John Laurie

John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor. In the course of his career, Laurie performed on the stage and in films as well as television. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as Private Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977).[2] Laurie appeared in scores of feature films with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell, and Laurence Olivier, generally playing bit-parts or supporting roles rather than leading roles. As a stage actor, he was cast in Shakespearean roles and was a speaker of verse, especially of Robert Burns.[3]

John Laurie
Laurie as Private Frazer in Dad's Army
Born	John Paton Laurie 25 March 1897 Dumfries, Scotland
Died	23 June 1980 (aged 83) Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England[1]
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1921–1979
Spouse(s)	Florence May Saunders ​ ​ (m. 1925; died 1926)​ , Oonah Veronica Todd-Naylor ​ ​ (m. 1928)​
Children	1

Early life

John Paton Laurie was born on 25 March 1897 in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire[4] to William Laurie (1856–1903), a clerk in a tweed mill and later a hatter and hosier, and Jessie Ann Laurie (née Brown; 1858–1935). Laurie attended Dumfries Academy (a grammar school at the time), before abandoning a career in architecture to serve in the First World War as a member of the Honourable Artillery Company. Upon his demobilisation, he trained to become an actor under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London and first acted on stage in 1921.[5][6]

Acting career

A prolific Shakespearean actor, Laurie spent much of the time between 1922 and 1939 playing parts, including in Hamlet, Richard III, and Macbeth at the Old Vic or Stratford-upon-Avon. He featured in Laurence Olivier's three Shakespearean films, Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955).[7] He and Olivier also appeared in As You Like It (1936). During the Second World War, Laurie served in the Home Guard.[8]

On radio, he created the role of John the Baptist in Dorothy L Sayers' cycle of plays The Man Born to Be King, and reprised the role in two further versions of the cycle. Laurie also played the part of MacDuff in a radio adaptation of "Macbeth", with Ralph Richardson playing the title role.[9]

I’ve played every part in Shakespeare, I was considered to be the finest Hamlet of the twenties and I had retired, and now I’m famous for doing this crap.

John Laurie comment on Dad's Army recalled by Ian Lavender.[10]

Laurie's early films included Juno and the Paycock (1930), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The actor's breakthrough third film was Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) in which he played a crofter. Other roles included Peter Manson in Michael Powell's The Edge of the World (1937), Clive Candy's batman in Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), a gardener in Medal for the General (1944), the farmer recruit in The Way Ahead (1944), and the brothel proprietor in Fanny by Gaslight (1944). In the film I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), another Powell and Pressburger production, Laurie had a small speaking part in a céilidh sequence for which he was also credited as an adviser. In the next decade, he played the psychiatrist Dr. James Garsten in Mine Own Executioner (1947), the repugnant Pew in Disney's Treasure Island (1950), Angus in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), and Dr. MacFarlane in Hobson's Choice (1954).[11]

Laurie's role as Private Frazer, the gaunt-faced, intense, pessimistic undertaker, and British Home Guard soldier in the sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977) remains his best known TV role.[12] Dad’s Army co-star Frank Williams noted in his autobiography that Laurie had ‘a sort of love-hate relationship with the show’, as despite earning him a lot a money he felt that a sitcom was beneath him.[13] He featured in many British series of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s including Tales of Mystery, Doctor Finlay's Casebook, and The Avengers.[14]

Laurie starred as Mad Peter in the Hammer film The Reptile (1966), and later appeared in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), the Disney film One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1979).[4] One of his last appearances, looking slightly frail, was in Return to the Edge of the World (1978), in which Michael Powell revisited his film of forty years before.[15] Laurie's final work was in the BBC Radio 2 comedy series Tony's (1979) along with Victor Spinetti and Deborah Watling.[16]

Personal life

Laurie was married twice; his first wife, Florence May Saunders, whom he had met at the Old Vic, died from meningitis in 1926. His second wife was Oonah Veronica Todd-Naylor survived him. Together they had a daughter, Veronica (1939-2016).

Laurie died aged 83 from emphysema in the Chalfont and Gerrards Cross Hospital, Chalfont St Peter.[17] His widow Oonah (1901-1990) died ten years later. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1930	Juno and the Paycock	Johnny Boyle
1934	Red Ensign	Forsyth	Uncredited
1935	The 39 Steps	John the crofter
	Her Last Affaire	Robb
	Tudor Rose	John Knox	Uncredited
1936	Born That Way	Mc Tavish
	East Meets West	Dr. Fergusson
	As You Like It	Oliver
1937	The Windmill	Mons. Coutard
	Farewell Again	Private McAllister
	Jericho	Hassan	Also known as Dark Sands
	The Edge of the World	Peter Manson
	There Was a Young Man	Stranger
1938	The Duchess of Malfi	Ferdinand of Aragon	TV
	The Claydon Treasure Mystery	Wilson - the Valet	Uncredited
	White Secret	MacDonald	TV
	A Royal Divorce	Joseph Bonaparte
	The Last Voyage of Captain Grant	Captain Grant	TV
	The Ware Case	Henson, the gamekeeper
1939	Mary Rose	Cameron	TV
	Bees on the Boat-Deck	Gaster	TV
	Q Planes	Newspaper Editor	Uncredited
	The Four Feathers	The Khalifa
1940	Laugh It Off	Jock
	Convoy	Gates
	Sailors Three	McNab
1941	The Ghost of St. Michael's	Jamie
	Old Mother Riley's Ghosts	McAdam
	Dangerous Moonlight	Wing Commander
1942	Ships with Wings	Lt. Comdr. Reid
1943	The Gentle Sex	Alexander Balfour, Scots corporal
	The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp	Murdoch
	The Demi-Paradise	British Sailor
	The Lamp Still Burns	Mr. Hervey
	The New Lot	Harry Fyfe	Short, Uncredited
1944	Fanny by Gaslight	William Hopwood
	The Way Ahead	Pvt. Luke
	Medal for the General	McNab
	Henry V	Jamy
	Men of Rochdale	Mr. Ferguson	Short
1945	The World Owes Me a Living	Matthews
	Great Day	Scottish sergeant
	The Agitator	Tom Tetley
	I Know Where I'm Going!	John Campbell
	Caesar and Cleopatra	1st. Auxiliary Sentinel
	Read All About It	John	Short, Uncredited
1946	Gaiety George	MacTavish
	Jeannie	Father	TV
	Two Gentlemen of Soho	Sneak	TV
	School for Secrets	Dr. Jock McVitie
1947	The Brothers	Dugald McLeod / Alistair MacDonald
	Jassy	Tom Woodroofe
	Uncle Silas	Giles
	Mine Own Executioner	Dr. James Garsten
1948	Hamlet	Francisco
	Bonnie Prince Charlie	Blind Jamie
1949	Floodtide	Joe Drummond
1950	Madeleine	Scots Divine	Uncredited
	Treasure Island	Blind Pew
	Trio	Mr. Campbell	(segment "Sanatorium")
	No Trace	Inspector MacDougall
1951	Pandora and the Flying Dutchman	Angus
	Happy Go Lovely	Jonskill
	Laughter in Paradise	Gordon Webb
	Encore	Andrews, Engineer	(segment "Winter Cruise")
1952	Saturday Island	Grimshaw
	Tread Softly	Angus McDonald
	Too Many Detectives	Edward Potter	Short
	Potter of the Yard		Short
1953	The Great Game	Mac Wells
	Captain Brassbound's Conversion	Rankin	TV
	Henry V	Pistol	TV
	The Fake	Henry Mason
	Johnny on the Run	Policeman
	Strange Stories	Mr. Bartleby
	Mr. Beamish Goes South	Edward Potter	Short
	Love in Pawn	McCutcheon
1954	Hobson's Choice	Dr. McFarlane
	Calling Scotland Yard: The Sable Scarf		Short
	Devil Girl from Mars	"Jamie" Jamieson
	The Black Knight	James, the servant
	Destination Milan	Walter McHarry
1955	Richard III	Lovel
1956	Festival Fever	Annie's father	TV
	A Day of Grace	Uncle Henry	Short
1957	Murder Reported	Mac North - Editor
	Campbell's Kingdom	Mac
1958	Next to No Time	Abercrombie, Scottish Director
	Rockets Galore!	Capt. MacKechnie	Uncredited
1960	Kidnapped	Ebenezer Balfour
1961	Don't Bother to Knock	Taxi Driver
	One Way Pendulum	Judge	TV
1963	Siege of the Saxons	Merlin
	Ladies Who Do	Dr. MacGregor
1964	Eagle Rock	Mr. McTavish	Voice
1966	The Reptile	Mad Peter
1967	Mister Ten Per Cent	The Scotsman
1970	Step Laughing Into the Grave		TV
1971	Dad's Army	Private Frazer
	The Abominable Dr. Phibes	Darrow
1974	Charles Dickens' World of Christmas		TV
1975	One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing	Jock
1976	Crime Casebook	George Winterman / Sellens	Short
1979	The Prisoner of Zenda	Archbishop	(final film role)

Partial television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1938	The Duchess Of Malfi[18]	Ferdinand of Aragon	Single drama
	The Last Voyage of Captain Grant[19]	Captain Grant	Single drama
	Mary Rose[20]	Cameron	Single drama
1939	Bees on the Boat-Deck[21]	Gaster	Single drama
1952	The Three Hostages	Insp. MacGillivray	Four episodes
1961-1963	Tales of Mystery	Host / Algernon Blackwood	29 episodes
1962-1969	The Avengers		Death of a Great Dane Brief for Murder A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station Pandora
1963	Steptoe and Son	The Vet	Episode "Wallah, Wallah Catsmeat"
1965	Z Cars	Dr Ferguson	Episode "Partners"
	Emergency-Ward 10	Professor Corliss	Six episodes
1968-1977	Dad's Army	Private Frazer	80 episodes, recurring role
1970	From a Bird's Eye View	Lord McBracken	One episode alongside Dads Army co-star Clive Dunn
1971	Jackanory	Storyteller	Five episodes reading The Princess and the Goblin
1973	Jackanory	Storyteller	Five episodes reading The Princess and Curdie
1975	Jackanory	Storyteller	Five episodes reading stories 'The Light Princess' and 'The Golden Key'

References

1. GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 1980 19 1081 CHILTERN/B - John Paton Laurie, DoB = 25 Mar 1897
2. "John Laurie". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
3. "iTunes - Music - John Laurie". apple.com. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
4. "John Laurie". BFI. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
5. V&A, Theatre and Performance Special Collections, Elsie Fogerty Archive, THM/324
6. "BFI Screenonline: Laurie, John (1897-1980) Biography". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
7. Hal Erickson. "John Laurie - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
8. Matt Goddard (14 November 2012). "Dad's Army uncovered: 35 things you need to know about the BBC comedy classic". mirror.
9. "Macbeth: a broadcast version of Shakespeare's tragedy will be given on Sunday afternoon". Radio Times 50th Anniversary Souvenir 1923-1973 (The page in the souvenir is a reproduction from the original journal, which was published in March 1933). BBC: 32. 1973.
10. Ian Lavender Birmingham Press Interview Retrieved 10 March 2013
11. "John Laurie - Movies and Filmography - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
12. "BBC - Archive - Dad's Army at 40 - Letter from John Laurie". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
13. Williams, Frank (2002). Vicar To Dad’s Army the Frank Williams Story. Norwich: Canterbury Press. p. 127. ISBN 1-85311-494-4.
14. "John Laurie". TV.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
15. "BFI Screenonline: Return to the Edge of the World (1978)". screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
16. "Tony's". RadioTimes. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
17. The Times, death notice, 25 June 1980
18. Radio Times (17 January 1938), The Duchess Of Malfi, 58, BBC Television, p. 17
19. Radio Times (9 November 1938), The Last Voyage of Captain Grant, 61, BBC Television, p. 18
20. Radio Times (30 December 1938), Mary Rose, 61, BBC Television, p. 16
21. Radio Times (17 January 1939), Bees on the Boat-Deck, 61, BBC Television, p. 16

External links

• John Laurie at Find a Grave
• John Laurie at IMDb
• John Laurie at the BFI's Screenonline
• John Laurie BFI
• Letter from John Laurie at BBC archive