John Laurie
| John Laurie | |
 John Laurie in the 1951 film Happy Go Lovely
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| Born | John Paton Laurie 25 March 1897(1897-03-25) Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland |
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| Died | 23 June 1980 (aged 83) Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England[1] |
| Cause of death | emphysema & lung ailment |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse(s) | Florence Saunders (1924 - 24 January 1926, her death) Oona V. Todd-Naylor (? - 23 June 1980, his death) |
| Children | 1 child by 2nd wife |
John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. He is probably most recognisable for his role as Private James Frazer, the gaunt-faced, intense, pessimistic undertaker and Home Guard soldier in the popular BBC sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 to 1977. When the plot resulted in the characters being left in some perceived peril, Frazer would spin a tale about people in similar situations coming to a bad end, finishing "We're doomed, I tell ye!", delivered in his well-known and much-loved Scottish brogue.
The son of a mill worker, he was a pupil at Dumfries Academy and abandoned a career in architecture to serve in World War I. After the war, he trained to become an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and first acted on stage in 1921.
A prolific Shakespearian actor, Laurie spent much of the time between 1922 and 1939, playing Shakespearian parts including Hamlet, Richard III and Macbeth at the Old Vic or Stratford-upon-Avon. He starred in his friend Laurence Olivier's three Shakespearean films, Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). He and Olivier also appeared in As You Like It (1936). During the Second World War, Laurie served in the Home Guard - the only future Dad's Army cast member to do so.
His early work in films included Juno and the Paycock (1930), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. His breakthrough third film was Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) in which his menacing, understated performance as a crofter (opposite Peggy Ashcroft) is particularly memorable. Other work included Clive Candy's batman in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), the farmer recruit in The Way Ahead (1944), the brothel proprietor in Fanny by Gaslight (1944) and the repugnant Pew in Disney's Treasure Island (1950). In the 1945 film I Know Where I'm Going!, Laurie had a small speaking part in a céilidh sequence for which he was also credited as an adviser.
One of his final appearances, looking slightly frail, was in Return to the Edge of the World, directed by Michael Powell in 1978.
He died aged 83 in the Chalfont and Gerrards Cross Hospital, Chalfont St Peter, after a short illness. [2]
Partial filmography
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References
External links
- John Laurie at the Internet Movie Database
- John Laurie at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
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| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Laurie, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Laurie, John Paton |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1980 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England |
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