John Le Mesurier facts for kids
John Le Mesurier (born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 1912 – 15 November 1983) was a famous English actor. Many people remember him best for his funny role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular BBC television show Dad's Army (1968–1977). Le Mesurier called himself a "jobbing actor," meaning he took on many different roles. He appeared in over 120 films, usually playing smaller, supporting characters.
John Le Mesurier became interested in acting when he was young. He joined the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art in 1933. After that, he worked in repertory theatre, where actors perform different plays each week. His first stage performance was in September 1934 in Edinburgh. He later worked with famous actors like Alec Guinness and John Gielgud. His first TV appearance was in 1938. During World War II, Le Mesurier served as a captain in the Royal Tank Regiment in British India. After the war, he returned to acting and made his film debut in 1948 in a short comedy film called Death in the Hand.
Le Mesurier had a very busy film career, mostly appearing in comedies. He often played characters in charge, like army officers, police officers, and judges. Besides Hancock's Half Hour, he also appeared in two main films starring Tony Hancock: The Rebel and The Punch and Judy Man. In 1971, Le Mesurier won his only award: a "Best Television Actor" award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). He won it for his main role in Dennis Potter's TV play Traitor, which was one of his few leading parts.
He had a relaxed way of acting and felt that his characters were often "decent chaps" who were a bit lost in a confusing world. Le Mesurier was married three times, including to the actress Hattie Jacques. He passed away in 1983 at the age of 71. After his death, many people remembered him fondly, even though he usually played smaller roles.
Contents
Biography
Early Life and Education
John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley was born in Bedford, England, on 5 April 1912. His father, Charles Elton Halliley, was a solicitor (a type of lawyer). His mother, Amy Michelle, came from a family in Alderney in the Channel Islands. Both families were well-off and had a history of working in government or law. When John was a baby, his family moved to Bury St Edmunds in West Suffolk.
He went to two schools, Grenham House in Kent and then Sherborne School in Dorset. One of his classmates at Sherborne was the famous mathematician Alan Turing. Le Mesurier did not like either school. He felt the teaching methods were not good and that the schools did not allow students to be themselves. He later wrote that he didn't like Sherborne because it rejected anything that didn't fit a certain idea of manhood.
From a young age, John was interested in acting. As a child, he often went to the West End of London to watch plays. His family lived very close to the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds. Meeting actors from that theatre was one of his earliest memories. These experiences made him want to become an actor. After school, he first tried to follow his father's path and worked at a law firm. But in his free time, he joined local amateur drama groups. In 1933, he decided to leave law and joined the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art. His good friend Alec Guinness was also a student there.
In July 1934, Le Mesurier and Guinness took part in the studio's yearly public show. Famous people like John Gielgud and Alfred Hitchcock were judges. Le Mesurier earned a special certificate. After this, he joined the Millicent Ward Repertory Players in Edinburgh, earning £3.50 a week.
Career Beginnings (1934–1946)
The Millicent Ward repertory company performed different plays every week. They rehearsed new plays during the day and performed in the evenings. John Le Mesurier made his stage debut in September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre, Edinburgh. He used his birth name, John Halliley, for this play, Dangerous Corner. Reviewers thought he was well-suited for the role. After a few more plays, he joined Alec Guinness in a John Gielgud production of Hamlet in 1935. Le Mesurier was an understudy for a main role and also appeared as an extra.
In July 1935, Le Mesurier worked for the Oldham repertory company. He was fired after one week for missing a show because he overslept. In September 1935, he moved to the Sheffield Repertory Theatre. He later said that his career was moving very slowly. In 1937, he joined the Croydon Repertory Theatre. During this time, he changed his professional name from John Halliley to John Le Mesurier. He first used his new name in September 1937.
Le Mesurier first appeared on television in 1938, making him one of the first actors on the medium. He continued to perform on stage in Edinburgh and Glasgow. From May to October 1939, he appeared in the play Gaslight in London and on tour. A reviewer said he gave a "faultless performance" that made the audience feel "uncomfortable."
From November to December 1939, Le Mesurier toured Britain in a play called Goodness, How Sad. During this tour, he met June Melville, the director's daughter. They married in April 1940. Le Mesurier took on many different types of roles in plays, including comedies, tragedies, thrillers, and classics by famous writers like Shakespeare and Noël Coward.
In September 1940, Le Mesurier's rented home was destroyed by a German bomb. The theatre where he was working was also hit. A few days later, he joined the army. In June 1941, he became an officer in the Royal Tank Regiment. He served in Britain until 1943, then moved to British India for the rest of the war. He was released from the army in 1946.
Film and TV Success (1946–1959)
After returning to Britain, Le Mesurier went back to acting. At first, he found only small roles. In February 1948, he made his film debut in a short comedy called Death in the Hand. He also had small parts in Old Mother Riley's New Venture (1949) and Dark Interval (1950). He also performed often on stage in Birmingham.
In 1951, Le Mesurier appeared in several TV shows, including The Railway Children and a nativity play. That same year, the comedian Tony Hancock joined Le Mesurier's second wife, Hattie Jacques, on a radio show. Le Mesurier and Hancock became good friends and often went to jazz clubs together. Jacques later joined Hancock's popular radio and TV show, Hancock's Half Hour.
In 1952, Le Mesurier appeared in films like Blind Man's Bluff. In 1953, he had a role in the short film The Pleasure Garden, which won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. After many small roles, his part as a registrar in the 1955 comedy Josephine and Men helped him get more important parts.
After this, John and Roy Boulting cast Le Mesurier as a psychiatrist in their 1956 World War II film, Private's Progress. This film featured many well-known British actors. Later in 1956, Le Mesurier appeared with Richard Attenborough in two more films. He also acted in many episodes of Douglas Fairbanks Presents, a series of short dramas on TV.
His friendship with Tony Hancock led to more work. Hancock asked him to be a regular supporting actor on Hancock's Half Hour when it moved to television. Le Mesurier appeared in seven episodes between 1957 and 1960. In 1958, he was in ten films, and in 1959, his busiest year, he appeared in 13 films, including I'm All Right Jack. He also had a small, uncredited role as a doctor in the epic film Ben-Hur.
Continued Success (1960–1968)
In 1960, Le Mesurier appeared in nine films and nine television shows. The next year, he was in Peter Sellers's first film as a director, Mr. Topaze. He also provided the voice of Mr. Justice Byrne in a recording about the court case for publishing D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. Later that year, he played Hancock's office manager in The Rebel.
In 1962, he reunited with Peter Sellers in Only Two Can Play. A reviewer noted his "polite bewilderment" in the role. After another Sellers film in 1962, Waltz of the Toreadors, Le Mesurier joined him again in the 1963 comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law. He also appeared in a third Sellers film that year, The Pink Panther, as a lawyer. He was also in Tony Hancock's last starring film, The Punch and Judy Man. Le Mesurier also provided the voice for Fred the Flourgrader in advertisements for Homepride flour from 1964 until 1983.
Changing from his usual comedy roles, Le Mesurier played a reverend in the 1965 science fiction film City Under the Sea. He then returned to comedy in Where the Spies Are. In 1966, Le Mesurier played Colonel Maynard in the ITV comedy show George and the Dragon, which ran for four series. He also had a role in a spin-off series from Coronation Street called Pardon the Expression.
Dad's Army and Beyond (1968–1977)
In 1968, Le Mesurier was offered a role in a new BBC comedy show called Dad's Army. He was the second choice for the part of Sergeant Arthur Wilson, an upper-middle-class character. He wasn't sure about taking the role because he was finishing another show, but he was convinced by a higher fee and by the fact that his old friend Clive Dunn was also cast. Le Mesurier decided to base the character of Wilson on himself, making him a gentle and slightly helpless person. The show's writer, Jimmy Perry, later said, "we wanted Wilson to be the voice of sanity; he has become John."
Many people believe that Le Mesurier became a star because of his role as Wilson. His interactions with Arthur Lowe's character, Captain George Mainwaring, were a memorable part of the show. The show ran for nine years and eighty episodes, ending in 1977. Le Mesurier enjoyed making the series, especially the time they spent filming outdoor scenes each year.
While filming Dad's Army in 1969, Le Mesurier also appeared in the crime film Midas Run in Venice, where he became friends with Fred Astaire. In 1971, a feature film of Dad's Army was made, and Le Mesurier also played Wilson in a stage version that toured the UK. Following the show's success, Le Mesurier recorded a song called "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and an album with the whole cast.
Between his Dad's Army performances, Le Mesurier acted in other films. He played a prison governor in the 1969 film The Italian Job, starring Noël Coward. In 1970, he appeared in Doctor in Trouble and the musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.
In 1971, Le Mesurier played the main role in Dennis Potter's TV play Traitor, where he played a British aristocrat who became a spy. His performance won him a BAFTA award for "Best Television Actor." Critics praised his performance, calling it "superbly persuasive" and "utterly compelling." Le Mesurier was happy to win the award but noted that it didn't lead to many new offers for lead roles.
Le Mesurier starred with Warren Mitchell and Dandy Nichols in the 1972 comedy The Alf Garnett Saga. In 1974, he played a police inspector in Confessions of a Window Cleaner. The next year, he narrated Bod, an animated children's TV show from the BBC.
Later Career and Final Years (1977–1983)
In 1977, Le Mesurier played Jacob Marley in a BBC TV version of A Christmas Carol, starring Michael Hordern as Ebenezer Scrooge. Critics noted that Le Mesurier's portrayal of Marley had a strong sense of sadness and regret. In 1979, he played Sir Gawain in Walt Disney's film Unidentified Flying Oddball, an adaptation of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Reviewers praised his and Kenneth More's performances as old friends.
Le Mesurier voiced The Wise Old Bird in the 1980 BBC Radio 4 series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He also played Bilbo Baggins in the 1981 radio version of The Lord of the Rings. In 1980, he took on a stage role in Noël Coward's play Hay Fever.
He played Father Mowbray in Granada Television's 1981 TV series Brideshead Revisited. He also appeared as a guest star in episodes of The Goodies and Hi-de-Hi!. His last film role was also Peter Sellers's final film, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, completed shortly before Sellers's death in 1980.
In 1982, Le Mesurier played Arthur Wilson again for It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a radio show that continued the story of Dad's Army. However, the project was paused when Arthur Lowe (who played Captain Mainwaring) passed away. It was later restarted with other Dad's Army cast members. Le Mesurier also recorded a song with Clive Dunn, another Dad's Army colleague.
He appeared with Anthony Hopkins in a four-part TV series called A Married Man in March 1983. He also narrated the short film The Passionate Pilgrim, which was Eric Morecambe's last film before his death.
Personal Life
In 1939, Le Mesurier met June Melville, whose father owned several theatres. They began a relationship and married in April 1940. Le Mesurier joined the army in September 1940. After he left the army in 1946, the couple separated and divorced in 1949.
In June 1947, Le Mesurier met actress Hattie Jacques. They started seeing each other regularly. After his divorce, Jacques proposed to him, and they married in November 1949. They had two sons, Robin and Kim.
After their marriage ended, Le Mesurier married Joan Malin in March 1966.
Le Mesurier enjoyed visiting jazz clubs in Soho, London, like Ronnie Scott's. He felt that listening to jazz music made life seem brighter.
Towards the end of his life, Le Mesurier wrote his autobiography (the story of his own life) called A Jobbing Actor. The book was published in 1984, after he passed away. Le Mesurier's health declined in July 1983 when he had serious bleeding and was hospitalized. When it happened again later that year, he was taken to Ramsgate Hospital. He told his wife, "It's all been rather lovely," before becoming unconscious and passing away on 15 November 1983, at age 71. His body was cremated, and his ashes were buried at St. George's Church in Ramsgate. His epitaph (words on his gravestone) reads: "John Le Mesurier. Much loved actor. Resting." His own death notice in The Times newspaper said he had "conked out" and "sadly misses family and friends."
After Le Mesurier's death, fellow comedian Eric Sykes said he was "one of the great drolls of our time," meaning he was a very funny and calm person. Bill Pertwee, who acted with him in Dad's Army, said he was a "great professional" with a "lovely sense of humour." Director Peter Cotes called him one of Britain's "most accomplished screen character actors." Many people were very fond of him. A memorial service was held for him on 16 February 1984.
Acting Style
Le Mesurier had a relaxed approach to acting. He said he was a "jobbing actor," meaning he was happy to take any role as long as he was paid. He played many different parts and was known as an important actor in British films. He felt his characters often showed "bewildered innocence" and were "decent chaps" who were a bit lost in a confusing world.
Philip French of The Observer newspaper noted that when Le Mesurier played characters in charge, he showed a complex mix of frustration and worry behind his calm face. This unique way of showing calm determination under pressure became his trademark. The Times newspaper noted that while he was best known for comedy, he could also be very good in serious roles, as shown by his BAFTA-winning performance in Traitor. Director Peter Cotes agreed, saying Le Mesurier had "depths unrealized" in the simpler roles he often played.
Portrayals in Media
In We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story, a 2015 comedy drama about the making of Dad's Army, John Le Mesurier was played by Julian Sands. Le Mesurier was also played by Anton Lesser in a BBC Radio 4 drama called Dear Arthur, Love John on 7 May 2012.
Images for kids
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Terry-Thomas, who appeared with Le Mesurier in Private's Progress and Carlton-Browne of the F.O..
See also
In Spanish: John Le Mesurier para niños
