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Peter Bowles
Peter John Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English screen and stage actor, best known for playing Richard DeVere in To the Manor Born, as well as Guthrie Featherstone in Rumpole of the Bailey and Archie Glover in Only When I Laugh.
He gained prominence for television dramas such as Callan: A Magnum for Schneider and I, Claudius, before becoming recognised for his roles in sitcoms and television comedy dramas, such as The Bounder, The Irish R.M., Lytton's Diary, Executive Stress and Perfect Scoundrels.
Bowles was born in London, England. His father was Herbert Reginald Bowles, valet-companion and chauffeur to Drogo Montagu, son of the Earl of Sandwich, then a butler to the daughter of Lord Beaverbrook. His mother was Sarah Jane (née Harrison), from Scotland, who served as a nanny to the family of the Duke of Argyll before coming to England and working for Beaverbrook's family, which is where they met.
Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Bowles's father was sent to the Rolls-Royce Aero-engine factory in Hucknall, near Nottingham, where the family lived in a small "two-up, two-down" house. Bowles attended the Nottingham High Pavement Grammar School, where he was taught English by the novelist Stanley Middleton, and won a scholarship to train as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he won the Kendall Prize and later he became an associate.
He later lived at 32 Kersall Drive, off the B682 in Highbury Vale, directly opposite the Henry Mellish Grammar School He attended Co-op Arts Centre.
After RADA, Bowles began his career with the Old Vic Company in 1956 playing small parts in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida and Richard II, with Claire Bloom, Paul Rogers and John Neville. After a season the company toured North America, concluding with a sell-out season at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.
In March 1956, he was given a contract by the theatre company to take part on a 25-week tour of the US and Canada, from September 1956. He first appeared at the Nottingham Playhouse on Monday 2 December 1957, in Witness for the Prosecution, with Rosalie Westwater, Richard Mathews, Brian Spink, Gillian Martell, John Cater and producer John Rule.
Later in December 1957 he played the Wolf in a pantomime of Little Red Riding Hood, written by David Waller. In January 1958, the company put on Henry V, with him playing the Constable of France. In February 1958, the company put on The Perfect Woman and Three Sisters (play) by Chekhov. In March the company put on Our Town. From mid-April the company put on She Stoops to Conquer, where he played Sir Charles Marlow, and the production featured John Woodvine.
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Peter Bowles
Peter John Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English screen and stage actor, best known for playing Richard DeVere in To the Manor Born, as well as Guthrie Featherstone in Rumpole of the Bailey and Archie Glover in Only When I Laugh.
He gained prominence for television dramas such as Callan: A Magnum for Schneider and I, Claudius, before becoming recognised for his roles in sitcoms and television comedy dramas, such as The Bounder, The Irish R.M., Lytton's Diary, Executive Stress and Perfect Scoundrels.
Bowles was born in London, England. His father was Herbert Reginald Bowles, valet-companion and chauffeur to Drogo Montagu, son of the Earl of Sandwich, then a butler to the daughter of Lord Beaverbrook. His mother was Sarah Jane (née Harrison), from Scotland, who served as a nanny to the family of the Duke of Argyll before coming to England and working for Beaverbrook's family, which is where they met.
Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Bowles's father was sent to the Rolls-Royce Aero-engine factory in Hucknall, near Nottingham, where the family lived in a small "two-up, two-down" house. Bowles attended the Nottingham High Pavement Grammar School, where he was taught English by the novelist Stanley Middleton, and won a scholarship to train as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he won the Kendall Prize and later he became an associate.
He later lived at 32 Kersall Drive, off the B682 in Highbury Vale, directly opposite the Henry Mellish Grammar School He attended Co-op Arts Centre.
After RADA, Bowles began his career with the Old Vic Company in 1956 playing small parts in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida and Richard II, with Claire Bloom, Paul Rogers and John Neville. After a season the company toured North America, concluding with a sell-out season at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.
In March 1956, he was given a contract by the theatre company to take part on a 25-week tour of the US and Canada, from September 1956. He first appeared at the Nottingham Playhouse on Monday 2 December 1957, in Witness for the Prosecution, with Rosalie Westwater, Richard Mathews, Brian Spink, Gillian Martell, John Cater and producer John Rule.
Later in December 1957 he played the Wolf in a pantomime of Little Red Riding Hood, written by David Waller. In January 1958, the company put on Henry V, with him playing the Constable of France. In February 1958, the company put on The Perfect Woman and Three Sisters (play) by Chekhov. In March the company put on Our Town. From mid-April the company put on She Stoops to Conquer, where he played Sir Charles Marlow, and the production featured John Woodvine.