Frank Thornton

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This article is about the television actor. For the comic opera actor, see Frank Thornton (Savoyard). For the cricketer, see Frank Thornton (cricketer).

Frank Thornton
Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served?
Born
Frank Thornton Ball

(1921-01-15)15 January 1921
Dulwich, London, England
Died16 March 2013(2013-03-16) (aged 92)
Barnes
, London, England
OccupationActor
Years active1947–2013

Frank Thornton Ball (15 January 1921 – 16 March 2013), professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was best known for playing

Captain Peacock in the TV sitcom Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour (Are You Being Served? Again!) and as Herbert "Truly" Truelove in TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine
.

Early life

Frank Thornton Ball was born in

née Thornton) and William Ernest Ball.[1] His father was an organist at St Stephen's Church, Sydenham Hill,[2]
where Frank learned to play the organ for a short while. Music proved too difficult for him, however, and he wanted to act from an early age.

His father, who worked in a bank, wanted him to get a "proper" job, so he began working in insurance after leaving Alleyn's School.[3] He soon enrolled at a small acting school, the London School of Dramatic Art, and took evening classes. After two years working at the insurance company, he was invited to become a day student at the acting school and persuaded his father to finance his studies.[3]

During the

demobilised in 1947.[3]

Marriage

On 5 June 1945, Thornton married actress Beryl Evans in West Wickham. The couple had a daughter, Jane.[citation needed]

Career

Almost immediately after demobilisation, Thornton joined a

repertory company. He appeared in the farce The Party Spirit in the West End alongside Robertson Hare and Ralph Lynn. His first credited screen role was in the film Radio Cab Murder (1954). After working on stage and in a few films during the 1950s, he became a familiar face on British television, specialising in comedy but initially starred in the TV series William Tell
as Heinburgher in episode 23, "The Surgeon".

He was a regular on It's a Square World, and appeared in British sitcoms such as Hancock ("The Blood Donor", 1961), Steptoe and Son, Sykes, The Goodies and Love Thy Neighbour. He appeared in the Danger Man episodes "The Assassin" as Pepe and "Find and Return" as an airport official in 1961, and as a tailor in The Sentimental Agent episode 'Scroll of Islam' (1963). He worked with Dick Emery, Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd, Harry Worth, Reg Varney and Spike Milligan in their comedy shows and appeared in five episodes of Steptoe and Son during its first run from 1962 to 1965, and appeared in the film Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973) and the 1973 television Christmas special, 'The Party'.

From 1966 to 1968, he starred in the BBC radio comedy The Embassy Lark, a spin-off of The Navy Lark. He appeared in at least one episode of The Navy Lark as CPO Nathanial Pertwee, filling in for Jon Pertwee who was indisposed. He also appeared in at least one episode of The Navy Lark as his character from The Embassy Lark.

In 1969, he starred in

Prince Albert in the second episode of Fall of Eagles
.

Thornton was best known for playing Captain Peacock in the long-running

Olivier Award nomination. He also guest-starred in an episode of the BBC Radio series of Dad's Army entitled "Ten Seconds from Now" as the BBC producer Willoughby Maxwell-Troughton, who has to coordinate the chaotic platoon as it tries to broadcast to the nation in a morale-boosting Gang Show-style extravaganza.[6]

In 1980, he joined

The Pirates Of Penzance at the London Palladium
.

In 1997, he took the role of Herbert "Truly" Truelove in Last of the Summer Wine, replacing Brian Wilde, who had suggested him for the role. He can also be seen in the film Gosford Park (2001) as Mr Burkett. Thornton was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1998, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at Pinewood Studios.[7]

Death

Thornton died from natural causes peacefully in his sleep at his home in Barnes, London, on 16 March 2013, aged 92.[8]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ "Frank Thornton profile at FilmReference.com". FilmReference.com. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  2. ^ St. Stephen Parish Magazine, Dulwich, London
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7528-1866-5
    .
  4. ^ "No. 36945". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1945. pp. 984–987.
  5. ^ "No. 37164". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 July 1945. pp. 3506–3507.
  6. ISBN 0-7528-1838-4
    p. 174
  7. ^ "This Is Your Life" Frank Thornton (TV Episode 1998) - IMDb, retrieved 21 November 2021
  8. ^ "Are You Being Served? actor Frank Thornton dies aged 92". BBC News. 18 March 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2013.

External links

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