JOHN LAURIEAlthough John Laurie- who died on 23 June, 1980 - took few starring roles, he nevertheless gained wide recognition for his lengthy stint as Private James Frazer in hit BBC sitcom Dad’s Army.
His role as pessimistic Frazer set a precedent, with a number of other parts as grumpy, world-weary men forthcoming.
But despite his catchphrase “We’re all doomed!” Mr Laurie was by no means entirely pigeonholed and also made a name playing more light-hearted on-screen roles.
A noted Shakespearean actor, he thrived on the stage too, and spent a period narrating the children’s programme Jackanory.
Born on 25 March, 1897, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, John Laurie quit an early career as an architect to fight in World War I.
After the war, he decided to pursue a career as an actor and enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
Following his first stage play in 1921, he caught the theatre bug and spent a large part of the next few years in Shakespearean plays in London and Stratford-upon-Avon, revelling in leading roles such as Hamlet, Richard III and Macbeth.
His acting career well on track, he caught the eye of up-and-coming film director Alfred Hitchcock, who cast him in Juno and the Paycock and later The 39 Steps in 1935.
Mr Laurie appeared in six films in 1937 including The Edge of the World, in which he took on one of his small handful of leading screen roles,
He then got involved in some experimental TV films before appearing in the 1944 film adaptation of Henry V after capturing the attention of producer, director and actor Laurence Olivier.
Further Shakespearean film roles in Hamlet and Richard III followed – as well as a string of other comedy roles – and then Laurie’s heyday came in 1968, when he was cast in the role of Frazer in the classic TV series Dad’s Army, a part he played until 1977.
One of his final roles before he died in 1980 was as himself, in director Michael Powell’s “reunion” documentary Return to the Edge of the World, when viewers saw the real Laurie – a passionate and good-humoured man – reminisce about the film he had starred in 40 years earlier.
Mr Laurie was widely known to be an enthusiastic and quality actor, despite lacking the high-profile leading roles of other stars of his time.
Despite portraying many a stern, unimpressed miser, his ability to switch rapidly between one mood to another helped win him more offbeat jobs such as his Jackanory tenure.
In total Mr Laurie played nearly 120 screen roles throughout his career, rarely waiting around for long between jobs before being snapped up by someone who had spotted his potential for a part.
And his performance in Dad’s Army helped make what is continuously referred to as one of TV’s best-ever comedy sitcoms.
A good thing that he decided against that career in architecture.
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