John Laurie

John Laurie
John Laurie in the 1951 film Happy Go Lovely
Born	John Paton Laurie 25 March 1897(1897-03-25) Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
Died	23 June 1980 (aged 83) Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England[1]
Cause of death	emphysema & lung ailment
Occupation	Actor
Spouse(s)	Florence Saunders (1924 - 24 January 1926, her death) Oona V. Todd-Naylor (? - 23 June 1980, his death)
Children	1 child by 2nd wife

For the Canadian mountain, see Mount John Laurie.

John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. He is probably most recognisable for his role as Private James Frazer, the gaunt-faced, intense, pessimistic undertaker and Home Guard soldier in the popular BBC sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 to 1977. When the plot resulted in the characters being left in some perceived peril, Frazer would spin a tale about people in similar situations coming to a bad end, finishing "We're doomed, I tell ye!", delivered in his Scottish burr.

Early life

The son of a mill worker, he was a pupil at Dumfries Academy and abandoned a career in architecture to serve in World War I. After the war, in which he served with the Hon. Artillery Company, he trained to become an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and first acted on stage in 1921.

Acting career

A prolific Shakespearean actor, Laurie spent much of the time between 1922 and 1939 playing Shakespearean parts, including Hamlet, Richard III and Macbeth at the Old Vic or Stratford-upon-Avon. He starred in his friend Laurence Olivier's three Shakespearean films, Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). He and Olivier also appeared in As You Like It (1936). During the Second World War, Laurie served in the Home Guard - the only future Dad's Army cast member to do so.

His early work in films included Juno and the Paycock (1930), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. His breakthrough third film was Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) in which he played a crofter (opposite Peggy Ashcroft). Other roles included Peter Manson in The Edge of the World, Clive Candy's batman in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), a gardener in Medal for the General and the farmer recruit in The Way Ahead (both 1944), the brothel proprietor in Fanny by Gaslight (1944), the repugnant Pew in Disney's Treasure Island (1950), and Dr. MacFarlane in Hobson's Choice (1954). In the 1945 film I Know Where I'm Going!, Laurie had a small speaking part in a céilidh sequence for which he was also credited as an adviser. He also appeared in the Disney film One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing and The Prisoner of Zenda. One of his final appearances, looking slightly frail, was in Return to the Edge of the World, directed by Michael Powell in 1978.

Apart from Dad's Army, he featured in many British television programs of the 1950s, '60s and '70s including Tales of Mystery, Doctor Finlay's Casebook, The Avengers etc.

Personal life

Laurie was married twice; his first wife, Florence Saunders, whom he had met at the Old Vic, died in 1926. His second wife was Oonah V. Todd-Naylor, with whom he had a daughter. He died aged 83 in the Chalfont and Gerrards Cross Hospital, Chalfont St Peter, from emphysema. ^[2] He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.^{[citation needed]}

Partial filmography

References

External links

• John Laurie at Find a Grave
• John Laurie at the Internet Movie Database
• John Laurie at the British Film Institute's Screenonline

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