Ian Carmichael
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Ian Carmichael, OBE (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.
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Early life
Carmichael was born in Hull, Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA. He made his stage debut as a robot at the People's Palace in Mile End, East London in 1939. With the outbreak of World War II his acting career was interrupted by service with the Royal Armoured Corps, as a commissioned officer in the 22nd Dragoons.
Career
The young actor had turned his back on his family's shopkeeping business in Hull to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and to sing in talent contests at the Hammersmith Palais de Danse.
He portrayed serious characters in Betrayed (1954), starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner, and in The Colditz Story (1955), but he made his name playing in a series of films for the Boulting Brothers, including Private's Progress (1956), Brothers in Law (1957) and I'm All Right Jack (1959), as well as similar films for other producers, for example School for Scoundrels (1960). He also appeared in the "Pride" segment of The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971).
During the 1960s and 1970s, he was successful on television, including the sitcom, Bachelor Father, based on the story of a real-life bachelor who took on several foster children. On television he was Bertie Wooster, opposite Dennis Price as Jeeves, in several series of The World of Wooster, based on the works of P. G. Wodehouse. In later years, he was heard on BBC radio as Galahad Threepwood, another Wodehouse creation. In the 1970s, he played Lord Peter Wimsey in several drama series based on the mystery novels by Dorothy L. Sayers.
More recently, notably in the ITV series The Royal he played the Hospital Secretary T.J. Middleditch (2003–2006, 2007, 2009). In 1999, he appeared in the BBC serial Wives and Daughters. He was appointed an OBE in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
Personal life
Ian Carmichael was married twice:
- Pym McLean (1943–1983 (her death)); two daughters, Lee and Sally.
- Kate Fenton (1992–2010 (his death)), novelist.
Carmichael's autobiography, Will the Real Ian Carmichael... was published in 1979.
Carmichael died peacefully at his home in the Esk Valley on the North York Moors on 5 February 2010, aged 89. According to his wife Kate, he had fallen ill over Christmas and New Year. Ian Carmichael had two daughters, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.<ref>Veteran actor Ian Carmichael dies</ref>
Partial filmography
- Bond Street (1948)
- Trottie True (1949)
- Dear Mr. Prohack (1949)
- Ghost Ship (1952)
- Time Gentlemen Please (1952)
- Miss Robin Hood (1952)
- Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953)
- Betrayed (1954)
- The Colditz Story (1955)
- Storm Over the Nile (1955)
- Simon and Laura (1955)
- Private's Progress (1956)
- Lucky Jim (1957)
- Brothers in Law (1957)
- Happy is the Bride (1958)
- The Big Money (1958)
- Left Right and Centre (1959)
- I'm All Right Jack (1959)
- School for Scoundrels (1960)
- Light Up the Sky! (1960)
- Double Bunk (1961)
- The Amorous Prawn (1962)
- Heavens Above! (1963)
- Hide and Seek (1963)
- Ih, du forbarmende (1965)
- Smashing Time (1967)
- The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971)
- From Beyond the Grave (1973)
- The Nine Tailors (1973)
- The Lady Vanishes (1979)
- The Wind in the Willows (1983) (voice)
- Diamond Skulls (1989)
See also
