Anthony John Melody (18 December 1922 – 26 June 2008) was an English television character actor who appeared in a number of long running comedies and soap operas, with more than 100 television roles.

Melody was born in London, where his father was in the Royal Horse Guards, but was brought up in Yorkshire, where his parents ran the Station public house in Goole, West Riding of Yorkshire. It was as a singer that he initially made his mark, starting out at the pub his mother Myra ran with his father, where, as a small boy, he accompanied the pianist; later in life he went on to sing with the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra.

He was raised as a devout Roman Catholic and attended Sacred Heart Church in Blackpool. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force.

Initially as a dancer, Melody spent three years touring the Mediterranean with Ralph Reader's Gang Show, performing for British troops in various countries, along with Tony Hancock and Norrie Paramor. In 1952, Melody spent a season performing at the Windmill Theatre in London, among the nudes, where he featured as a comedy singer, before returning to Yorkshire, where he performed semi-professionally in local clubs while working in a factory in Leeds during the day. In 1955, he appeared on What Makes A Star? on BBC local radio. He became a regular on BBC regional radio, working in the North region of the BBC Home Service from 1958 with, among others, Jimmy Clitheroe (who he also appeared with on stage, touring variety theatres) and with Harry Worth. With Clitheroe, Melody did a regular double act on a radio variety show, Call Boy, as well as doing much the same act together on stage in the theatres.

Melody's acting career at the BBC began in radio, appearing in the sitcom The Clitheroe Kid, another show which starred Clitheroe, in which Melody appeared from 1957 as grumpy taxi driver Horatio Higginbottom, a regular role that he continued in for sixteen years, until 1972. In the 1950s, Melody also had a regular role as compère and singer with the BBC's Northern Dance Orchestra, in the BBC radio show The Straw Hat Club.

His first television role came on 6 December 1957, when he appeared in the BBC comedy Be Soon, alongside comedian Hylda Baker. Between 1964 and 1968, he appeared regularly on ITV with Clitheroe in the sitcom Just Jimmy, and featured in two episodes of ITV's Coronation Street, playing two small different roles, as a coach driver and a taxi driver. In 1968, Melody made his third appearance on Coronation Street, this time as Harold Eaton, a decorator working at the Rovers Return pub. He also reappeared as a compere in 2000 in an episode filmed in the Blackpool Winter Gardens. In 1969, he played a postman in Parkin's Patch. He also played a teacher in Colin Welland's play Roll on Four O'Clock in 1970.

By the early 1970s, Melody was getting regular television work, with a number of minor roles (mostly in comedy parts) in programmes including the BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son (as a milkman in the 1970 episode "Come Dancing", which is said to be one of the most repeated episodes of that series). Melody also appeared on the BBC in the sitcom Sykes, and on ITV in Public Eye (as guest star in a humorous Christmas special), both in 1972, at which time Melody said, "This is the first time in years I have turned down pantomime, up home in Blackpool, because I wanted to concentrate on television, to stretch myself with such roles." However, these were straightforward comedy supporting parts, of which he already had five years television experience as a semi-regular on the weekly sitcom Just Jimmy.

As he became better known, he was gradually offered more varied TV work. His subsequent television appearances included the police drama in Z-Cars (1973) and Barlow at Large, and comedy on ITV in Bless This House (1974). In 1975, he had a starring role as George Bradshaw in the short-lived comedy series Rule Britannia!.