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Arthur Mullard
Arthur Ernest Mullard (né Mullord; 19 September 1910 – 11 December 1995) was an English actor and singer.
Following military service and a brief boxing career, Mullard found work as a cockney character actor in film and TV comedy, notably in the series Romany Jones.
Mullard was born to a humble background in Islington, London, and named Arthur Mullord. He started work at the age of 14 as a butcher's assistant and joined the army at 18. It was there that he began boxing, becoming champion of his regiment. When he left the army after three years, he had a short stint at boxing professionally. This ended after 20 fights over three years, following a knock-out from which he lost his memory. In 1939, he was a general labourer living with his parents at 35 Douglas Street, Islington. He rejoined the army in the Second World War, becoming a warrant officer (sergeant major) in the Royal Artillery.
Following the end of the war in 1945, Mullard sought work as a stuntman at Pinewood and Ealing film studios, from which he drifted into uncredited bit-parts in British films including Oliver Twist (1948), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955).
Mullard's face and cockney accent lent themselves to a certain character and he graduated to more visible roles in comedy films and on television. It was on television that Mullard made a name for himself, first as a straight man for Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill, then in The Arthur Askey Show. It was the London Weekend Television series Romany Jones, first aired in 1973, which gave Mullard his highest profile, playing Wally Briggs, a crafty caravan-dweller. Although popular at the time, the show did not find critical favour and has subsequently been named by one source, the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy, as one of the poorer British sitcoms made.
So popular was Mullard's character that a sequel, Yus, My Dear, was broadcast in 1976, in which Wally and his wife Lily (Queenie Watts) had moved out of their caravan into a council house. The series gained modest ratings, but was a disaster critically, being described by the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy as being one of the worst British sitcoms ever produced.
Mullard (or "Arfur", as he was widely known) was regularly a guest in other programmes and television commercials. He was a frequent panellist in TV comedy quiz show Celebrity Squares, hosted by comedian Bob Monkhouse. He and Watts also reprised their roles of Wally and Lily appearing in the film Holiday on the Buses (1973), the last feature-length version of the popular On the Buses comedy series of the time.
Mullard also appeared in Ladies Who Do (1963), Morgan! (1966), The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Adventures of a Plumber's Mate (1978). In 1986, invited by producer Victor Lewis-Smith, Mullard hosted an edition of Midweek on BBC Radio 4 to replace regular host Libby Purves during her temporary absence.
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Arthur Mullard
Arthur Ernest Mullard (né Mullord; 19 September 1910 – 11 December 1995) was an English actor and singer.
Following military service and a brief boxing career, Mullard found work as a cockney character actor in film and TV comedy, notably in the series Romany Jones.
Mullard was born to a humble background in Islington, London, and named Arthur Mullord. He started work at the age of 14 as a butcher's assistant and joined the army at 18. It was there that he began boxing, becoming champion of his regiment. When he left the army after three years, he had a short stint at boxing professionally. This ended after 20 fights over three years, following a knock-out from which he lost his memory. In 1939, he was a general labourer living with his parents at 35 Douglas Street, Islington. He rejoined the army in the Second World War, becoming a warrant officer (sergeant major) in the Royal Artillery.
Following the end of the war in 1945, Mullard sought work as a stuntman at Pinewood and Ealing film studios, from which he drifted into uncredited bit-parts in British films including Oliver Twist (1948), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955).
Mullard's face and cockney accent lent themselves to a certain character and he graduated to more visible roles in comedy films and on television. It was on television that Mullard made a name for himself, first as a straight man for Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill, then in The Arthur Askey Show. It was the London Weekend Television series Romany Jones, first aired in 1973, which gave Mullard his highest profile, playing Wally Briggs, a crafty caravan-dweller. Although popular at the time, the show did not find critical favour and has subsequently been named by one source, the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy, as one of the poorer British sitcoms made.
So popular was Mullard's character that a sequel, Yus, My Dear, was broadcast in 1976, in which Wally and his wife Lily (Queenie Watts) had moved out of their caravan into a council house. The series gained modest ratings, but was a disaster critically, being described by the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy as being one of the worst British sitcoms ever produced.
Mullard (or "Arfur", as he was widely known) was regularly a guest in other programmes and television commercials. He was a frequent panellist in TV comedy quiz show Celebrity Squares, hosted by comedian Bob Monkhouse. He and Watts also reprised their roles of Wally and Lily appearing in the film Holiday on the Buses (1973), the last feature-length version of the popular On the Buses comedy series of the time.
Mullard also appeared in Ladies Who Do (1963), Morgan! (1966), The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Adventures of a Plumber's Mate (1978). In 1986, invited by producer Victor Lewis-Smith, Mullard hosted an edition of Midweek on BBC Radio 4 to replace regular host Libby Purves during her temporary absence.