Michael Ripper

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Michael Ripper
Born	27 January 1913(1913-01-27) Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Died	28 June 2000 (aged 87)
Occupation	actor
Spouse(s)	Catherine Finn (div.)

Michael Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.

He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions beginning with X the Unknown in 1956. He subsequently played a variety of coachmen, peasants, tavern keepers, pirates and sidekicks in such films as The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), The Mummy (1959), Brides of Dracula (1960), The Camp on Blood Island (1958), Captain Clegg (1962), The Scarlet Blade (1963), The Mummy's Shroud (1967), and Plague of the Zombies (1966). Occasionally he was disguised almost beyond recognition, yet his high-pitched, raspy voice remained unmistakable. Some of his parts were little better than glorified bits (as in Curse of the Mummy's Tomb), but his last role for Hammer Films was a decent-sized supporting part as a landlord in Scars of Dracula in 1970. Although the Hammer horrors tend to be associated with stars such as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, it is Ripper who holds the honour of having more Hammer film appearances than any other actor.

He is also well remembered for his role as the liftman in three of the St. Trinian's comedies, and on television for his role as Thomas the chauffeur in the BBC comedy Butterflies and as Burke, one of the two criminals in the youth television series Freewheelers (1968 - 1971). His other TV roles include Phunkey in The Pickwick Papers and the Drones Porter in Jeeves and Wooster.

Ripper was divorced from actress Catherine Finn.

Selected filmography

• Captain Boycott (1947)
• Oliver Twist (1948)
• Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
• Folly to Be Wise (1953)
• The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954)
• The Green Man (1956)
• The Steel Bayonet (1957)
• Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1957)
• Up the Creek (1958)
• Further Up the Creek (1958)
• Dead Lucky (1960)
• A Prize of Arms (1962)
• Out of the Fog (1962)
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
• The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966)
• Where the Bullets Fly (1966)
• Inspector Clouseau (1968)
• Journey Into Darkness (1968)
• The Lost Continent (1968)
• No Sex Please: We're British (1973)
• The Creeping Flesh (1973)
• Legend of the Werewolf (1975)
• The Prince and the Pauper (1977)
• Danger on Dartmoor (1980)

External links

• Michael Ripper at the Internet Movie Database