Sam Kydd

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Sam Kydd
Born
Samuel John Kydd

(1915-02-15)15 February 1915
Belfast, Ireland, United Kingdom
Died26 March 1982(1982-03-26) (aged 67)
London, England
OccupationActor
Years active1945–1982
Spouse
​
(m. 1952)​
ChildrenJonathan Kydd

Samuel John Kydd (15 February 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a British actor.

POW.[4]
He made over 290 films, more than any other British actor, including 119 between 1946 and 1952.

Early life and career

An army officer's son, Kydd was born on 15 February 1915 in

MC for the Oscar Rabin Band and one of his "Hot Shots". He would warm up audiences with jokes, impressions (Maurice Chevalier was a favourite) and tap dance routines before introducing the singers and attractions on the bill. During the late 1930s he joined the Territorial Army serving with the Queen Victoria's Rifles
and when war broke out he was called up for active service.

Early in the Second World War, he went to France with the British Expeditionary Force but was quickly captured, spending the rest of the war in Stalag XX-A, a camp in Toruń in German-occupied Poland.[7] Kydd later wrote of his experiences as a POW in his autobiographical book For You the War Is Over.[8] While held in a forced labour subcamp in Wyrzysk, he learned various Polish phrases through contact with the local Polish population.[9]

During his internment in the

Red Cross
from barbed wire.

Career

Returning to Britain after the war, Kydd auditioned for the film

The Yangtse Incident, Reach for the Sky, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Too Many Crooks, Smokescreen, Island of Terror, Too Late the Hero, Eye of the Needle and Steptoe and Son Ride Again.[10] He also appeared in the big-screen versions of Dad's Army and Till Death Us Do Part
.

In 1963, Kydd appeared as the lovable smuggler Orlando O'Connor in

Orlando, a children's adventure series which ran for 126 episodes.[2]

He also appeared on TV in The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Pickwick Papers, Mess Mates, Arthur Askey, Benny Hill, Charlie Drake, Harry Worth, The Expert, Dixon of Dock Green,[13] Fossett Saga, Curry and Chips,[1] The Tony Hancock Show, Minder, Crossroads, Coronation Street (playing the part of Mike Baldwin's father, Frankie), The Eric Sykes Show, and Follyfoot.[14]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1974 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.[citation needed]

Personal life and death

He married Pinkie Barnes, an ex-international table tennis champion (she was World Doubles Finalist in 1948) and one of Britain's first women advertising copywriters.[15] Their son, Jonathan Kydd, followed his father into the acting profession.[16]

Sam Kydd died of emphysema on 26 March 1982, aged 67. His son Jonathan Kydd reported that his father smoked up to 80 cigarettes a day, and he has edited 4 volumes of his father’s memoirs, the first of which is 'Be a Good Boy Sam' 1945-52

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sam Kydd". Archived from the original on 21 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b "BFI Screenonline: Orlando (1965-68)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  3. ^ a b "Day of movies devoted to Sam Kydd - Northern Ireland veteran of 240 films". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  4. ISBN 9780719091391
    .
  5. ^ Northern Ireland was only created in 1921
  6. ^ "Sam Kydd - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  7. ^ Letter and photo in camp magazine 1942 Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ISBN 0-85974-005-6
  9. ISSN 0557-2177
    .
  10. ^ "Sam Kydd - Movies and Filmography - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  11. ^ "Patrick Allen". 7 August 2006 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  12. ^ "The Price of Friendship (1963)". Archived from the original on 30 August 2018.
  13. ^ TV.com. "Sam Kydd". TV.com.
  14. ^ "Sam Kydd". www.aveleyman.com.
  15. ^ "Pinkie Barnes". 4 October 2012 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  16. ^ "Jonathan Kydd". Archived from the original on 29 December 2017.

External links

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