 There are some wonderful scenes in the post-Bondian spy spoof Where the Spies Are (d. Val Guest, 1965) where John Le Mesurier's air of perplexed foreboding as a harassed MI6 chief (lamenting the incompetence of his department: "We're a figment of modern folklore") helped raise an otherwise light comedy to occasional heights of comic brilliance. His contribution to other films and television often achieved a similar - and hugely appreciated - effect. In a career which began on television in 1938 and in cinema in 1948, his unique screen persona - a world-weary cynicism coupled with a twitch, or a lop-sided grin, a raised eyebrow or an exasperated heaven-ward look - became warmly familiar to two generations of filmgoers and TV viewers. To cinema audiences in the 1950s and 1960s he seemed to be everywhere as a reassuring supporting player, in the Boulting Brothers' comedies Private's Progress (d. John, 1956), Brothers in Law (d. John, 1956), Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (d. Roy, 1958), I'm All Right Jack (d. John, 1959) and in the Norman Wisdom-fuelled films, directed by Robert Asher, Follow a Star (1959), The Bulldog Breed (1960) and The Early Bird (1965). During this period he frequently appeared with Tony Hancock on television, at the height of the comedian's fame (BBC's Hancock's Half-Hour, 1956-60; Hancock, 1961), and had parts in his films The Rebel (d. Robert Day, 1960) and The Punch and Judy Man (d. Jeremy Summers, 1962); memorable in the latter as one of Hancock's fellow seaside-entertainer outcasts, the sad beach sculptor Sandman. Among his many small screen roles, he was the wealthy employer (with usual deadpan demeanour) of Peggy Mount's bawling housekeeper and Sid James' cunning chauffeur in the farcical comedy George and the Dragon (ITV, 1966-68), although his appearances, under the shadow of featured performers Mount and James, were all too infrequent. Then, in 1968, came the role of Sergeant Wilson in Dad's Army (BBC, 1968-77), the sitcom series about the British Home Guard during the Second World War now valued as a TV classic. While it was filled with some of the finest British character actors of the time, it was the hesitant exchanges of one-upmanship between Le Mesurier's Wilson, a figure of delicate gentility, and Arthur Lowe's pompous, middle-class platoon leader Captain Mainwaring that added to its finest moments. In the rare instances where he was allowed to step out of comedy he more than proved himself in essentially serious roles, such as the sad, drunken Kim Philby-like defector in Dennis Potter's Traitor (for Play for Today, BBC, tx. 14/10/1971), which earned him a Society of Film and Television Arts best actor award, and the lascivious vicar in David Mercer's earthy comedy-tragedy Flint (for Play of the Month, BBC, tx. 15/1/1978). From 1949 until divorce in 1965 he was married to comedienne Hattie Jacques, whose crosspatch matron Carry On comedy roles contrasted with the more subdued parts that he played. Bibliography
John Le Mesurier, A Jobbing Actor, 1985;
Joan Le Mesurier, Dear John, 2001. Tise Vahimagi
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FILM & TV CREDITS
