Terry-Thomas

For other uses, see Terry Thomas.

Terry-Thomas
File:Terry-Thomas&Morton.jpg Terry-Thomas (left) and Clive Morton in Lucky Jim (1957)
Born	Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens
Spouse(s)	Ida Patlanski (1938-62) Belinda Cunningham (1963-90)

Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens (14 July 1911 – 8 January 1990) was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, dressing gown, and such catch-phrases as "What an absolute shower!" and "Good show!"

Biography

Early life and career

Born Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens in Glenfern House, Nether Street, Finchley, North London,England, and educated at Ardingly College. He began his working life as a clerk with Union Cold Storage Co, before drifting into showbusiness. Thomas worked in cabaret and as a film extra before finding success as an entertainer during World War II. After the war, he worked in TV, radio and variety, but it was during the mid-1950s that he developed his famous persona, first in his television series, How Do You View?, and then in films. His performance as Major Hitchcock in John and Roy Boulting's Private's Progress (1956) gave birth to his catchphrase, "you're an absolute shower", and made him a favourite in British comedy films for the next decade. He reprised the role of Hitchcock in I'm All Right Jack (1959), and appeared in several of the Boultings' other films, including Lucky Jim and Brothers in Law.

Although Terry-Thomas was renowned for his caddish persona, he was a gifted voice actor with a range of accents in his repertoire. It was reported that the voice actor Ivan Owen based his voice for Basil Brush on Terry-Thomas's voice.

Career

He played a variety of exuberant, malevolent and silly characters during the 1960s, and became famous for his portrayal of the archetypal cad, bounder, and absolute rotter. (Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Monte Carlo or Bust; Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon). In the 1970s he reprised his character from the first two of the films above along with Eric Sykes to make high quality cinema and TV advertisements for Benson and Hedges cigarettes.

In 1966, he played a notable but very different role as an RAF airman travelling through occupied France -and nicknamed "Big Moustache" by his French helpers- in the French film La Grande Vadrouille, which for over forty years remained the most successful film in the history of cinema in France.

Personal life

He was married twice. His first marriage was to Ida Patlanski, from 1938 to 1962, and he was married to Belinda Cunningham from 1963 until his death. He had two sons.

In 1971 Thomas was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and by 1977, he had retired. In 1989, writer and broadcaster Richard Hope-Hawkins, and actor Jack Douglas, organised a benefit concert for Thomas, after discovering he was living in virtual obscurity and ill health. The gala, held at London's Theatre Royal, ran for five hours, Phil Collins topping the bill along with 120 artistes. Michael Caine was the gala chairman. The show raised over £75,000 for Thomas and the Parkinson's Disease Society. He was a second cousin of the actor, Richard Briers, who because of Terry-Thomas's Parkinson's disease, became President of the Parkinson's Disease Society.

Terry-Thomas died in 1990 at the age of 78 in Busbridge Hall nursing home, Godalming, Surrey. The funeral service was held in Busbridge's St. John the Baptist Church. He was cremated at Guildford Crematorium. His ashes were given to either a friend or a family member. .

A new biography of Terry-Thomas titled 'Bounder' and written by author Graham McCann will be released in September 2008.

Radiology

Terry Thomas' dental diastema provides the basis for naming a widening of the scapholunate space ("Terry Thomas sign") in a traumatic wrist injury.

Filmography

• Once in a Million (1935)
• Rhythm in the Air (1936)
• Sam Goes Shopping (1939)
• For Freedom (1940)
• If You Don't Save Paper (1948) (short) as Shop Assistent
• A Date with a Dream (1948)
• Melody Club (1949) as Freddy Forrester.
• What's Cooking (1951) (short) as Husband.
• The Green Man (1956)
• Private's Progress (1956) as Major Hitchcock
• Lucky Jim (1957)
• Brothers in Law (1957)
• The Naked Truth (1957) as Lord Mayley
• Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957) as Captain Romney Carlton-Ricketts
• Happy is the Bride (1958) as Policeman
• Tom Thumb (1958) as Ivan
• I'm All Right Jack (1959) reprising the role of Major Hitchcock
• Carlton-Browne of the FO (1959)
• Too Many Crooks (1959) as Billy Gordon
• Make Mine Mink (1960} as Major Albert Rayne
• School for Scoundrels (1960)
• A Matter of WHO (1961) as Bannister
• His and Hers ((1961)) as Reggie Blake
• Operation Snatch (1962) as Lt. 'Piggy' Wigg
• The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
• Bachelor Flat (1962) as Professor Bruce Patterson
• Kill or Cure (1962) as Jerry Barkey-Rynde
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) as Lt. Col. Algernon Hawthorne
• The Mouse on the Moon (1963) as Spender
• The Wild Affair (1965) as Godfrey Deane
• You Must Be Joking (1965) Major Foskett
• Strange Bedfellows (1965)
• How to Murder Your Wife (1965) as Charles
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) as Sir Percy Ware-Armitage
• The Sandwich Man (1966) as Scoutmaster
• The Daydreamer (1966) as Brigadier Zachary Zilch
• Our Man in Marrakesh (1966) as El Caid
• La Grande Vadrouille (1966) as Sir Reginald
• Top Crack (1966)
• Munster, Go Home! (1966) as Cousin Freddie Munster
• Se Tutte le Donne del Mondo (1966)
• Dr. Coppelius (1966)
• Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (1967) as Captain Sir Harry Washington-Smythe
• Arabella (1967) as the hotel manager
• Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1967)
• A Guide for the Married Man (1967) as Technical Advisor
• The Perils of Pauline (1967) as Sten Martin
• Arriva Dorellik (1967) as Commissario Green
• Seven Times Seven (1968)
• Diabolik (1968) as the Minister of Finance
• How Sweet It Is! (1968) as Gilbert Tilly
• Sette volte sette (1968) as Police Inspector
• Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) as Ladislaus Walichek
• Monte Carlo or Bust (1969) as Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage.
• It's Your Move (1969) as Il direttore Dorgeant
• 2000 Years Later (1969) as Goodwyn
• 12 + 1 (1969) as Albert
• Arthur!Arthur! (1969)
• Mur de l'Atlantique, Le (1970) as Perry
• The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
• Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
• The Cherry Picker (1972) as Appleby
• Special London Bridge Special (1972) as Bus Conductor
• Robin Hood (1973), as the voice of Sir Hiss (who had a gap between his teeth similar to Terry-Thomas himself)
• The Vault of Horror (1973) as Critchit
• Eroi, Gli (1973) as John Cooper
• Side by Side (1975) as Max Nugget
• Spanish Fly (1975) as Sir Percy De Courcy
• The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978), his last film role

External links

• Terry-Thomas at IMDb
• Terry-Thomas at screenonline
• First complete site on Terry-Thomas
• Laughterlog.com - Biography plus list of appearances on stage, film, radio, television and record

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