A couple of years back I started a regular series of blogs which profiled each of Joan Sims' fabulous 24 Carry On roles. I enjoyed giving each performance a turn in the spotlight so once I completed the mammoth task of writing about everything from Nurse Stella Dawson to Mrs Dangle, I went on to blog about all of Hattie Jacques' roles in the series and then those portrayed by Dame Barbara Windsor.
More recently I have carried out the same task for two of Carry Ons' unsung heroes - Kenneth Connor and Bernard Bresslaw. Now I will turn my attentions to all sixteen of Peter Butterworth's delightful supporting turns in the Carry On series. Peter, along with Sid James and Joan Sims, has long been one of my very favourite comedy actors and favourite members of the Carry On troupe. Sadly, Peter has received scant attention from the wider press, with only diehard fans really giving his acting talent the praise it so rightly deserves.
Peter joined the Carry On team in 1965 for Carry On Cowboy and remained a loyal servant to the series pretty much right through until the end of the original series in 1978. He was also a frequent contributor to many of the team's small screen outings and appeared alongside Sid James, Barbara Windsor and several others in the Carry On London stage farce in the early 1970s. He never put a foot wrong and was the master scene stealer. 2019 marks not only one hundred years since Peter's birth but also, sadly, forty years since he passed away. It therefore seems fitting to devote some blogging time to his wonderful performances.
After my first blog in the series last week on Peter's debut in Carry On Cowboy, today we're moving on to the film which started production at Pinewood the following January, over fifty years ago. Carry On Screaming has gone down in British cinema history as not just one of the finest Carry Ons ever made but one of the best horror comedies ever produced in the UK. A pastiche of the wildly popular Hammer Horror films, then at their peak, Screaming sends up these scary classics as only the team could. The production values are superb, from costumes to set dressing and even the appearance of a couple of classic motorcars. The script is one of Rothwell's finest and the performances from the team are second to none. Throw in a couple of excellent guest actors in Harry H Corbett and the superb late lamented Fenella Fielding and you surely have one of the best Carry Ons ever made.
Screaming tells the story of a mysterious and creepy brother and sister who send their towering monster Oddbod into the local woods to kidnap young ladies who are then vitrified into tailor shop dummies! One such unfortunate is Doris Mann, out courting with Albert Potter. When Potter takes the disappearance of his girlfriend to the local police, police detectives Bung and Slobotham decide to investigate. As always the plot takes second place to the comedy situations and performances and Screaming doesn't disappoint. With Corbett, Fielding and Williams grabbing most of the screen time and Jim Dale once again int he role of romantic hero, Screaming also excels with its supporting cast of typical rogues gallery favourites. Joan Sims is on fine form as Corbett's nagging wife Emily while Bernard Bresslaw and a certain Peter Butterworth both return for their second outings with the gang. With the action focussed so much on the aforementioned stars, the likes of Charles Hawtrey and Angela Douglas have smaller parts than usual but as ever the more familiar faces involved the better.
So what about Peter's performance as Slobotham? Quite frankly I think it's one of Peter's greatest Carry On appearances. Still hovering down the cast list with the focus on Dale, Williams and Fielding, Peter still manages to grab more screen time than some of his other Carry On roles and he never misses an opportunity to make the most of it. First of all, I think Peter and Harry H Corbett are a revelation together. Given that the role was pretty much written for Sid James, who in the end couldn't join the film, Harry plays the part of Sidney Bung to perfection and the double act with Peter is a complete and utter joy. Much comedy fumbling and idiocy ensues as the ineffective policemen fail to spot obvious clues. Despite this and of course because we have great affection for these actors and their characters, the audience still roots for them right to the very end.
As with many of his other roles, Peter is the everyman character in Screaming. He's often in the background and is constantly reacting to events and the performances of other actors. And this is where Butterworth excels as a visual comedy performer. That face! I mean really. It's a face created for this kind of comedy. I'm sure there were plenty of ad-libs from Peter in this film, despite so many stories that Gerald Thomas didn't allow them. With an actor like Peter, he just couldn't help himself. He was firing on all cylinders in this film and clearly having a ball. The sheer skill of the man is proved time and time again as no matter who is on screen with him and no matter what they are doing, you end up watching Peter's classic reactions, be they very physical business with the old car in the woods or just the merest flicker of an eye. He never misses a trick and that's why he's worth his weight in comedy gold.
The scene where Harry and Peter deliberate over clues with the blackboard and chalk in the police station is pure nursery humour. In the hands of others it would fall completely flat, but with Butterworth in particular on board, it's hilarious and a classic Carry On moment. I also love his reaction when he, together with Harry and JIm turn up at the Watt mansion for the first time and are greeted by the menacing sight of Bernard Bresslaw's butler. He doesn't need to do very much to achieve instant laughter from the audience, and in saying that he's competing with two outstanding comedy performers in the form of Harry H Corbett and Jim Dale. This scene leads into the wonderful exchange with Kenneth Williams' twitching Orlando with some excellent fast, revue-like word play as Bung and Slobotham look for evidence. Expertly played by a collection of handpicked, hugely experienced performers. Actors like Peter really do make it look so effortless and easy and therein lies the skill of the man.
I think the climax of Peter's role in Carry On Screaming is his wonderful drag sequence as he and Sergeant Bung attempt to catch the mysterious monster in the woods. With Peter's Slobotham dolled up like "a bag of nutty slack"! the pair make their way to woods to pretend to be a courting couple. With Jim Dale also in situ on the hunt of the creature and Joan Sims' suspicious wife also on their trail, what could possibly go wrong?! Unlike some actors, Peter clearly revels in being done up in drag, possibly reminiscent of so many of his great roles in pantomime. Butterworth makes the perfect drag act for a Carry On as he's so obviously a man it just makes it completely hilarious, much like Bernard Bresslaw in Carry On Girls. When Slobotham is kidnapped and taken back for vitrification the whole story comes to a climax as Bung and Potter come to his rescue. As the trio fend off the gruesome monsters, Peter once again indulges in some inspired horseplay, still in his corsets and unconvincing wig!
Of course all ends well as it must do in Carry On land. Kenneth Williams' evil Dr Watt is himself vitrified, Jim Dale's handsome hero is reunited with his girlfriend, 'that man Doris' and Harry's Sidney Bung gets his wife back, although perhaps she's just not the woman she once was. And Fenella's Valeria takes on a new role as Bung's sexy housekeeper! Who knows what happened to Peter's Slobotham as he isn't present in the final scene which is a shame.
Despite that, Peter's role in Carry On Screaming remains a triumph and no doubt solidified his position as the go-to man for priceless supporting turns. He fitted in so well with the established Carry On team and very quickly became such a fan favourite. Peter would be back in another significant supporting role in the very next film in the series, as the unforgettable Citizen Bidet opposite Kenneth Williams' Camembert in Don't Lose Your Head. My blog on that role and that film coming up next!
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Last year it was reported that Bernard Cribbins might be cast in the three episodes of Dad's Army Gold are remaking in 'The Lost Episodes' strand. Well today it's thankfully been confirmed! Cribbins will be playing Private Godfrey and I for one think it's inspired casting.
The three episodes being filmed were all from 1969 and sadly the originals were destroyed after broadcast. Back in the day it wasn't so easy to preserve programming and many now classic shows fell victim to the decision to wipe recordings so tape could be reused. The episodes - A Stripe For Frazer, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker and Under Fire will feature new casts playing the well loved characters and the whole endeavour is being supported by the estates of the series' creators, Jimmy Perry and David Croft.
Kevin McNally (who has played Tony Hancock in the past) will star as Captain Mainwaring and Robert Bathurst as Sergeant Wilson. Interestingly, Bathurst played John Le Mesurier, the actor who played Wilson between 1968 and 1977, in the 2011 biopic Hattie, about the life and career of Hattie Jacques.
Meanwhile Kevin Eldon will play Corporal Jones, Matthew Horne will be Walker, David Hayman will star as Frazer and playing Private Pike will be Tom Rosenthal.
Hopefully these remakes will be true to the original style and humour of Dad's Army and the rest of the casting will be both interesting and sympathetic to the original series and its superb band of actors.
It will also be splendid to see Bernard Cribbins back on our screens.
Bernard's autobiography was recently published and you can find out more about that here.
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As regular readers will know, Peter Butterworth is one of my all time favourite comedy actors and members of the brilliant Carry On team. Over the course of sixteen films, two stage productions and countless television episodes, Peter guaranteed himself a place in our hearts for his sensational comic performances.
Sadly, today marks forty years since Peter's sad death at the age of just 59 in 1979. He was performing in pantomime in Coventry at the time of his death, as Widow Twankey in a production of Aladdin at the Coventry Theatre. After a performance, Peter returned to his hotel room where he suffered a heart attack.
Peter worked on in a range of different productions following his last Carry On appearance, as Richmond the aged boot boy in Carry On Emmannuelle which was made in 1978. His last film, The First Great Train Robbery, was on general release at the time of his death. Peter's last role was that of Mr Bywaters in a television film broadcast just a few weeks after he passed away. The production was written by Alan Bennett and directed by Stephen Frears. This surely points to the fact that Peter would indeed have gone on to even more success in his career. Sadly it wasn't to be.
At the time of his death, there was no certainty over whether the Carry Ons would continue. However with the death of Hattie Jacques the following year, it became quickly apparent that the series could not possibly return. Kenneth Williams wrote of his shock and sadness at the news of Peter's death in his diary and sent condolences to his wife, the actress and impressionist Janet Brown. Kenneth was a friend of the couple and the usually picky Mr Williams was extremely fond of them both.
Peter Butterworth had been a familiar face on stage and screen since the late 1940s, following an impressive career in the forces during the war. A beloved children's entertainer on television in the 1950s, he worked consistently across all media throughout his life, always with the best, because he was the best. When Peter died, he left his wife, the actress Janet Brown and his children Tyler and Emma. He was one of those actors who everyone loved and admired.
From his first role in the series as Doc in Carry On Cowboy to his final turn as Richmond in Emmannuelle, Peter never put in a bad performance. He excelled as Slowbotham in Carry On Screaming, as Citizen Camembert in Don't Lose Your Head and as Mr Fiddler in Carry On Camping. As for his finest performance in the films? Well I'm completely split on that one. Perhaps his beautifully played supporting turn as Brother Belcher in Up The Khyber? Who can forget his star turn in the dinner party sequence? Or maybe the excitable, desperate hotelier Pepe (or is it Mario?) in Carry On Abroad? Whichever role is your favourite, I think we can agree that Peter always gave us his best.
Thanks for all the laughs, Peter.
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I have decided to dedicate a new series of blogs to what I consider to be the very best performances in each of the thirty original Carry On films. As ever, it's a purely personal take on these films from yours truly and of course you are welcome to agree or disagree as you see fit!
Since I started the blog in 2015 I have often championed the underdog or the under appreciated. The Carry On series employed hundreds of cracking comedy actors during their twenty year lifespan and while I've done my best to celebrate as many of them as possible, there is still much to do to preserve their legacy. Some of the actors featured in this new series will be household names and leading lights, others perhaps not so well known. Whoever they are, I hope you enjoy reading about my chosen few.
To begin at the beginning, we're going back nearly 61 years to the very first Carry On to be made, Carry On Sergeant. Often overlooked as it lacked some of the crucial elements that made the later Carry Ons so popular, Sergeant may have missed the likes of Joan Sims, Sid James and Barbara Windsor, but it remains a heartwarming film and despite its vintage, very funny still. Sergeant, of course, tells the story of a platoon of misfits going through the unpleasant rigours of National Service training in the coy post-war Britain of the 1950s. It's all quite tame, innocent fare but as always with the Carry Ons, Peter and Gerald brought together a formidable band of talented actors to enliven the script.
Key to their early success was employing a bunch of excellent if largely unknown performers who would subsequently become stars in their own right. The likes of Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Connor would be known to some in the audience but they were by no means megastars. Other actors involved, such as Shirley Eaton, Eric Barker and Dora Bryan, were relative old hands in film making and had many titles under their belts. As with many of the series entries, Sergeant is very much an ensemble piece and is very shared. Peter Rogers claimed that "Carry On" was the only star and you could argue he was right. However, in the case of Sergeant, one actor in particular shines brighter than all the rest combined.
Playing Horace Strong, the superstitious anti-hero of the piece, was the fantastic Kenneth Connor. Kenneth had been acting since a very young age and had made a bit of a name for himself, particularly on radio where he worked a great deal with members of The Goons and future Carry On Teacher star, Ted Ray. Kenneth's film career had just got going when unfortunately, so did the Second World War, but the new medium of commercial television had started to see Connor's promise in the mid to late 1950s. So he was possibly a voice audiences had heard even if they couldn't place the face or the name.
We all know what a talented actor Kenneth Connor was. As I've written before he was perhaps less celebrated when compared to the larger than life tabloid fillers such as Sid, Barbara or Kenneth Williams, but for me Kenneth Connor was just a wonderful, very natural, tremendously dedicated actor. Along with Kenneth Williams and Eric Barker, Connor was the only actor in the entire team to feature in the entire original run of films and the two Kenneths really did enjoy (or should that be endure?) terrific Carry On longevity. Connor was quietly dependable but supremely talented and never put in a dud performance, no matter what the medium or the quality of the production. His Carry On career took an interesting path too. Starting out as the relatively youthful, clumsy and bumbling unlikely romantic lead in the Norman Hudis era, Kenneth returned in the late 1960s to play bumbling, randy middle aged middle men and frustrated local bureaucrats. His talents transcended a generation.
Although he appeared in seventeen of the films, countless televisions and a couple of stage shows, for me at least, Kenneth's very first comedy character role in the series, as Horace in Sergeant, might very well be his finest hour. In a cast bursting with fresh talent, with everyone getting their turn to shine, Connor soars above the pack with a beautifully touching, funny portrayal of man who just can't get on in life no matter how hard he tries. Horace is continually sent up by his fellow soldiers and is a constant let down whenever a physical challenge appears on the horizon. He's one of the major reasons for Able Platoon's poor performance and he repeatedly tests the patience of all those around him.
His saving graces take the form of two wonderful, if very different women. As soon as Dora Bryan's romantic dreamer cum NAAFI worker Norah spots poor Horace, he's a goner. She swoons, she moons, she goes goggly-eyed as only the delicious Dora could and the pair are a match made in heaven. No matter how hard poor Norah tries to catch Horace's attention, he blanks her, ignores her or runs away scared in the face of womanly temptations! Dora and Kenneth are totally, utterly sweet together on screen and form the heart and soul of Sergeant. A shame Dora Bryan never made another Carry On, although if she had then it's probable that Joan Sims wouldn't have got a look in.
Spotting the romantic tension between Norah and Horace, the camp's Medical Officer, the formidable Captain Clark steps in. Although Hattie Jacques' role in Sergeant is relatively small compared to some of her later, more celebrated parts, she does provide one of the few other female voices in the film. As the stern medic with a heart of gold, Hattie shines. Her scenes are pretty much all with Kenneth Connor and the pair have a regular running gag throughout the film as Strong continually attends her clinic with his latest medical preoccupation, only to be sent away and told to keep taking the tablets. It is Clark however, who sees the light at the end of the tunnel and whips Strong away before the last ditch attempt to gain any kudos - the passing out parade. The pair visit a team of medical specialists in a quick fire scene which sees Horace undergo endless analysis and tests before finding out the root of his ills - his love for the inimitable Norah.
Returning to base a new man, Horace then astounds the fellow soldiers in a truly brilliant scene. Connor manages to keep the essence of Horace while completely transforming his manner, his stance, his walk and even his voice. It's a beautifully played comedic scene and as is often the case, the actors involved raise the bar far above the material and the budget. With Horace a new man with the love a good woman, the platoon turn their performance around and come out on top. The finale is fantastic, patriotic and fairly brings a lump to your throat. As is often the case in the Carry On World, alls well that ends well.
Looking back at Sergeant, again with benefit of hindsight right enough, it is easy to see who the real stars are and who would become the mainstays of the comedy film series that even when Sergeant was released, was really in nobody's mind. To most of the actors Carry On Sergeant was just another film. Coincidentally, apparently it was Kenneth Connor as the lone voice who felt that it was the start of something very special. Connor, Williams, Jacques and Hawtrey would form the backbone of many films that followed and in this film they were supported by countless other top talents. Despite this, the film, for me at least, belongs to the superlative Kenneth Connor and his superb turn as Horace Strong.
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Today sees Carry On Emmannuelle leading lady Suzanne Danielle celebrate her 62nd birthday.
Born in January 1957, Suzanne had only made three brief screen appearances before being cast in the leading role of Emmannuelle Prevert opposite Kenneth Williams. She had two uncredited performances, one as a disco dancer in the infamous film The Stud and another as a girl at a party in the film The Wild Geese. Suzanne also had a few lines in an episode in the first series of The Professionals, filmed in 1977. Not a lot to go on before being cast in the last Carry On film of the 1970s.
More small film roles followed in the likes of Arabian Adventure and The Golden Lady (both 1979) while later that year she went on to appear in four episodes of Doctor Who for the BBC. Further television roles followed, working with impressionist Mike Yarwood and guest starring in Hammer House of Horror and Tales of the Unexpected, both popular series in the early 1980s.
Later film roles followed including the Cannon and Ball big screen outing, The Boys in Blue, which saw her working again with Jack Douglas. Suzanne's last film role came in the Donald Sutherland film The Trouble with Spies, released in 1987. Suzanne also worked again with Carry On co-stars Joan Sims and Kenneth Connor in the pantomime Jack and The Beanstalk at the Richmond Theatre in 1984.
Suzanne Danielle was in a relationship with fellow actor (and one time Carry On star) Patrick Mower for several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By the mid-1980s Suzanne had met the Scottish golfer Sam Torrance. Danielle and Torrance eventually married in Scotland in 1995.
Whatever Suzanne is up to today, I hope she has a lovely birthday.
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The original Carry On girl, the gorgeous Shirley Eaton, celebrates her birthday today. Happy Birthday Shirley!
Shirley was the original Carry On blonde, combining stunning good looks with an innocent girl next door persona which suited the early Carry Ons in which she appeared ever so well. Joining the team for their very first film, Carry On Sergeant, the 21 year old Shirley starred opposite Bob Monkhouse, Kenneth Connor and Dora Bryan. Shirley returned for a further starring role in the classic Carry On Nurse later the same year. Her final appearance in the series was a featured role in 1959's Carry On Constable, as Sally Barry.
Shirley Eaton starred in many other wonderful films during her career. She was seen in two Doctor films for Betty Box, starred alongside Dennis Price, Terry-Thomas and Peggy Mount in The Naked Truth, worked with Wilfrid Hyde White and Stanley Holloway in Ten Little Indians, co-starred with Bob and Kenneth again in Dentist On The Job and of course, starred with Sean Connery in the classic Bond film, Goldfinger in 1964. On the small screen, Shirley appeared in several episodes of The Saint with Roger Moore and was a regular cast member in Great Scott, It's Maynard with fellow Carry On actors Terry Scott and Bill Maynard.
Shirley took the brave step of retiring from acting at the peak of her fame in the late 1960s to concentrate on raising her young family. Thankfully she returned to the limelight in the late 1990s and is now a regular face at film conventions and in documentaries that focus on the very best of classic British film.
Whatever Shirley is up to today, I hope she has an excellent birthday!
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I was watching the rather suspenseful Hammer Horror film Taste of Fear the other night on Talking Picture TV (if you haven't seen this little gem I'd recommend it) when I struck once again by the performance of the actor Ronald Lewis. Ronald played, on the face of it, a rather chivalrous chauffeur and he most definitely demonstrated his capabilities as a leading man. He even managed to carry off a rather interesting pair of swimming shorts…
Anyway, I digress. I first became aware of Ronald thanks to his appearances in two films produced by Peter Rogers and directed by Gerald Thomas. In 1962 he co-starred as Bob White, a patient at a TB sanatorium in the bittersweet comedy film Twice Round The Daffodils. In a cast which featured the likes of Donald Sinden, Kenneth Williams, Sheila Hancock, Joan Sims and Donald Houston, Lewis holds his own and provides strong romantic interest alongside leading lady Juliet Mills. Peter and Gerald obviously thought so too as they cast the pair in the leads of their 1963 district nurse comedy, Nurse On Wheels. Once again Juliet and Ronald are a delightful double act. I've written before about how I think Ronald Lewis should have been cast in a proper Carry On - I could see him starring in the likes of Jack, Cleo or Spying not to mention the handsome lead in Carry On Cowboy or Don't Lose Your Head (no offence to Jim Dale who is absolutely terrific).
As I delved into the life and career of Ronald Lewis, unfortunately a rather sad tale emerged. I remember reading in Kenneth Williams' diary how sad Kenneth was to learn of Ronald's death, recalling what a nice man he was when they worked together and how sad it was that his life had not worked out as planned. Ronald died, aged just 53, on 11 January 1982- that's 37 years ago this very day. Following a run of bad luck and an acting career which lapsed into the doldrums by the late 1970s, Ronald was declared bankrupt by the turn of the decade. He took his own life, taking an overdose on that fateful day. A sobering story on a man who once showed such great promise.
Ronald Lewis was born in Port Talbot, Wales on 11 December 1928. While attending school in Bridgend he got his first taste of acting when he appeared in a production of The Merchant of Venice. After school he went off to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Once he graduated, Ronald went on to learn his trade in repertory theatre, as many great actors did at that time. Plays he appeared in around the country included An Ideal Husband and The Square Ring. The latter also proved to be one of Ronald's earliest big screen appearances in 1953.
Breaking into film in the early 1950s, Ronald made early appearances in The Beachcomber in 1954, Helen of Troy in 1955 and opposite Alec Guinness in The Prisoner, also that year. Lewis was signed to a contract in films by the legendary Alexander Korda after Ronald's success in a stage production of Mourning Becomes Electra, directed by Peter Hall. This led to the most profitable period in Ronald's career. Leading roles in hit films followed, such as the Peggy Mount comedy Sailor Beware in 1956 and A Hill in Korea the same year. He starred opposite Belinda Lee in the thriller The Secret Place in 1957 and played villains in Robbery Under Arms and The Wind Cannot Read.
Two of Ronald's later big hits on the cinema screen were the aforementioned Taste of Fear alongside Susan Strasberg, Ann Todd and Christopher Lee. The Seth Holt directed film was very successful, with Lee even proclaiming it was possibly the best film he ever made for Hammer. Ronald also went on to appear in Mr Sardonicus for William Castle the same year. Sadly though, this run of good fortune was not to last. In the mid 1960s, scandal touched Ronald's private life and his marriage collapsed. With his film career all but over, Lewis spent the remainder of his career on the stage and on the growing market of television.
One of his last major roles was indeed on the small screen, in the series His and Hers which aired between 1970 and 1972. He also appeared in episodes of Z Cars, Crown Court, Tales of Unease and Public Eye, although none of these roles gave him the same stardom of his earlier career. Ronald's last screen credit came in 1979 and two years later came that terrible bankruptcy. Ronald was found dead on 11 January 1982, in Pimlico.
Without dwelling on whatever apparently went on in his private life, there is no doubting Ronald's skill as an actor, particularly on the big screen. A handsome, arresting presence, he could quite easily have gone on to even greater things. Sadly though, it was not to be.
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