Terry-Thomas
Terry-Thomas (
July 14,
1911 –
January 8,
1990) was a distinctive
English comic actor famous for the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, dressing gown, and such catch-phrases as "You're an absolute shower!" and "Good show!"
Born
Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens in
Finchley,
England, he 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.
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. He was married twice, first to Ida Patlanski (from 1938-1962, when they divorced) and secondly to Belinda Cunningham (from 1963 - 1990, his death) by whom he had two sons, Timothy and Cushan. He was a cousin of the British actor
Richard Briers.
In 1971 he was diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease, and by 1977 he had retired. He died in
1990 at the age of 78.
1950s
The Green Man (
1956)
Private's Progress (1956) as Major Hitchcock
*The Naked Truth (1957) as Lord Mayley, a shifty peer of the realm
*Lucky Jim (1957)
*Blue Murder at St Trinian's (
1957) as Captain Romney Carlton-Ricketts
I'm All Right Jack (
1959) reprising the role of Major Hitchcock
Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (
1959)
Too Many Crooks (
1959)
School for Scoundrels (
1959) as a British cad in a game of oneupmanship
1960s
Operation Snatch (
1962) as Lt. 'Piggy' Wigg
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (
1963) as Lt. Col. Algernon Hawthorne
How to Murder Your Wife (
1965) as Charles
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (
1965) as Sir Percy Ware-Armitage
Our Man in Marrakesh (
1966) as El Caid
La Grande Vadrouille (
1966) as Sir Reginald
Rocket to the Moon (
1967) as Sir Washington-Smythe
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (
1968)
Diabolik (
1968) as the Minister of Finance
Those Daring Young Men in their Jaunty Jalopies (
1969) as Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage
1970s
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (
1971)
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (
1972)
*
Disney's version of
Robin Hood (
1973), as the voice of Sir Hiss (who had a gap between his teeth similar to Terry-Thomas himself)
Spanish Fly (
1976) as Sir Percy De Courcy
The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (
1976)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (
1978), his last film role
*
Terry-Thomas at screenonline
*
Terry-Thomas Biography and Poster Gallery*[
1] first complete site on Terry-Thomas
