Jeff Rawle

Jeff Rawle:

I first remember seeing Jeff Rawle in the 1970s TV series 'Billy Liar', the first version of Keith Waterhouse's kitchen-sink Walter Mitty that I ever encountered. With its budget studio-bound look and sitcom-hysterics live audience, it made somewhat underwhelming television, and was soon lost deep in the recesses of my memory. When I read the book and saw the 1963 film in the '80s, there was barely a flicker of brain cells to remind me of this incarnation, yet it turns out that Rawle and his Mr Shadrack (Colin Jeavons) - though forever in the giant shadows of Tom Courtenay and Leonard Rossiter - made an impact on me after all.

As Billy Fisher in the early '70s TV 'Billy Liar' 

With that pinched, underfed urchin look of '70s youth, Jeff Rawle played Billy with energy and verve, albeit with none of the nuance of the film version, which is understandable as it was virtually his first television acting role. The show was popular at the time, but didn't quite make him a household name. Roles on television that immediately followed tended to be rather slight, but included some variously serious dramas, such as Bertold Brecht's 'Baal', and the odd 'Play For Today' among the 'Van Der Valk', 'Crown Court' and 'Hammer House Of Horror'. 

In an episode of 'Remington Steele'

By the end of the '80s there were some more substantial recurring castings, in 'Angels', the 'Doctor Who' adventure 'Frontios', 'Fortunes Of War', and 'Vote For Them', before things started to brighten up with the odd 'Minder', 'Boon' and 'Wycliffe'. It was two comedy offerings that brought him more into the public eye once again: 'Faith In The Future' - a sequel to 'Second Thoughts', with Rawle replacing James Bolam as the foil to Lynda Bellingham, with Julia Sawalha and Simon Pegg in early roles; and more notably 'Drop The Dead Donkey' - the slightly topical newsroom comedy which featured him as the timid George Dent caught in a constant battle of egos and politics.                 

In the satirical journo-com 'Drop The Dead Donkey' 

Possibly, it was his affecting portrayal of retired rocker Roger Fenn in 'Doc Martin' that led to his casting in 'Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire', but whatever it was that led to the role, it certainly proved to be leg-up in terms of profile. Although not a large part, Amos Diggory plays into one of the crucial plot points of the film via his screen son, Cedric, (future star Robert Pattinson) and the emotional fall-out of his death. 

As tweedy ministerial wizard and 'port-key' guide Amos
Diggory in 'Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire' (2005)

This side of the Potter, Jeff Rawle has been in some interesting and worthwhile stuff, such as an enjoyable drama based on the early development of 'Doctor Who' - the Mark Gatiss-helmed 'An Adventure In Space And Time' - and several episodes of 'The Durrells', but perhaps got most attention as the 'Hollyoaks' serial killer Silas Blissett, investing the character with a level of depth that seems to have sent thrills racing through the soap-watching audience.          

A 'Doctor Who' veteran himself, seen here in the drama
about the birth of the show 'An Adventure In Space
And Time', with Sarah Winter as Delia Derbyshire.  

Perhaps the '70s TV 'Billy Liar' is due for a rewatch? It's been made available on DVD and features previous Familiar Unknown subjects George A Cooper and Colin Jeavons who are almost always worth a look. Whatever the verdict, Jeff Rawle certainly deserves my modest salute.    

Jeff Rawle -imdb

Leslie Randall

Leslie Randall:

† Oct 19 1924 – Aug 2 2020

I don't think I'd ever really mentally registered the name of Leslie Randall, despite his brief but memorable appearance as TV comedian Danny "It's All Happening" Boon in 'Billy Liar' (1963), one of my favourite films. At the time of shooting for John Schlesinger's classic version, Randall would probably be familiar as the co-star of ITV's first sitcom, 'Joan & Leslie' with his real-life wife Joan Reynolds, which ran to 71 episodes between 1956 and 1958 (although no footage survives). His portrayal of Boon, a ruthless professional behind a vapidly cheerful TV persona, sees him crush Billy's one and only daydream with any chance of coming true.              

In an episode of 'The Monkees' from 1967

A stalwart of the last years of music hall, he was regularly seen on panel games and variety shows during the '50s, but his pre-'Billy Liar' film and TV career is rather slight, he's in the war movie 'Mystery Submarine' (1963) and also stars in the light comedy 'Just Joe' (1960) again with his wife, and a cast including Anna Mae Wong and Jon Pertwee.

Perhaps finding opportunities a little slim in the UK, he headed for the states, where he pops up slightly unexpectedly in episodes of 'I Dream Of Jeannie' and 'The Monkees', before heading for Australia to revive the 'Joan & Leslie' concept, as newly-arrived British immigrants in Melbourne.           

In the Australian reboot of 'Joan & Leslie' from the late '60s

Later appearances are quite a hotchpotch, ranging from the lowly soap 'Emmerdale Farm' to Derek Jarman's painfully arty 'The Garden' (1990) via a corporate short for Abbey National with Patsy Rowlands. 

A one of the regular Vox Pops in 'According To Bex'

After numerous long gaps, he seems to have found a new lease of life in comedy, with regular small roles in 'My Family'  and Jessica (Hynes) Stevenson's 'According To Bex', before presumably settling into retirement around 2008. Born in 1924, he's now well into his '90s, so it's well deserved.      

With Emma Thompson in the Dustin Hoffman
movie 'Last Chance Harvey' (2008) 

Leslie Randall-imdb

Moira Foot

Moira Foot: 

Very tall and slender, with a charmingly toothy smile and an eye-catching embonpoint, Moira Foot is one of the troupe of dollybird actresses who populated the fantasy landscape of the '70s: either the glory days of light entertainment or the nadir of casual universal sexism, depending on your viewpoint. A quick glance at her credits (that will do, Mr Lucas) immediately conjures another age and another set of comedy values from a problematic canon: 'The Benny Hill Show', 'The Dick Emery Show', the movie of 'On The Buses' (1972), 'Are You Being Served?', and 'Doctor At Large'.     

Benny Hill, as 'World Of Sport's Dickie Davies, delivers a line
that almost certainly has something to do with Bristol City.   

Getting the benefit of George Layton's best bedside
manner in 'Doctor At Large'. 

Her father, Alistair Foot, was a comedy writer and one of the authors of the great touchstone of British theatrical farce, 'No Sex Please, We're British', so perhaps it's not surprising that the attractive young actress should find her way into this particular stream of light entertainment. Her first appearances were in the comedies of Ronnie Barker, well-known for his obsession with saucy postcard humour - a genre from which the cartoonishly glamorous Miss Foot seems to have miraculously stepped. She appears as Effie the maid in 'Hark At Barker' and the follow-up 'His Lordship Entertains', in which she is the frequent cause of Lord Rustless's popped monocle.   

Effie the maid has been making (surprise surprise) some dumplings,
in which Ronnie Barker naturally takes a keen interest    

In addition to the comedy shows and skits, there were a few brief, decorative appearances in dramas, such as 'Quiller' and 'The New Avengers', and other oddments, like the sleuth panel game 'Whodunnit' and a made-for-America musical evening with Jackie Gleason and Julie Andrews. 

As Denise of the Resistance in the later episodes of 'Allo Allo'

Her most recent role was in the fifth series of 'Allo Allo' where she turns up as René's childhood sweetheart, now a member of the Resistance. The show was still very popular, even if it had long since exhausted it's original premise, and she gives an enthusiastic performance at what must have been rather a flat point in the programme's long history. 
                   

Ready to impress the driving examiner - if it were anyone
but Dick Emery's Hello Honky Tonks that is... 

Benny Hill sight gag No. 235. Short bald Jackie Wright is the man
forgetting bus queue etiquette next to the statuesque Moira Foot    

That was 1988, seemingly her last TV appearances for the time being, but she'll certainly be seared into the memories of many for her iconic comedy show legacy. She was understandably sought after by those elder statesmen of British vaudeville and nudge-nudge humour, and whether it was humiliating Benny Hill on a disco dance floor or helping young Mr Grace with his tablets, she played the gag. It was another time. 

Moira Foot-imdb

Robin Parkinson

Robin Parkinson: 
† Oct 25 1929 – May 7 2022

One of the great skills of the character actor is to invest a peripheral role with enough personality to convince as a real individual in a real situation, without interfering with the main action. In British film and television there exists the recurring figure of the dignified but inconsequential little Englander, a small man who may display any blend of timidity, doggedness, thwarted genius, cheerful dullness, determined helpfulness and ennui. Robin Parkinson is something of a master of these roles.

Desmond pledges to help Miss Jones (Frances De La Tour) with her
drink problem, after a 'word-to-the wise' from a jealous Mr Rigsby

It was recalling his appearance as Desmond, the ardent and poetic librarian suitor of Miss Jones in 'Rising Damp' that got me researching Robin Parkinson, whose name I could not have told you before, and which uncovered a long CV of interesting work stretching back to the '50s.        

In the odd espionage caper 'Catch Me A Spy' (1971) 

On the big screen, you might have spotted him as the jeweller in the ring fiasco of 'Billy Liar' (1963), or in 'The Family Way' (1966), the Clements/La Frenais spy spoof 'Catch Me A Spy' (1971), 'Alfie Darling' (1975), or in the movie spin-off of 'George & Mildred' (1980), but it's probably unlikely.

Assisting Terry (James Bolam) with his suit for Bob's wedding
in 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?'

It's almost certain, though, that you've seen him in television comedy. Apart from the aforementioned 'Rising Damp', he has been in a panoply of vintage sitcoms, ranging from 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?', 'Dad's Army', 'Shelley', 'Moody & Pegg' and 'The Young Ones', to 'The Liver Birds', 'Love Thy Neighbour', 'The Brittas Empire', 'Bless This House', 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum', 'Beryl's Lot' and 'Terry & June'. There are lots more, including taking over the role of Monsieur (It is I...) Le Clerc in the later series of 'Allo Allo', although this was after it had gone from feeble to desperate.

As a chatty cabbie in 'The Professionals'

He also turns up in a lot of sketch comedy and light entertainment. You'll see him in the shows of the Two Ronnies, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Kelly Monteith, Harry Worth, and Peter Serafinovicz. Light dramas, middle-brow classics, cop shows and cosy crime favourites are also his stock in trade. See for instance, 'Clochemerle', 'The Pickwick Papers', 'The Good Companions', Whodunnit', 'All Creatures Great & Small', 'Van Der Valk', 'Softly Softly', 'The Professionals', 'Rosemary & Thyme', to name but a few.

Presenting the face of respectability to be subjected to the cynical
mordant wit of 'Shelley', as played by the late Hywel Bennet  

Then there's children's television, with 'Danger: Marmalade at Work', 'The Tommorow People', and a long-running stint as the soothingly-voiced narrator of the spoon-puppet show for tinies, 'Button Moon'.

Robin Parkinson narrated all the episodes of 'Button Moon'

The 'little man with spectacles' is, or at least was, a mainstay of British entertainment culture, and Robin Parkinson is a maestro at portraying the many nuances of the type. He's also the man forever perplexed by a bunged-up Peter Cleal in the timeless and iconic Tunes commercial. 

Robin Parkinson-imdb

Sheila Fearn

Sheila Fearn: 

A little bit of glamour now, of the wholesome British sort. The lovely Sheila Fearn, who managed to embody both confident sexiness and a down-to-earth mix of good humour and common sense. This impression probably stems largely from two of her best-known roles; as Terry Collier's sister Audrey in 'The Likely Lads' and as the witty and unaffected Anne Fourmile in 'George & Mildred'.

Other golden-era TV appearances include 'The Avengers', 'Z-Cars', 'Adam Adamant Lives', and even an episode of ' The Beverly Hilbillies' where they come to live in an English castle (it's one of the colour series from 1967, I don't know if it ever aired in the UK). She never seemed to hit the big time on the cinema screen, but her few minor roles are in some interesting films, such as 'Billy Liar' (1963), 'Catch Us If You Can' (1965), and an unusually unsympathetic turn as Kevin's mother in 'Time Bandits' (1981) alongside stalwart David Daker. In later years she showed up as Timothy's would-be girlfriend in the depressing Ronnie Corbett TV comedy 'Sorry!' (see also Roy Holder), but faded from sight in the '80s.

At one point, her Wikipedia entry contained a suggestion that her career was brought to an abrupt halt by injury in a serious accident, much as her 'George & Mildred' co-star Norman Eshley's was, although hers was described as a (rather unlikely-sounding) mountaineering fall. This may have been some sort of unedited wiki-mischief, as currently it just says that she retired from acting in 1988.  

Either way, I hope she is in good health these days, and hopefully there might be more acting work in Sheila Fearn's future.            

'The Likely Lads'

'The Avengers' - Murdersville  

'Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'

'George and Mildred'

Sheila Fearn - imdb

Helen Fraser

Helen Fraser:

A much loved actress and a very famous face (though, inexplicably, not a household name) for British audiences, on the strength of her peerlessly frumpy fusspot, Barbara, in 'Billy Liar' (1962), numerous sitcoms, and a semi-regular role in 'The Dick Emery Show' (as the daughter of his gurgling old codger, Lampwick). Other TV roles include 'Rising Damp' (playing the bride in the episode 'The Newlyweds'), and 'The Likely Lads', carrying on into the '80s and '90s in the likes of 'Duty Free' and 'One Foot in the Grave'.      

Her biggest role in later years has been as the tough-as-old-boots prison warder Sylvia Hollamby in nearly a hundred episodes of the semi-gritty behind-bars drama, 'Bad Girls', which ran from 1999-2006. 

A character-actor star, and a suitable subject for Familiar Unknown's 100th blog post.

         

(In Roman Polanski's 1965 classic 'Repulsion', with Catherine Deneuve; and dolled up in the 1968 Harold Pinter misery-fest 'The Birthday Party')

By way of an aside – Ms Fraser met her late husband, Peter Handford, on the set of 'Billy Liar'. He was a film and television sound recordist but had a hobby/sideline in recording the sounds of steam engines. Some of his archive was released on the Argo label in the '50s and '60s in the form of 7''EPs, which I now collect.

         

Helen Fraser -imdb

John Tordoff

John Tordoff: 

I believe he retired from professional acting a few years ago – and now designs gardens and paints in Cambridge – but he's a welcome sight whenever he pops up in roles as put-upon coppers, harassed officials, and quizzical passers-by. He has a distinctive, slightly nasal, twang to his voice, and his downbeat, measured delivery often serves to suggest a level of intellectual depth and dignified patience, even to the most modest role. 

In a 1970s  advert for Formica worktops, dealing with
a very insistent, out of shot, Brian Murphy and Hilda Braid 

With Robin Nedwell in the LWT series 'Doctor On The Go'

Seen in TV including 'Campion', 'The Sweeney', 'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes', 'Citizen Smith', 'Coronation Street' (as three different characters, in '68, '78 and '99), and, more memorably for me, 'Murder Most English: A Flaxborough Chronicle' as ghoulish forensic officer Mr Warlock. 

Delivering his forensic report in 'A Flaxborough Chronicle'

Starstruck at meeting Sherlock Holmes in 'Without A Clue' (1988) 

Film parts range from a tiny role in a cafe scene in 'Billy Liar' (1963) to 'Without A Clue' (1988),  Michael Winner's 'Parting Shots' (1999) and 'Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves' (1991).

In an episode of 'The Sweeney'

As the Sheriff of Nottingham's scribe in
'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' (1991)

As he was born locally to me, in Rochester, Kent, an almost exact contemporary of my dad, it's a particular pleasure to salute him and his work.  

John Tordoff - imdb profile

George Innes

George Innes: 

Wolfish tough guy and con-man type who got his first break opposite Tom Courtenay in 'Billy Liar' (1963). Since then he's been seen in films including 'The Italian Job', 'A Bridge Too Far', 'Quadrophenia', and 'Last Orders', as well as TV from 'Callan', 'Danger UXB', and 'Upstairs Downstairs', to 'The Sweeney', 'Crown Court' and 'I, Claudius'. 

Publicity still from 'Gumshoe' (1971) with Albert Finney

He also did a stint in the States with appearances on 'Hart To Hart', 'Magnum PI', 'M*A*S*H', and 'Hill Street Blues'.

 George Innes - imdb profile

Colin Jeavons

Colin Jeavons:

Excelling at the more unctious and sinister of minor characters, he was memorable as Shadrack in the TV 'Billy Liar', although unavoidably overshadowed by Leonard Rossiter's  movie portrayal, he also featured in 'Blue Remembered Hills', several episodes of 'The Avengers', 'The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy', and has played both Moriarty and Inspector Lestrade in various Sherlock Holmes adaptations. He also sang the theme-tune and narrated 'Barnaby The Bear'. And this: 'Joe'.

As a ex-POW in an episode of 'The Baron'

 Colin Jeavons - imdb profile