How Sad 31 during which time he met the director s daughter June Melville whom he married in April 1940 32 After spending January and February 1940 in French Without Tears at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool he returned to London where he was employed by the Brixton Theatre appearing in a series of productions 33 In his time in repertory Le Mesurier took on a variety of roles across several genres his biographer Graham McCann observed that his range included comedies and tragedies thrillers and fantasies tense courtroom dramas and frenzied farces Shakespeare and Ibsen Sheridan and Wilde Moliere and Shaw Congreve and Coward The range was remarkable 22 In September 1940 Le Mesurier s rented home was hit by a German bomb destroying all his possessions including his call up papers 34 In the same bombing raid the theatre in Brixton in which he was working was also hit 35 A few days later he reported for basic training with the Royal Armoured Corps 36 in June 1941 he was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment 37 He served in Britain until 1943 when he was posted to British India where he spent the rest of the war 14 Le Mesurier later claimed that he had had a comfortable war with captaincy thrust upon me before I was demobbed in 1946 38 1946 1959 Edit On his return to Britain Le Mesurier returned to acting he initially struggled for work finding only a few minor roles 39 In February 1948 he made his film debut in the second feature comedy short Death in the Hand 40 which starred Esme Percy and Ernest Jay 41 He followed this with equally small roles in the 1949 film Old Mother Riley s New Venture where his name was misspelt on the credits as Le Meseurier 42 43 and the 1950 crime film Dark Interval 44 During the same period he also frequently appeared on stage in Birmingham 33 Le Mesurier undertook several roles on television in 1951 including that of Doctor Forrest in The Railway Children 45 the blackmailer Eduardo Lucas in Sherlock Holmes The Second Stain 46 and Joseph in the nativity play A Time to be Born 47 The same year Tony Hancock joined Le Mesurier s second wife Hattie Jacques the couple had married in 1949 following his divorce from June Melville earlier that year in the radio series Educating Archie Le Mesurier and Hancock became friends they would often go for drinking sessions around Soho where they ended up in jazz clubs 48 After Hancock left Educating Archie in 1952 after one season 49 the friendship continued and Jacques joined the cast of Hancock s Half Hour during the fourth radio series in 1956 50 Terry Thomas alongside whom Le Mesurier appeared in Private s Progress and Carlton Browne of the F O In 1952 as well as appearing in the films Blind Man s Bluff and Mother Riley Meets the Vampire 51 Le Mesurier also appeared as the doctor in Angry Dust at the New Torch Theatre London Parnell Bradbury writing in The Times thought Le Mesurier had played the role extraordinarily well 52 Harold Hobson writing in The Sunday Times thought that the trouble with Mr John Le Mesurier s Dr Weston is that he approaches the man too snarlingly it is a notion of genius that would be unacceptable anywhere outside Victorian melodrama 53 In 1953 he had a role as a bureaucrat in the short film The Pleasure Garden which won the Prix du Film de Fantaisie Poetique at the Cannes Film Festival in 1954 54 After a long run of small roles in second features his 1955 portrayal of the registrar in Roy Boulting s comedy Josephine and Men jerked him out of the rut according to Philip Oakes 24 Following his appearance in Josephine and Men John and Roy Boulting cast Le Mesurier as a psychiatrist in their 1956 Second World War film Private s Progress The cast featured many leading British actors of the time including Ian Carmichael and Richard Attenborough 55 Dilys Powell reviewing for The Sunday Times thought that the cast was embellished by Le Mesurier s presence among others 55 Later in 1956 Le Mesurier again appeared alongside Attenborough with small roles in Jay Lewis s The Baby and the Battleship and Roy Boulting s Brothers in Law the latter of which also featured Carmichael and Terry Thomas 56 57 He was also active in television in a variety of roles in episodes of Douglas Fairbanks Presents a series of short dramas 58 Le Mesurier s friendship with Tony Hancock provided a further source of work when Hancock asked him to be one of the regular supporting actors in Hancock s Half Hour when it moved from radio to television Le Mesurier subsequently appeared in seven episodes of the show between 1957 and 1960 and then in an episode of a follow up series entitled Hancock 59 In 1958 he appeared in ten films among them Roy Boulting s comedy Happy Is the Bride 60 about which Dilys Powell wrote in The Sunday Times M y vote for the most entertaining contributions goes to the two fathers John Le Mesurier and Cecil Parker 61 In 1959 the busiest year of his career Le Mesurier took part in 13 films including I m All Right Jack 62 which was the most successful of Le Mesurier s credited films that year 63 he also had an uncredited role as a doctor in Ben Hur 64 c 1960 1968 Edit Le Mesurier appeared in nine films in 1960 66 d as well as nine television programmes including episodes of Hancock s Half Hour Saber of London and Danger Man 67 e His work the following year included a part in Peter Sellers s directorial debut Mr Topaze a film which failed both critically and commercially 68 He provided the voice of Mr Justice Byrne in a recording of excerpts from the transcript of R v Penguin Books Ltd the court case concerning the publication of D H Lawrence s Lady Chatterley s Lover which also featured Michael Hordern and Maurice Denham J W Lambert reviewing for The Sunday Times wrote that Le Mesurier gave precisely the air of confident incredulity which the learned gentleman exhibited in court 69 Later that year he played Hancock s office manager in the first of Tony Hancock s two principal film vehicles The Rebel 70 Peter Sellers with whom Le Mesurier appeared in several films In 1962 he appeared in Wendy Toye s comedy film We Joined the Navy 71 before reuniting with Peter Sellers in Only Two Can Play Sidney Gilliat s film of the novel That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis Powell noted with pleasure the armour of his gravity pierced by polite bewilderment 72 She compared Le Mesurier with the well known American straight face comedian John McGiver 72 After appearing in another Sellers film in 1962 Waltz of the Toreadors Le Mesurier joined him in the 1963 comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law 66 Powell again reviewed the pair s film commenting that I thought I knew by now every shade in the acting of John Le Mesurier not that I could ever get tired of any of them but there seems a new shade here 73 The same year he appeared in a third Sellers film The Pink Panther as a defence lawyer 74 and in the second and last of Tony Hancock s starring vehicles The Punch and Judy Man Le Mesurier played Sandman in the latter film Powell wrote that the role allowed a gentler and subtler character than usual 75 He also appeared in a series of advertisements for Homepride flour in 1964 providing the voice over for the animated character Fred the Flourgrader he continued as the voice until 1983 76 77 In a change from his usual comedic roles Le Mesurier portrayed the Reverend Jonathan Ives in Jacques Tourneur s 1965 science fiction film City Under the Sea before returning to comedy in Where the Spies Are a comedy adventure film directed by Val Guest which starred David Niven In 1966 Le Mesurier also played the role of Colonel Maynard in the ITV sitcom George and the Dragon with Sid James and Peggy Mount The programme ran to four series between 1966 and 1968 totalling 26 episodes 78 He also took a role in four episodes of a Coronation Street spin off series 79 Pardon the Expression in which he starred opposite Arthur Lowe 80 1968 1977 Edit In 1968 Le Mesurier was offered a role in a new BBC situation comedy playing an upper middle class Sergeant Arthur Wilson in Dad s Army 81 he was the second choice after Robert Dorning 82 Le Mesurier was unsure about taking the part as he was finishing the final series of George and the Dragon and did not want another long term television role 83 He was persuaded both by an increase in his fee to 262 10s 262 50 per episode and by the casting of his old friend Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones 84 Le Mesurier was initially unsure of how to portray his character and was advised by series writer Jimmy Perry to make the part his own 85 Le Mesurier decided to base the character on himself later writing that I thought why not just be myself use an extension of my own personality and behave rather as I had done in the army So I always left a button or two undone and had the sleeve of my battle dress slightly turned up I spoke softly issued commands as if they were invitations the sort not likely to be accepted and generally assumed a benign air of helplessness 86 Perry later observed that we wanted Wilson to be the voice of sanity he has become John 87 Le Mesurier second from left with the cast of Dad s Army from the 1971 Christmas Special Battle of the Giants Nicholas de Jongh in a tribute written after Le Mesurier s death suggested that it was in the role of Wilson that Le Mesurier became a star 2 His interaction with Arthur Lowe s character Captain George Mainwaring was described by The Times as a memorable part of one of television s most popular shows 88 Tise Vahimagi writing for the British Film Institute s Screenonline agreed and commented that it was the hesitant exchanges of one upmanship between Le Mesurier s Wilson a figure of delicate gentility and Arthur Lowe s pompous middle class platoon leader Captain Mainwaring that added to its finest moments 89 Le Mesurier enjoyed making the series particularly the fortnight the cast would spend in Thetford each year filming the outside scenes 90 The programme lasted for nine series over nine years and covered eighty episodes ending in 1977 91 During the filming of the series in 1969 Le Mesurier was flown to Venice over a series of weekends to appear in the film Midas Run an Alf Kjellin directed crime film that also starred Richard Crenna Anne Heywood and Fred Astaire 92 93 Le Mesurier became friends with Astaire during the filming and they often dined together in a local cafe while watching horse racing on television 94 In 1971 Norman Cohen directed a feature film of Dad s Army 95 Le Mesurier also appeared as Wilson in a stage adaptation which toured the UK in 1975 76 96 Following the success of Dad s Army Le Mesurier recorded the single A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square with Hometown on the reverse side the latter with Arthur Lowe This and an album Dad s Army featuring the whole cast was released on the Warner label in 1975 97 In between his performances in Dad s Army Le Mesurier acted in films including the role of the prison governor opposite Noel Coward in the 1969 Peter Collinson directed The Italian Job 98 The cinema historian Amy Sargeant likened Le Mesurier s role to the mild demeanour of his Sergeant Wilson character 99 In 1970 Le Mesurier appeared in Ralph Thomas s Doctor in Trouble as the purser 100 he also made an appearance in Vincente Minnelli s On a Clear Day You Can See Forever a romantic fantasy musical 101 In 1971 Le Mesurier played the lead role in Dennis Potter s television play Traitor in which he portrayed a boozy British aristocrat who became a spy for the Soviets 102 his performance won him a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Television Actor award 103 Writing for the British Film Institute Sergio Angelini considered Le Mesurier is utterly compelling throughout in an atypical role 104 Chris Dunkley writing in The Times described the performance as a superbly persuasive portrait made vividly real by one of the best performances Mr Mesurier sic has ever given 105 The reviewer for The Sunday Times agreed saying that Le Mesurier after a lifetime supporting other actors with the strength of a pit prop gets the main part he looks sounds and feels exactly right 106 Reviewing for The Guardian Nancy Banks Smith called the role his Hamlet and said that it was worth waiting for 107 Although delighted to have won the award Le Mesurier commented that the aftermath proved something of an anticlimax No exciting offers of work came in 108 Le Mesurier made a cameo appearance in Val Guest s 1972 sex comedy Au Pair Girls and starred alongside Warren Mitchell and Dandy Nichols in Bob Kellett s The Alf Garnett Saga 109 In 1974 he played a police inspector in a similar Val Guest comedy Confessions of a Window Cleaner alongside Robin Askwith and Antony Booth 110 The following year he also narrated Bod an animated children s programme from the BBC there were thirteen episodes in total 111 1977 1983 Edit In 1977 Le Mesurier portrayed Jacob Marley in a BBC television adaptation of A Christmas Carol which starred Michael Hordern as Ebenezer Scrooge 112 Sergio Angelini writing for the British Film Institute about Le Mesurier s portrayal considered that although never frightening he does exert a strong sense of melancholy his every move and inflection seemingly tinged with regret and remorse 112 In 1979 he portrayed Sir Gawain in Walt Disney s Unidentified Flying Oddball directed by Russ Mayberry and co starring Dennis Dugan Jim Dale and Kenneth More 113 The film an adaptation of Mark Twain s novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur s Court was hailed by Time Out as an intelligent film with a cohesive plot and an amusing script and cited it as one of the better Disney attempts to hop on the sci fi bandwagon 114 The reviewers praised the cast particularly Kenneth More s Arthur and Le Mesurier s Gawain which they said were rather touchingly portrayed as friends who have grown old together 114 Le Mesurier played The Wise Old Bird in the 1980 BBC Radio 4 series The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy and appeared on the same station as Bilbo Baggins in the 1981 radio version of The Lord of the Rings 115 In the spring of 1980 he took the role of David Bliss alongside Constance Cummings as Judith Bliss in a production of Noel Coward s 1920s play Hay Fever 116 117 Writing for The Observer Robert Cushman thought that Le Mesurier played the role with deeply grizzled torpor 117 while Michael Billington reviewing for The Guardian saw him as a grey gentle wisp of a man full of half completed gestures and seraphic smiles 118 He took on the role of Father Mowbray in Granada Television s 1981 adaptation of Brideshead Revisited 119 He guest starred in episodes of the British comedy television series The Goodies and in an early episode of Hi de Hi 120 His final film appearance was also Peter Sellers s final cinema role The Fiendish Plot of Dr Fu Manchu which was completed just months before Sellers s death in July 1980 121 In 1982 Le Mesurier reprised the role of Arthur Wilson for It Sticks Out Half a Mile a radio sequel to Dad s Army in which Wilson had become the bank manager of the Frambourne on Sea branch while Arthur Lowe s character Captain George Mainwaring was trying to apply for a loan to renovate the local pier The death of Lowe in April 1982 meant that only a pilot episode was recorded and the project was suspended 122 It was revived later that year with Lowe s role replaced by two other Dad s Army cast members Pike played by Ian Lavender and Hodges played by Bill Pertwee A pilot and twelve episodes were subsequently recorded 123 and broadcast in 1984 58 Le Mesurier also teamed up with another ex Dad s Army colleague Clive Dunn to record a novelty single There Ain t Much Change from a Pound These Days After All These Years which had been written by Le Mesurier s stepson David Malin 122 The single was released on KA Records in 1982 97 He appeared opposite Anthony Hopkins in a four part television series A Married Man in March 1983 before undertaking the narration on the short film The Passionate Pilgrim an Eric Morecambe vehicle which was Morecambe s last film before his death 124 Personal life Edit JOHN LE MESURIER Wishes it to be known that he conked out on November 15th He sadly misses family and friends Self penned death notice in The Times 16 November 1983 125 In 1939 Le Mesurier accepted a role in the Robert Morley play Goodness How Sad directed by June Melville whose father Frederick owned several theatres including the Lyceum Prince s and Brixton 31 Melville and Le Mesurier soon began a romance and were married in April 1940 32 Le Mesurier was conscripted into the army in September 1940 after his demobilisation in 1946 he discovered that his wife had become an alcoholic She became careless about appointments and haphazard professionally 126 As a result the couple separated and were divorced in 1949 14 127 In June 1947 Le Mesurier went with fellow actor Geoffrey Hibbert to the Players Theatre in London where among the performers was Hattie Jacques 128 Le Mesurier and Jacques began to see each other regularly Le Mesurier was still married albeit estranged from his wife 127 In 1949 when his divorce came through Jacques proposed to Le Mesurier asking him Don t you think it s about time we got married 129 The couple married in November 1949 130 131 and had two sons Robin and Kim 132 Jacques began an affair in 1962 with her driver John Schofield who gave her the attention and support that Le Mesurier did not 133 When Jacques decided to move Schofield into the family home Le Mesurier moved into a separate room and tried to repair the marriage 134 He later commented about this period I could have walked out but whatever my feelings I loved Hattie and the children and I was certain I had to be certain that we could repair the damage 135 The affair caused a downturn in his health he collapsed on holiday in Tangier in 1963 and was hospitalised in Gibraltar 136 He returned to London to find the situation between his wife and her lover was unchanged which caused a relapse 137 During the final stages of the breakdown of his marriage Le Mesurier met Joan Malin at the Establishment club in Soho in 1963 138 The following year he moved out of his marital house and that day proposed to Joan who accepted his offer 139 Le Mesurier allowed Jacques to bring a divorce suit on grounds of his own infidelity to ensure that the press blamed him for the break up thus avoiding any negative publicity for Jacques 140 Le Mesurier and Malin married in March 1966 79 141 A few months after they were married Joan began a relationship with Tony Hancock 142 and left Le Mesurier to move in with the comedian 143 Hancock was a self confessed alcoholic by this time 144 and was verbally and physically abusive to Joan during their relationship 145 After a year together with Hancock s violence towards her worsening Joan attempted suicide she subsequently realised that she could no longer live with Hancock and returned to her husband 146 Despite this Le Mesurier remained friends with Hancock calling him a comic of true genius capable of great warmth and generosity but a tormented and unhappy man 147 Without Le Mesurier s knowledge Joan resumed her affair with Hancock and when the comic moved to Australia in 1968 she planned to follow him if he was able to overcome his alcoholism She abandoned these plans and remained with Le Mesurier after Hancock committed suicide on 25 June 1968 148 The grave of Le Mesurier and his son Kim at St George s Church Ramsgate Kent Le Mesurier was a heavy drinker but was never noticeably drunk 149 In 1977 he collapsed in Australia and flew home where he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and ordered to stop drinking 150 Until then he had not considered himself an alcoholic he accepted that it was the cumulative effect over the years that had done the damage 151 It was a year and a half before he drank alcohol again when he avoided spirits and drank only beer 152 Jacques claimed that his calculated vagueness was the result of his dependence on cannabis 153 although according to Le Mesurier the drug was not to his taste he smoked it only during his period of abstinence from alcohol 154 Le Mesurier s favoured pastime was visiting the jazz clubs around Soho such as Ronnie Scott s and he observed that listening to artists like Bill Evans Oscar Peterson or Alan Clare always made life seem that little bit brighter 147 Towards the end of his life Le Mesurier wrote his autobiography A Jobbing Actor the book was published in 1984 after his death 155 Le Mesurier s health visibly declined from July 1983 when he was hospitalised for a short time after suffering a haemorrhage 124 When the condition recurred later in the year he was taken to Ramsgate Hospital 156 after saying to his wife It s all been rather lovely he slipped into a coma 157 and died on 15 November 1983 aged 71 158 His remains were cremated and the ashes buried at the Church of St George the Martyr Church Hill Ramsgate His epitaph reads John Le Mesurier Much loved actor Resting 159 His self penned death notice in The Times of 16 November 1983 stated that he had conked out and that he sadly misses family and friends 125 157 After Le Mesurier s death fellow comedian Eric Sykes commented I never heard a bad word said against him He was one of the great drolls of our time 160 Le Mesurier s fellow Dad s Army actor Bill Pertwee mourned the loss of his friend saying It s a shattering loss He was a great professional very quiet but with a lovely sense of humour 160 Director Peter Cotes writing in The Guardian called him one of Britain s most accomplished screen character actors 38 while The Times obituarist observed that he could lend distinction to the smallest part 88 The Guardian reflected on Le Mesurier s popularity observing that No wonder so many whose lives were very different from his own came to be so enormously fond of him 4 A memorial service was held on 16 February 1984 at the Actors Church St Paul s Covent Garden at which Bill Pertwee gave the eulogy 161 Approach to acting EditThe character he cumulatively created will be remembered when others more famous are forgotten not just for the skill of his playing but because he somehow embodied a symbolic British reaction to the whirlpool of the modern world endlessly perplexed by the dizzying and incoherent pattern of events but doing his best to ensure that resentment never showed The Guardian 16 November 1983 4 Le Mesurier took a relaxed approach to acting saying You know the way you get jobbing gardeners Well I m a jobbing actor as long as they pay me I couldn t care less if my name is billed above or below the title 2 Le Mesurier played a wide range of parts and became known as an indispensable figure in the gallery of second rank players which were the glory of the British film industry in its more prolific days 14 He felt his characterisations owed a lot to my customary expression of bewildered innocence 3 and tried to stress for many of his roles that his parts were those of a decent chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own making 3 Philip French of The Observer considered that when playing a representative of bureaucracy Le Mesurier registered something complex A feeling of exasperation disturbance anxiety that constantly lurked behind that handsome bloodhound face 162 The impression he gave in these roles became an inimitable brand of bewildered persistence under fire which Le Mesurier made his own 4 The Times noted of him that although he was best known for his comedic roles he could be equally effective in straight parts as evidenced by his BAFTA award winning role in Traitor 88 Director Peter Cotes agreed adding he had depths unrealised through the mechanical pieces in which he generally appeared 38 while Philip Oakes considered that single handed he has made more films watchable even absorbing than anyone else around 24 Portrayals EditLe Mesurier s second and third marriages have been the subject of two BBC Four biographical films the 2008 Hancock and Joan on Joan Le Mesurier s affair with Tony Hancock with Le Mesurier played by Alex Jennings 163 and the 2011 Hattie on Jacques s affair with John Schofield with Le Mesurier played by Robert Bathurst 164 f In We re Doomed The Dad s Army Story a 2015 comedy drama about the making of Dad s Army Le Mesurier was portrayed by Julian Sands 166 Le Mesurier was portrayed by Anton Lesser in the BBC Radio 4 drama Dear Arthur Love John on 7 May 2012 167 Filmography and other works EditMain article John Le Mesurier on stage radio screen and recordNotes and references EditNotes Edit On his father s side the Halliley family had been civil servants based abroad Elton s father Charles Bailey Halliley was brought up in Ceylon where his father was a senior civil servant in the Customs Department 6 Other members of the Halliley family held high ranks in the services or positions of power in Whitehall 1 Amy Le Mesurier s family included the Rev Thomas Le Mesurier a British cleric lawyer and polemicist John Le Mesurier the last hereditary governor of Alderney and Colonel Frederick Le Mesurier the inventor of the screw gun 7 On hearing the story later Noel Coward told Le Mesurier A very sensible choice of play to sleep through dear boy 24 25 The thirteen films in which Le Mesurier appeared in 1959 were Our Man in Havana The Captain s Table Operation Amsterdam Ben Hur The Lady Is a Square Jack the Ripper The Wreck of the Mary Deare Desert Mice Follow a Star Too Many Crooks Carlton Browne of the F O The Hound of the Baskervilles and I m All Right Jack 65 66 The nine films were School for Scoundrels The Day They Robbed the Bank of England Never Let Go Doctor in Love The Bulldog Breed The Pure Hell of St Trinian s A Touch of Larceny Let s Get Married and Dead Lucky 65 66 The nine television programmes were Saber of London two episodes Hancock s Half Hour The Somerset Maugham Stories Play Gems The Adventures of William Tell Jazz Session Danger Man and The Third Man 66 67 Robert Bathurst was subsequently cast to play Sergeant Wilson Le Mesurier s character in Dad s Army when UKTV recreated the series three missing episodes in 2019 165 References Edit a b c McCann 2010 p 2 a b c de Jongh Nicholas 16 November 1983 Dad s Army star dies The Guardian London p 1 a b c Le Mesurier 1984 p 72 a b c d The ubiquitous second row The Guardian London 16 November 1983 p 10 Le Mesurier 1984 p 1 a b McCann 2010 p 1 a b McCann 2010 pp 1 2 McCann 2010 p 33 McCann 2010 p 42 McCann 2010 p 39 McCann 2010 p 31 Le Mesurier 1984 p 17 Le Mesurier 1984 p 10 a b c d e f Nimmo Derek January 2011 Le Mesurier John 1912 1983 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Vol 1 online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 31350 Retrieved 21 August 2012 Subscription or UK public library membership required McCann 2010 p 53 McCann 2010 p 58 McCann 2010 p 61 Multiple Classified Advertising Items The Sunday Times London 22 July 1934 p 6 McCann 2010 pp 63 64 McCann 2010 p 67 a b Palladium Theatre Dangerous Corner The Scotsman Edinburgh 4 September 1934 p 6 a b McCann 2010 p 69 McCann 2010 p 71 a b c Oakes Philip 7 February 1971 Worrier on the Warpath The Sunday Times London p 26 Le Mesurier 1984 p 29 Le Mesurier 1984 p 18 McCann 2010 p 77 McCann 2010 p 78 Barry 1992 p 190 The Prince s Theatre Gas Light The Manchester Guardian Manchester 24 October 1939 p 4 a b McCann 2010 p 83 a b McCann 2010 p 86 a b McCann 2010 p 306 McCann 2010 p 88 McCann 2010 p 89 McCann 2010 p 90 No 35218 The London Gazette Supplement 11 July 1941 pp 4055 4056 a b c Cotes Peter 16 November 1983 The quiet man of comedy Peter Cotes pays tribute to John Le Mesurier The Guardian London p 9 McCann 2010 p 104 McCann 2010 p 111 Death in the Hand 1948 Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 3 September 2009 Retrieved 29 August 2012 Old Mother Riley s New Venture Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 16 January 2009 Retrieved 24 August 2012 McCann 2010 p 112 Dark Interval 1950 Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 21 December 2013 Retrieved 24 August 2012 Cast The Railway Children BBC TV 1951 An Illness and a Birthday Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 3 February 2009 Retrieved 30 August 2012 Cast Sherlock Holmes BBC 1951 The Second Stain Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 30 May 2009 Retrieved 30 August 2012 A Time to Be Born 1951 Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 19 January 2009 Retrieved 30 August 2012 McCann 2010 p 136 Foster amp Furst 1996 p 188 McCann 2010 p 24 Browning amp Picart 2010 p 127 Bradbury Parnell 17 January 1952 New Torch Theatre The Times London p 2 Hobson Harold 20 January 1952 Drama s Essence The Sunday Times London p 2 The Pleasure Garden British Film Institute Retrieved 30 August 2012 a b Powell Dilys 19 February 1956 Spellbound The Sunday Times London p 6 Dimmitt 1967 p 51 Castell 1984 p 120 a b McCann 2010 p 308 McCann 2010 p 138 Maltin Anderson amp Sader 2003 p 584 Powell Dilys 23 February 1958 A Heroine from the Crowd The Sunday Times London p 23 Mayer 2003 p 206 McCann 2010 p 130 Lloyd amp Robinson 1988 p 294 a b McCann 2010 pp 310 311 a b c d e Filmography Le Mesurier John Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 14 January 2009 Retrieved 22 August 2012 a b McCann 2010 pp 308 310 Mr Topaze Radio Times Retrieved 10 September 2012 Lambert J W 28 May 1961 Hazards of the Old Bailey The Sunday Times London p 33 Cast The Rebel Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 17 January 2009 Retrieved 5 September 2012 Cast We Joined the Navy Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 19 January 2009 Retrieved 10 September 2012 a b Powell Dilys 22 May 1966 Faces to remember The Sunday Times London p 29 Powell Dilys 17 March 1963 Old faces new jokes The Sunday Times London p 41 Cast The Pink Panther Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 17 January 2009 Retrieved 5 September 2012 Powell Dilys 7 April 1963 Skirmish at the beach The Sunday Times London p 41 Breese James 21 August 2005 Your Money Treasure Hunters Sunday Mirror London p 55 Evans Ann 24 April 2004 Weekend Food Fred Has Still Got Flour Power Coventry Evening Telegraph Coventry p 27 McCann 2010 p 309 a b McCann 2010 p 180 McCann 2010 p 215 McCann 2010 p 208 McCann 2001 p 56 McCann 2010 p 209 McCann 2010 p 214 McCann 2010 p 217 Le Mesurier 1984 p 118 Hutchison Tom 15 August 1970 Last of the breed The Guardian London p 6 a b c Obituary John Le Mesurier The Times London 16 November 1983 p 14 Vahimagi Tise Le Mesurier John 1912 1983 Screenonline British Film Institute Retrieved 6 September 2012 McCann 2010 p 245 McCann 2010 p 257 Cast Midas Run Screenonline British Film Institute Archived from the original on 18 January 2009 Retrieved 22 September 2012 Le Mesurier 1984 p 134 Le Mesurier 1984 p 137 Slide 1996 p 151 Pertwee 2009 p 165 a b McCann 2010 p 311 Cast The Italian Job Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 18 January 2009 Retrieved 5 September 2012 Sargeant 2005 p 246 Halliwell 1994 p 304 Harvey 1990 p 311 Jerry Roberts 15 June 2009 Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors Scarecrow Press p 60 ISBN 978 0 8108 6138 1 BAFTA Awards 1971 BAFTA Awards Database British Academy of Film and Television Arts Retrieved 2 September 2012 Angelini Sergio Traitor 1971 Screenonline British Film Institute Retrieved 6 September 2012 Dunkley Chris 15 October 1971 Traitor The Times London p 12 Inside the enigmatic spy The Sunday Times London 10 October 1971 p 53 Banks Smith Nancy 15 October 1971 Traitor on television The Guardian London p 10 Le Mesurier 1984 p 127 The Alf Garnett Saga Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 17 January 2009 Retrieved 24 August 2012 Halliwell 1994 p 231 Lister David 26 September 2002 Bod Recreated For a New Generation of Fans The Independent London p 11 a b Angelini Sergio Christmas Carol A 1977 Screenonline British Film Institute Retrieved 10 September 2012 Umland amp Umland 1996 p 188 a b Unidentified Flying Oddball Time Out Retrieved 24 August 2012 McCann 2010 p 287 McCann 2010 p 283 a b Cushman Robert 4 May 1980 Inside Pinter s Hothouse Theatre The Observer London p 16 Michael Billington Michael 30 April 1980 Hay Fever The Guardian London p 10 Cast Brideshead Revisited Julia Episode 6 Film amp TV Database British Film Institute Archived from the original on 18 January 2009 Retrieved 10 September 2012 McCann 2010 p 310 Evans 1980 p 245 a b McCann 2010 p 290 McCann 2010 p 292 a b McCann 2010 p 294 a b Le Mesurier John 16 November 1983 Announcements The Times London p 26 Le Mesurier 1984 p 62 a b McCann 2010 p 114 McCann 2010 p 107 Le Mesurier 1984 p 74 Merriman 2007 p 60 General Register Office England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes volume 5c p 2328 McCann 2010 p 123 Merriman 2007 pp 122 123 McCann 2010 p 162 Le Mesurier 1984 pp 86 87 McCann 2010 p 165 McCann 2010 p 166 Le Mesurier 1988 p 96 Le Mesurier 1988 pp 69 70 Merriman 2007 p 136 General Register Office England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes volume 5b p 1040 McCann 2010 p 183 McCann 2010 p 186 Le Mesurier 1988 p 76 McCann 2010 p 187 Le Mesurier 1988 pp 140 141 a b Le Mesurier 1984 p 111 McCann 2010 pp 203 205 Le Mesurier 1988 p 143 McCann 2010 p 262 Le Mesurier 1988 p 144 McCann 2010 p 277 Lewis Roger 18 October 2007 Carry On Hattie Jacques telegraph co uk London Le Mesurier 1984 p 156 McCann 2010 p 302 Le Mesurier 1988 p 189 a b McCann 2010 p 298 General Register Office England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes volume 16 p 1890 Farndale Nigel 24 February 2008 Joan Le Mesurier had affair with Tony Hancock telegraph co uk London a b Marshall William 16 November 1983 Just tell them I ve conked out Daily Mirror London p 11 Deaths Memorial services The Times London 17 February 1984 p 14 French Philip 20 November 1983 Mesurier s multitude The Observer London p 34 Hancock and Joan BBC Drama BBC Retrieved 11 January 2016 Chamberlain Laura Ruth Jones stars in BBC Four drama Hattie BBC Wales BBC Retrieved 22 August 2012 Kevin McNally and Robert Bathurst to star in new Dad s Army comedy co uk 9 November 2018 Retrieved 26 June 2022 We re Doomed The Dad s Army Story BBC Retrieved 19 July 2017 BBC Radio 4 Drama Roy Smiles Dear Arthur Love John BBC Retrieved 10 May 2022 Bibliography EditBarry Michael 1992 From the Palace to the Grove Michael Barry London Royal Television Society ISBN 978 1 871527 40 7 Browning John Edgar Picart Caroline Joan Kay 2010 Dracula in Visual Media film television comic book and electronic game appearances 1921 2010 Jefferson North Carolina McFarland amp Company ISBN 978 0 7864 3365 0 Castell David 1984 Richard Attenborough a pictorial film biography London The Bodley Head ISBN 978 0 370 30986 6 Dimmitt Richard Bertrand 1967 An Actor Guide to the Talkies A comprehensive listing of 8 000 feature length films from January 1949 until December 1964 Lanham Maryland Scarecrow Press OCLC 833091 Evans Peter 1980 The Mask Behind the Mask London Severn House Publishers ISBN 978 0 7278 0688 8 Foster Andy Furst Steve 1996 Radio Comedy 1938 1968 London Virgin Books ISBN 978 0 86369 960 3 Halliwell Leslie 1994 Halliwell s Film Guide New York Harper Perennial ISBN 978 0 06 271573 9 Harvey Stephen 1990 Directed by Vincente Minnelli New York Museum of Modern Art ISBN 978 0 06 016263 4 Le Mesurier Joan 1988 Lady Don t Fall Backwards A memoir dedicated to Tony Hancock and John Le Mesurier London Sidgwick amp Jackson ISBN 978 0 283 99664 1 Le Mesurier John 1984 A Jobbing Actor London Elm Tree Books ISBN 978 0 241 11063 8 Lloyd Ann Robinson David 1988 Seventy Years at the Movies New York Crescent Books ISBN 978 0 517 66213 7 Maltin Leonard Anderson Cathleen Sader Luke 2003 Leonard Maltin s Movie amp Video Guide 2004 New York Plume ISBN 978 0 452 28478 4 Mayer Geoff 2003 Guide to British Cinema Westport Connecticut Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 30307 4 McCann Graham 2001 Dad s Army London Fourth Estate ISBN 978 1 84115 308 7 McCann Graham 2010 Do You Think That s Wise The life of John Le Mesurier London Aurum Press ISBN 978 1 84513 583 6 Merriman Andy 2007 Hattie The authorised biography of Hattie Jacques London Aurum Press ISBN 978 1 84513 257 6 Pertwee Bill 2009 Dad s Army The Making of a Television Legend London Anova Books ISBN 978 1 84486 105 7 Sargeant Amy 2005 British Cinema A Critical History London BFI Publishing ISBN 978 1 84457 066 9 Slide Anthony 1996 Some Joe You Don t Know An American Biographical Guide to 100 British Television Personalities Westport Connecticut Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 29550 8 Umland Rebecca A Umland Samuel J 1996 The Use of Arthurian Legend in Hollywood Film From Connecticut Yankees to Fisher Kings Westport Connecticut Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 29798 4 External links EditJohn Le Mesurier at the British Film Institute John Le Mesurier at the BFI s Screenonline John Le Mesurier at IMDb John Le Mesurier at the TCM Movie Database Portals Biography Comedy England Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John Le Mesurier amp oldid 1153506825, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.