Ian Lavender, the last remaining cast member of beloved BBC sitcom Dad’s Army, has died. He was 77.
An X statement from the official Dad’s Army Radio Show account announced that Lavender, who played Private Frank Pike in the sitcom that ran for a decade, ending in 1977, had died on Friday.
“We are deeply saddened to hear the passing of the wonderful Ian Lavender,” said the statement. “In what truly marks the end of an era, Ian was the last surviving member of the Dad’s Army main cast. His wonderful performance as Private Frank Pike will live on for decades to come.”
The statement added that Lavender, who appeared in the 2016 Dad’s Army movie and whose other work included EastEnders, Parsley Sidings and Rising Damp, “leaves behind a legacy of laughter enjoyed by millions.” It said it would dedicate this year’s Dad’s Army tour to Lavender’s memory.
An X statement from the official Dad’s Army Radio Show account announced that Lavender, who played Private Frank Pike in the sitcom that ran for a decade, ending in 1977, had died on Friday.
“We are deeply saddened to hear the passing of the wonderful Ian Lavender,” said the statement. “In what truly marks the end of an era, Ian was the last surviving member of the Dad’s Army main cast. His wonderful performance as Private Frank Pike will live on for decades to come.”
The statement added that Lavender, who appeared in the 2016 Dad’s Army movie and whose other work included EastEnders, Parsley Sidings and Rising Damp, “leaves behind a legacy of laughter enjoyed by millions.” It said it would dedicate this year’s Dad’s Army tour to Lavender’s memory.
- 2/5/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Ahead of the release of The Railway Children Return, here’s your chance to ask the legendary actor about his extraordinary career. Leave your questions in the comments – all aboard!
Along with Michael Caine and Terence Stamp, Tom Courtenay is a living link to British cinema’s 1960s glory years, when his performances in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Billy Liar were key to the success of the British new wave. Courtenay is also a master of the theatre, having originated the title role of Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests in 1974, and another Norman, in The Dresser in 1980, which he reprised in the successful film adaptation a few years later which nabbed him an Oscar nomination.
More recently, the Rada-trained actor won awards opposite Charlotte Rampling in the wintry marriage drama 45 Years; reimagined Clive Dunn’s Lance Corporal Jones for the 2016 cinematic update of Dad’s Army...
Along with Michael Caine and Terence Stamp, Tom Courtenay is a living link to British cinema’s 1960s glory years, when his performances in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Billy Liar were key to the success of the British new wave. Courtenay is also a master of the theatre, having originated the title role of Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests in 1974, and another Norman, in The Dresser in 1980, which he reprised in the successful film adaptation a few years later which nabbed him an Oscar nomination.
More recently, the Rada-trained actor won awards opposite Charlotte Rampling in the wintry marriage drama 45 Years; reimagined Clive Dunn’s Lance Corporal Jones for the 2016 cinematic update of Dad’s Army...
- 6/30/2022
- by Rich Pelley
- The Guardian - Film News
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We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story is touching, humorous and ultimately heartwarming piece of television...
New Dad’s Army casts are like buses: you wait ages for one to come along, and then when two turn up at once they don’t like it up ‘em. While it’s never been far from the public consciousness, the sitcom about the Home Guard of Walmington-on-Sea seems to have experienced a surge in popularity over the last few years, with repeats on BBC Two having become a Saturday night staple - only a few weeks ago, it was the programme with the highest Appreciation Index for the whole of a Saturday which included Strictly, The X Factor, I’m A Celeb and the Doctor Who finale. And with the new Dad’s Army film starring Toby Jones and Bill Nighy set for release in February, it’s the perfect...
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We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story is touching, humorous and ultimately heartwarming piece of television...
New Dad’s Army casts are like buses: you wait ages for one to come along, and then when two turn up at once they don’t like it up ‘em. While it’s never been far from the public consciousness, the sitcom about the Home Guard of Walmington-on-Sea seems to have experienced a surge in popularity over the last few years, with repeats on BBC Two having become a Saturday night staple - only a few weeks ago, it was the programme with the highest Appreciation Index for the whole of a Saturday which included Strictly, The X Factor, I’m A Celeb and the Doctor Who finale. And with the new Dad’s Army film starring Toby Jones and Bill Nighy set for release in February, it’s the perfect...
- 12/22/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Don't panic! Your first look at BBC Two's upcoming Dad's Army origins drama is here.
We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story tells of the struggles creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft had to endure to get the classic comedy on screen.
The stills show Friday Night Dinner's Paul Ritter and Game of Thrones actor Richard Dormer as Perry and Croft, respectively, and John Sessions as a dead ringer for Arthur Lowe.
EastEnders star Shane Richie will play Bill Pertwee in the one-off film, with the rest of the Dad's Army actors portrayed by Julian Sands (as John Le Mesurier), Mark Heap (as Clive Dunn), Kevin Bishop (as James Beck), Michael Cochrane (as Arnold Ridley) and Ralph Riach (as John Laurie).
Meanwhile, Keith Allen will appear as TV executive Paul Fox and Sally Phillips will play Croft's wife Ann.
The drama has been written by Stephen Russell (Shameless) and...
We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story tells of the struggles creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft had to endure to get the classic comedy on screen.
The stills show Friday Night Dinner's Paul Ritter and Game of Thrones actor Richard Dormer as Perry and Croft, respectively, and John Sessions as a dead ringer for Arthur Lowe.
EastEnders star Shane Richie will play Bill Pertwee in the one-off film, with the rest of the Dad's Army actors portrayed by Julian Sands (as John Le Mesurier), Mark Heap (as Clive Dunn), Kevin Bishop (as James Beck), Michael Cochrane (as Arnold Ridley) and Ralph Riach (as John Laurie).
Meanwhile, Keith Allen will appear as TV executive Paul Fox and Sally Phillips will play Croft's wife Ann.
The drama has been written by Stephen Russell (Shameless) and...
- 10/27/2015
- Digital Spy
There's already a Dad's Army movie remake on the horizon, and now there's going to be a drama based around its origins.
EastEnders star Shane Richie will play Bill Pertwee in BBC Two's Making Dad's Army, a one-off film about the classic and beloved British sitcom.
The drama will focus on the show's original idea in 1967 up until its first broadcast in 1968, and the struggles creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft had to endure to get it on screen.
Friday Night Dinner's Paul Ritter will play Perry, while Game of Thrones actor Richard Dormer will portray Croft.
The rest of the Dad's Army actors will be played by John Sessions (as Arthur Lowe), Julian Sands (as John Le Mesurier), Mark Heap (as Clive Dunn), Kevin Bishop (as James Beck), Michael Cochrane (as Arnold Ridley) and Ralph Riach (as John Laurie).
Meanwhile, Keith Allen will play TV executive Paul Fox,...
EastEnders star Shane Richie will play Bill Pertwee in BBC Two's Making Dad's Army, a one-off film about the classic and beloved British sitcom.
The drama will focus on the show's original idea in 1967 up until its first broadcast in 1968, and the struggles creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft had to endure to get it on screen.
Friday Night Dinner's Paul Ritter will play Perry, while Game of Thrones actor Richard Dormer will portray Croft.
The rest of the Dad's Army actors will be played by John Sessions (as Arthur Lowe), Julian Sands (as John Le Mesurier), Mark Heap (as Clive Dunn), Kevin Bishop (as James Beck), Michael Cochrane (as Arnold Ridley) and Ralph Riach (as John Laurie).
Meanwhile, Keith Allen will play TV executive Paul Fox,...
- 8/28/2015
- Digital Spy
The fact that a show as outlandish as Doctor Who should itself become the subject of a wealth of parodies across various media is surely testament to its iconic status. Given its longevity, the program itself might have degenerated into self-parody but the flexibility and endless possibilities of all of space and time future proof the Doctor from falling on his own sword. There have been occasional moments of self-parody (Invasion Of Time and Love And Monsters are examples) but more often than not it is the dominant contemporary culture which is parodied within the show, including the likes of the British tax system (The Sunmakers), Thatcherism (The Happiness Patrol) and the banking crisis (Time Heist).
Last year UK copyright law was amended to take account of the added powers to not only create spoofs through photo and video manipulation software but to also freely publicise them, allowing them the...
Last year UK copyright law was amended to take account of the added powers to not only create spoofs through photo and video manipulation software but to also freely publicise them, allowing them the...
- 1/14/2015
- by Paul Driscoll
- Obsessed with Film
BBC
As the longest running science fiction programme in the world, Doctor Who has left a large cultural legacy behind it and like anything that has been noted as significant in time (and relative dimensions in space, of course!), the iconic themes and characters of our favourite time travelling mad man with a box have been extended into a range of other medias.
There is a whole Genesis Ark worth of references in other television programmes, some of which are featured here. The first Doctor Who spoof, however, was on the sketch show It’s a Square World in 1963. Clive Dunn – better known for playing Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in Dad’s Army – played a scientist called Doctor Fotheringown who, dressed in William Hartnell’s costume and wig, demonstrated a new rocket that ended up sending BBC Television Centre into space.
While the recent parody that’s probably most well known is Inspector Spacetime,...
As the longest running science fiction programme in the world, Doctor Who has left a large cultural legacy behind it and like anything that has been noted as significant in time (and relative dimensions in space, of course!), the iconic themes and characters of our favourite time travelling mad man with a box have been extended into a range of other medias.
There is a whole Genesis Ark worth of references in other television programmes, some of which are featured here. The first Doctor Who spoof, however, was on the sketch show It’s a Square World in 1963. Clive Dunn – better known for playing Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in Dad’s Army – played a scientist called Doctor Fotheringown who, dressed in William Hartnell’s costume and wig, demonstrated a new rocket that ended up sending BBC Television Centre into space.
While the recent parody that’s probably most well known is Inspector Spacetime,...
- 12/18/2014
- by Adam Smith
- Obsessed with Film
Alex pays a fond return revisit to 1960s classic TV series, The Avengers...
Stylish crime fighting, despicable evil masterminds, a bowler-hatted old Etonian gentleman spy and a series of beautiful leather cat-suited, kinky-booted, no-nonsense heroines. The Avengers had all this and more. What began as a monochrome tape series in January 1961 ran the whole of the Sixties, becoming a colourful slice of period hokum, full of flair, wit and sophistication, yet with its tongue firmly in its cheek.
Always the perfect gentleman, John Steed was played by Patrick Macnee. Originally billed second to the late Ian Hendry, Macnee was still playing Steed over 15 years later when he was teamed with the youthful duo of Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt for The New Avengers in 1976. In the 1998 film, the role of Steed was given to Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman played Emma Peel. I will say no more about the film.
Stylish crime fighting, despicable evil masterminds, a bowler-hatted old Etonian gentleman spy and a series of beautiful leather cat-suited, kinky-booted, no-nonsense heroines. The Avengers had all this and more. What began as a monochrome tape series in January 1961 ran the whole of the Sixties, becoming a colourful slice of period hokum, full of flair, wit and sophistication, yet with its tongue firmly in its cheek.
Always the perfect gentleman, John Steed was played by Patrick Macnee. Originally billed second to the late Ian Hendry, Macnee was still playing Steed over 15 years later when he was teamed with the youthful duo of Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt for The New Avengers in 1976. In the 1998 film, the role of Steed was given to Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman played Emma Peel. I will say no more about the film.
- 10/13/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Viewers of a certain age may remember a quirky kids TV show called Grandad in which Clive Dunn played Charlie Quick, an absent-minded old caretaker who would almost certainly end each episode by drowning his spluttering boss in a tidal wave of fizzy drinks spurting from a malfunctioning dispenser unit.
Good times. And refreshingly free of the moronic TV programming that viewers have to endure these days. This ratings-driven disease has conveniently eaten its way into good old Doctor Who, which has been pushed back to 8.30 in order to make way for two tacky hours worth of Z-list celebs moving around a big floor. Considering that Doctor Who is supposed to be a family programme, pushing it back to make way for the lowest-common-denominator trash of Strictly Come Dancing makes about as much sense as a man trying to give directions with 100 gobstoppers in his mouth. That's the whole junior audience left out for starters.
Good times. And refreshingly free of the moronic TV programming that viewers have to endure these days. This ratings-driven disease has conveniently eaten its way into good old Doctor Who, which has been pushed back to 8.30 in order to make way for two tacky hours worth of Z-list celebs moving around a big floor. Considering that Doctor Who is supposed to be a family programme, pushing it back to make way for the lowest-common-denominator trash of Strictly Come Dancing makes about as much sense as a man trying to give directions with 100 gobstoppers in his mouth. That's the whole junior audience left out for starters.
- 10/11/2014
- Shadowlocked
The all-star cast for the big-screen reboot of the classic sitcom Dad's Army has been revealed.
Bill Nighy, Toby Jones and Michael Gambon are among the actors to feature in the film, written by Hamish McColl and directed by Oliver Parker.
The BBC One comedy was created by Jimmy Perry and the late David Croft and originally aired between 1968 and 1977.
Here's our guide of who's playing the seven main platoon members below:
Captain George Mainwaring
Marvellous actor Toby Jones takes on the pompous, patriotic bank manager and pillar of the community Captain George Mainwaring, played by Arthur Lowe in the BBC comedy.
Sergeant Arthur Wilson
Bill Nighy will be playing privately educated, former city banker Sergeant Arthur Wilson, who is of a cheerful and carefree disposition yet exudes an aura of mystery. He's at odds with Captain George Mainwaring over his privileged background.
Wilson was originally played by the late British actor John Le Mesurier.
Bill Nighy, Toby Jones and Michael Gambon are among the actors to feature in the film, written by Hamish McColl and directed by Oliver Parker.
The BBC One comedy was created by Jimmy Perry and the late David Croft and originally aired between 1968 and 1977.
Here's our guide of who's playing the seven main platoon members below:
Captain George Mainwaring
Marvellous actor Toby Jones takes on the pompous, patriotic bank manager and pillar of the community Captain George Mainwaring, played by Arthur Lowe in the BBC comedy.
Sergeant Arthur Wilson
Bill Nighy will be playing privately educated, former city banker Sergeant Arthur Wilson, who is of a cheerful and carefree disposition yet exudes an aura of mystery. He's at odds with Captain George Mainwaring over his privileged background.
Wilson was originally played by the late British actor John Le Mesurier.
- 10/8/2014
- Digital Spy
The all-star cast for the big-screen reboot of the classic sitcom Dad's Army has been revealed.
Bill Nighy, Toby Jones and Michael Gambon are among the actors to feature in the film, written by Hamish McColl and directed by Oliver Parker.
The BBC One comedy was created by Jimmy Perry and the late David Croft and originally aired between 1968 and 1977.
Here's our guide of who's playing the seven main platoon members below:
Captain George Mainwaring
Marvellous actor Toby Jones takes on the pompous, patriotic bank manager and pillar of the community Captain George Mainwaring, played by Arthur Lowe in the BBC comedy.
Sergeant Arthur Wilson
Bill Nighy will be playing privately educated, former city banker Sergeant Arthur Wilson, who is of a cheerful and carefree disposition yet exudes an aura of mystery. He's at odds with Captain George Mainwaring over his privileged background.
Wilson was originally played by the late British actor John Le Mesurier.
Bill Nighy, Toby Jones and Michael Gambon are among the actors to feature in the film, written by Hamish McColl and directed by Oliver Parker.
The BBC One comedy was created by Jimmy Perry and the late David Croft and originally aired between 1968 and 1977.
Here's our guide of who's playing the seven main platoon members below:
Captain George Mainwaring
Marvellous actor Toby Jones takes on the pompous, patriotic bank manager and pillar of the community Captain George Mainwaring, played by Arthur Lowe in the BBC comedy.
Sergeant Arthur Wilson
Bill Nighy will be playing privately educated, former city banker Sergeant Arthur Wilson, who is of a cheerful and carefree disposition yet exudes an aura of mystery. He's at odds with Captain George Mainwaring over his privileged background.
Wilson was originally played by the late British actor John Le Mesurier.
- 10/8/2014
- Digital Spy
With the news that Dad's Army is to be remade as a film starring Bill Nighy and Toby Jones, we take a look at which TV classics should get the big screen treatment
Bill Nighy and Toby Jones set to star in big-screen Dad's Army
Much loved BBC sitcom Dad's Army is to be brought to the big screen with Toby Jones and Bill Nighy starring as Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson. The film is to be directed by Oliver Parker, responsible for Johnny English Reborn and the St Trinians remake, and original Dad's Army writer Jimmy Perry is on board as a producer.
Reaction to the news has not been universally positive among Guardian readers:
Nighy and Jones are excellent performers, but no-one will better the chemistry between the original cast members of Dad's Army.
Why remake something which is already perfect? It's like rewriting Hamlet!
Well, at least...
Bill Nighy and Toby Jones set to star in big-screen Dad's Army
Much loved BBC sitcom Dad's Army is to be brought to the big screen with Toby Jones and Bill Nighy starring as Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson. The film is to be directed by Oliver Parker, responsible for Johnny English Reborn and the St Trinians remake, and original Dad's Army writer Jimmy Perry is on board as a producer.
Reaction to the news has not been universally positive among Guardian readers:
Nighy and Jones are excellent performers, but no-one will better the chemistry between the original cast members of Dad's Army.
Why remake something which is already perfect? It's like rewriting Hamlet!
Well, at least...
- 4/28/2014
- by Hannah Jane Parkinson
- The Guardian - Film News
Paul Henreid in ‘Casablanca’: Freedom Fighter on screen, Blacklisted ‘Subversive’ off screen Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013, Paul Henreid, bids you farewell this evening. TCM left the most popular, if not exactly the best, for last: Casablanca, Michael Curtiz’s 1943 Best Picture Oscar-winning drama, is showing at 7 p.m. Pt tonight. (Photo: Paul Henreid sings "La Marseillaise" in Casablanca.) One of the best-remembered movies of the studio era, Casablanca — not set in a Spanish or Mexican White House — features Paul Henreid as Czechoslovakian underground leader Victor Laszlo, Ingrid Bergman’s husband but not her True Love. That’s Humphrey Bogart, owner of a cafe in the titular Moroccan city. Henreid’s anti-Nazi hero is generally considered one of least interesting elements in Casablanca, but Alt Film Guide contributor Dan Schneider thinks otherwise. In any case, Victor Laszlo feels like a character made to order for Paul Henreid,...
- 7/31/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
It's that time of year when TV stars dig out their best suits and practice their best 'loser's smile face' - the TV BAFTAs are back.
Graham Norton is our host for the evening, and stars from Last Tango In Halifax, Game of Thrones, Homeland and The Thick of It are among the talent competing for the main gongs.
Join us live from 8pm on Digital Spy when we'll be live blogging the TV BAFTAs.
22:03Well, that's just about it! Aside from quite an underwhelming performance from Graham Norton and a dodgy Tetris-esque stage, that was a throughly enjoyable evening if I may say so. Thanks for joining Digital Spy, and don't forget to write below who you think deserved to win and who was robbed. Goodnight, all!
22:02And so to the annual tack-on bit at the end where some of the more boring credible people and programmes...
Graham Norton is our host for the evening, and stars from Last Tango In Halifax, Game of Thrones, Homeland and The Thick of It are among the talent competing for the main gongs.
Join us live from 8pm on Digital Spy when we'll be live blogging the TV BAFTAs.
22:03Well, that's just about it! Aside from quite an underwhelming performance from Graham Norton and a dodgy Tetris-esque stage, that was a throughly enjoyable evening if I may say so. Thanks for joining Digital Spy, and don't forget to write below who you think deserved to win and who was robbed. Goodnight, all!
22:02And so to the annual tack-on bit at the end where some of the more boring credible people and programmes...
- 5/12/2013
- Digital Spy
Hugh Laurie: 'There's a sensual pleasure involved in making music that I just can't get from acting'
His role in House made him the highest-paid actor ever in a TV drama, but with a new album out this week Laurie is keen to follow his real love
About an hour into my encounter with Hugh Laurie, in a suite at the Dorchester in London, he starts protesting at length about how boring his answers to my questions are. He had been talking – rather interestingly – about his theory that television, rather than film, was the medium through which the Us "not just projects its image of itself to the world, but actually decides what its image is. It's America's way of conversing with itself about what it believes to be important."
He has just finished telling me that he doesn't think British TV is as interested in expressing grand ideas about identity and purpose – "I think that's a bit highfalutin for us" – when he suddenly brings himself up short.
About an hour into my encounter with Hugh Laurie, in a suite at the Dorchester in London, he starts protesting at length about how boring his answers to my questions are. He had been talking – rather interestingly – about his theory that television, rather than film, was the medium through which the Us "not just projects its image of itself to the world, but actually decides what its image is. It's America's way of conversing with itself about what it believes to be important."
He has just finished telling me that he doesn't think British TV is as interested in expressing grand ideas about identity and purpose – "I think that's a bit highfalutin for us" – when he suddenly brings himself up short.
- 5/7/2013
- by Alexis Petridis
- The Guardian - Film News
If the year's two biggest blockbusters strive to be meatier than Transformers, hooray. But great pop shouldn't be too po-faced
As 2012's bum end approaches, I've been getting up to speed with some of the thrilling cultural phenomena that somehow passed me by, months after everyone else got bored of them. My life's been one big catch-up channel. It's not just idle curiosity: I'm preparing an end-of-the-year TV show, so I have to digest this stuff quickly: Homeland. Gangnam Style. The dog that won Britain's Got Talent. Brand new items in my mental trolley.
Some patterns emerge. Recently I watched The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall and realised they're essentially the same. In both films a screen icon gets the shit knocked out of him early on and spends much of the second act intermittently clutching his back and complaining. You might as well be watching a $200m advert for Voltarol.
As 2012's bum end approaches, I've been getting up to speed with some of the thrilling cultural phenomena that somehow passed me by, months after everyone else got bored of them. My life's been one big catch-up channel. It's not just idle curiosity: I'm preparing an end-of-the-year TV show, so I have to digest this stuff quickly: Homeland. Gangnam Style. The dog that won Britain's Got Talent. Brand new items in my mental trolley.
Some patterns emerge. Recently I watched The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall and realised they're essentially the same. In both films a screen icon gets the shit knocked out of him early on and spends much of the second act intermittently clutching his back and complaining. You might as well be watching a $200m advert for Voltarol.
- 12/10/2012
- by Charlie Brooker
- The Guardian - Film News
Fans of Dad's Army have been told to heed the "Don't Panic" catchphrase made famous by the late Clive Dunn, who played Corporal Jones, as there is a re-invention of the classic sitcom in the pipeline. Nearly four decades since the last episode of the show about bumbling Home Guard soldiers, co-writer Jimmy Perry has revealed a film version is in the works. Perry revealed to a meeting of the Dad's Army Appreciation Society that a film version could be developed – but received a round of "groans". Perhaps because speculation emerged that Captain Mainwaring, played by Arthur Lowe in the series, might be played by a woman. Permission to speak, ma'am.
Television industryClive DunnComedyComedyTelevisionMonkey
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Television industryClive DunnComedyComedyTelevisionMonkey
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 11/13/2012
- by Monkey
- The Guardian - Film News
Tributes have been paid to Clive Dunn, who died at the age of 92 on Tuesday (06.11.12). Frank Williams, who played the vicar on TV series 'Dad's Army' - for which Clive was best known - revealed he always had ''fun'' with him on set and claimed he was a ''wonderful'' man. He said: ''Of course he was much younger than the parts he played. ''It's very difficult to think of him as an old man really. ''But he was a wonderful person to work with - great sense of humour, always fun, a great joy really.'' Fellow co-star star Ian Lavender, who...
- 11/8/2012
- Virgin Media - TV
Clive Dunn
Kieran Kinsella
The man who played the most popular character in British TV’s most beloved sitcom has died. Veteran actor Clive Dunn passed away at the age of 92 in Portugal. The actor is best known for his role as Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army. With Dunn’s passing, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee and Frank Williams are the only surviving members of the sitcom that changed the face of British television. Clive Dunn is survived by his wife and two daughters. Click below to see some of Dunn’s classic moments of comedy.
Click here to friend Best British TV on Facebook or here to follow us on Twitter. You can also find us on Google+ by clicking here.
Kieran Kinsella
The man who played the most popular character in British TV’s most beloved sitcom has died. Veteran actor Clive Dunn passed away at the age of 92 in Portugal. The actor is best known for his role as Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army. With Dunn’s passing, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee and Frank Williams are the only surviving members of the sitcom that changed the face of British television. Clive Dunn is survived by his wife and two daughters. Click below to see some of Dunn’s classic moments of comedy.
Click here to friend Best British TV on Facebook or here to follow us on Twitter. You can also find us on Google+ by clicking here.
- 11/8/2012
- by Edited by K Kinsella
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn was born in Covent Garden, London on January 9, 1920 from a family of theatrics - he was the cousin of Gretchen Franklin, Ethel Skinner in EastEnders. As a child, Dunn's life was almost cut short when he had a supernumerary nipple removed. After training at the Italia Conti School, he appeared alongside comedy legend Will Hay in Boys Will Be Boys and Good Morning, Boys during the 1930s. His career was temporarily interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, during the course of which he spent four years in Austria as a prisoner of war after being called up as a 20-year-old. Photo gallery - Clive Dunn's life and career:
Upon returning to the UK, Dunn spent a few years in music halls, before making his television break in The Tony Hancock Show and later Hancock's Half Hour, where (more)...
Upon returning to the UK, Dunn spent a few years in music halls, before making his television break in The Tony Hancock Show and later Hancock's Half Hour, where (more)...
- 11/7/2012
- by By Paul Millar
- Digital Spy
Clive Dunn has died at the age of 92. The actor passed away in Portugal today (November 7) after suffering from complications following an operation earlier this week. Dunn was best known for his role in sitcom Dad's Army as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones, famous for his "don't panic" and "permission to speak" catchphrases. Dad's Army ran from 1968 to 1977 and Dunn featured in all nine series and a 1971 spinoff movie. The surviving cast of the show reunited in 2008 to mark the programme's 40th anniversary. "My wife saw the first episode and said this is going to be a huge success and I always do what she says," Dunn said of joining the sitcom. Before he was cast in Dad's Army, Dunn had several movie roles, including Boys Will Be Boys and Good Morning Boys. He recorded a number of songs, (more)...
- 11/7/2012
- by By Mayer Nissim
- Digital Spy
You may find the new Ben Stiller movie The Watch strangely familiar. But that's not necessarily a good thing
You might be forgiven for thinking that you've seen The Watch before. Not because Ben Stiller's character is the same uptight blowhard that he has played in everything for the past 15 years, or because Richard Ayoade is basically just Moss from The It Crowd again, or because Vince Vaughn remains content to sit back and bibble out the same directionless patter that has been his stock in trade for what seems like centuries.
No. The reason is because, once you've scraped away all the sex jokes and clanging Costco product placement, you're basically left with Dad's Army. Both are essentially stories about a group of ill-prepared middle-aged incompetents trying to escape the monotony of their day-to-day lives by fudging together a defence against an enemy they don't fully understand. With The Watch,...
You might be forgiven for thinking that you've seen The Watch before. Not because Ben Stiller's character is the same uptight blowhard that he has played in everything for the past 15 years, or because Richard Ayoade is basically just Moss from The It Crowd again, or because Vince Vaughn remains content to sit back and bibble out the same directionless patter that has been his stock in trade for what seems like centuries.
No. The reason is because, once you've scraped away all the sex jokes and clanging Costco product placement, you're basically left with Dad's Army. Both are essentially stories about a group of ill-prepared middle-aged incompetents trying to escape the monotony of their day-to-day lives by fudging together a defence against an enemy they don't fully understand. With The Watch,...
- 8/16/2012
- by Stuart Heritage
- The Guardian - Film News
My DVD of Just Like a Woman (1967), pre-ordered months earlier and delayed because it was in the same order as The Devils (1971), arrived two days after its director, Robert Fuest, died. Come to think of it, I think Ken Russell was still alive when I ordered The Devils. An obituary double feature.
Above: Career best performance. Career worst hair.
I was very keen to see Just Like a Woman, Fuest’s first feature, even though I wasn’t expecting it to be particularly good. I had an idea it was a swinging London sex comedy, not the kind of material he was associated with. For that, you’d have to look at his art-deco grand guignol comedies The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and its sequel from the following year, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, and also at his pop-art masterpiece, The Final Programme (1973). Michael Moorcock, original author of the novel that one derived from,...
Above: Career best performance. Career worst hair.
I was very keen to see Just Like a Woman, Fuest’s first feature, even though I wasn’t expecting it to be particularly good. I had an idea it was a swinging London sex comedy, not the kind of material he was associated with. For that, you’d have to look at his art-deco grand guignol comedies The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and its sequel from the following year, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, and also at his pop-art masterpiece, The Final Programme (1973). Michael Moorcock, original author of the novel that one derived from,...
- 4/12/2012
- MUBI
Director who blended sophistication and sickness in the horror film The Abominable Dr Phibes
With its mix of pop art, sophisticated humour, pulp science fiction and English eccentricity, the television series The Avengers was among the most influential and significant products of "swinging London" in the 1960s. Robert Fuest, who has died aged 84, cut his teeth on the series under the aegis of the writer-producer Brian Clemens, initially as a production designer when the show was produced "as live" in the studio in black and white and co-starred Honor Blackman with Patrick MacNee, then as director when the series had moved on to colour, film and Linda Thorson.
As designer and director, Fuest learned how to achieve style on a budget – making a great deal of the show's famously minimalist aesthetic – and he carried this over into his best-known works as a film director, the two Dr Phibes horror movies of the early 1970s,...
With its mix of pop art, sophisticated humour, pulp science fiction and English eccentricity, the television series The Avengers was among the most influential and significant products of "swinging London" in the 1960s. Robert Fuest, who has died aged 84, cut his teeth on the series under the aegis of the writer-producer Brian Clemens, initially as a production designer when the show was produced "as live" in the studio in black and white and co-starred Honor Blackman with Patrick MacNee, then as director when the series had moved on to colour, film and Linda Thorson.
As designer and director, Fuest learned how to achieve style on a budget – making a great deal of the show's famously minimalist aesthetic – and he carried this over into his best-known works as a film director, the two Dr Phibes horror movies of the early 1970s,...
- 3/27/2012
- by Kim Newman
- The Guardian - Film News
London, Feb 1 - Russell Brand and his fiancee singer Katy Perry reportedly had their first public tiff at pre-Grammys bash, thanks to the comedian’s odd sense of humour.
The couple was walking the red carpet when Brand started joking about Hitler and drugs, reports the Mirror.
As he was welcomed to the Clive Davis party, he quipped: “Sorry, I thought this was a Clive Dunn event. I thought we’d be here talking about Dad’s Army, I’ve been misled.”
He then started singing the hit sitcom’s theme tune,.
The couple was walking the red carpet when Brand started joking about Hitler and drugs, reports the Mirror.
As he was welcomed to the Clive Davis party, he quipped: “Sorry, I thought this was a Clive Dunn event. I thought we’d be here talking about Dad’s Army, I’ve been misled.”
He then started singing the hit sitcom’s theme tune,.
- 2/1/2010
- by News
- RealBollywood.com
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