Peter Butterworth

Peter Butterworth (4 February 1919; died 16 January 1979) was an English actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On series of films.

War service

Butterworth served as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He was captured in the Netherlands in 1940. He escaped through a tunnel from Dulag luft, near Frankfurt, in June 1941 and covered 27 miles (43 km) over three days before a member of the Hitler Youth captured him. Afterwards he joked he could never work with children. Two other attempts never got beyond the camp grounds.

At Stalag Luft III he met Talbot Rothwell, who co-wrote many Carry On films. Rothwell and Butterworth sang in a camp show, where booing and catcalls covered the sounds of an escape tunnel being dug by other prisoners. Butterworth was one of the vaulters covering for the escapers during the escape portrayed by the book and film The Wooden Horse—Butterworth auditioned for the film but "didn't look convincingly heroic and athletic."

Acting career

After making his debut in the 1948 film William Comes to Town, Butterworth appeared in a number of British films during the fifties and sixties in small, and often uncredited, roles. He became familiar on television in the 1950s and 1960s, but it is for his bumbling persona in the Carry On films that he is best remembered. After he made his first appearance, in Carry On Cowboy in 1966, he went on to appear in sixteen in total.

His last screen role was in Alan Bennett's Afternoon Off, broadcast after his death. Butterworth also appeared in Doctor Who as the Meddling Monk, the first Time Lord other than the Doctor to be shown in the series, who was hiding in Earth's past with a disguised Tardis, in The Time Meddler, and in the 12-part The Daleks' Master Plan, both with William Hartnell as the First Doctor.

Death

While starring as Widow Twankey in the pantomime Aladdin in Coventry, Butterworth went back to his hotel after a successful evening performance. His failure to return for the following day's matinee show caused alarm, and he was found dead in his room from a heart attack. He is buried in Danehill Cemetery, in East Sussex

Personal life

Butterworth was married to actress Janet Brown, who presented Picture Book on BBC children's television in the 1950s before becoming an impersonator of Margaret Thatcher. Their son Tyler Butterworth is also an actor and is married to Actress Janet Dibley.

Filmography

• William Comes to Town (1948)
• The Adventures of Jane (1949)
• Murder at the Windmill (1949)
• Miss Pilgrim's Progress (1950)
• The Body Said No! (1950)
• Night and the City (1950)
• Old Mother Riley's Jungle Treasure (1951)
• Mister Drake's Duck (1951)
• Circle of Danger (1951)
• Appointment with Venus (1951)
• Saturday Island (1952)
• Penny Princess (1952)
• Will Any Gentleman...? (1953)
• The Gay Dog (1954)
• Fun at St. Fanny's (1956)
• Blow Your Own Trumpet (1958)
• Tom Thumb (1958)
• The Spider's Web (1960)
• Escort for Hire (1960)
• Murder She Said (1961)
• The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
• Fate Takes a Hand (1962)
• Live Now - Pay Later (1962)
• She'll Have to Go (1962)
• Kill or Cure (1962)
• The Rescue Sqaud (1963)
• Doctor in Distress (1963)
• A Home of Your Own (1964)
• The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)
• Carry On Cowboy (1966)
• Carry On Screaming (1966)
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
• Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (1966)
• Ouch! (1967)
• Danny the Dragon (1967)
• Carry On Follow that camel (1967)
• Carry On Doctor (1967)
• Prudence and the Pill (1968)
• Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968)
• Carry On Camping (1969)
• Carry On Again Doctor (1969)
• Carry On Loving (1970)
• Carry On Henry (1971)
• A Class by Himself (1971)
• Bless This House (1972)
• Carry On Abroad (1972)
• Not Now Darling (1973)
• Carry On Girls (1973)
• Carry On Dick (1974)
• Carry On Behind (1975)
• Robin and Marian (1976)
• The Ritz (1976)
• Carry On England (1976)
• Odd Man Out (1977)
• What's Up Nurse! (1977)
• Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)
• The First Great Train Robbery (1979)

External links

• Peter Butterworth at the Internet Movie Database