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Cargill, Patrick (1918-1996)
 

Actor

Main image of Cargill, Patrick (1918-1996)

Patrick Cargill is probably best remembered for his role as the flustered father of two nubile teenage daughters in ITV's sitcom Father, Dear Father (1968-73). In his stage career he specialised in farce, but TV and film roles tended to trade on his ability to play aloof, slightly out-of-their-time authority figures.

Born Sidney Patrick Cargill in London in 1918, he trained at Sandhurst and served as an officer in the Indian army before choosing acting after the Second World War. After several West End comedies and small roles in British films, he found himself appearing opposite Tony Hancock in his solo vehicle Hancock (BBC, 1961), most memorably as the doctor in 'The Blood Donor' (tx. 23/6/1961). Throughout the 1960s Cargill appeared as a guest in cult TV shows such as The Avengers (ITV, 1961-69) and - as Number Two - The Prisoner (1967-68), as well as in features, including Carry On Jack (d. Gerald Thomas, 1964) and Help! (d. Richard Lester, 1965). His stage play Ring for Catty, co-written with Jack Beale, inspired two hospital comedies directed by Gerald Thomas, Carry on Nurse (1959) and Twice Around the Daffodils (1962)

While Father, Dear Father was at its peak, he was the above-the-title star of Ooh La La! (BBC, 1973), a series of seven Feydeau farces, and was granted a one-off special, Patrick Dear Patrick: An Evening with Patrick Cargill and His Guests (ITV, tx. 26/1/1972), in which he sang and sparred with the likes of Beryl Reid. He went on to star in another comedy vehicle, The Many Wives of Patrick (1976-78) before his star waned. He died in 1996 in Australia, following a car accident.

Eddie Dyja

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Thumbnail image of Carry On Nurse (1958)Carry On Nurse (1958)

The second Carry On, with the team beginning to take shape

Thumbnail image of Prisoner, The (1967-68)Prisoner, The (1967-68)

Surreal kitsch meets psychedelia in the definitive cult TV classic

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