A light comedian from stage revue, Carmichael took the British cinema by storm
in the 1950s, and established himself, albeit for a few short years, as a major
star. Carmichael was born in Hull to an optician. He always wanted to act, studied
at RADA and was on stage at 19. He had already played his first revue before
volunteering for army service in 1941. He returned to the theatre in 1947 and
began getting some very small roles in films.
The Boulting Brothers spotted his potential straight away; they made
him the guileless recruit Stanley Windrush in their Private's
Progress, which was a funnier and more perceptive comedy about army
life than the British cinema had previously seen. Its huge success prompted
the producers to transfer practically half the cast to a legal comedy
called Brothers
in Law, which was actually much funnier, and featured Carmichael
as a barrister wet behind the ears and completely lacking in confidence.
Carmichael, who looked years younger than his real age, skilfully displayed
dithering determination and induced laughter and audience sympathy at
the same time. His reward was Perhaps his best-remembered role: Kingsley
Amis's Lucky
Jim, a working-class university lecturer who gets up everybody's
nose, not least that of Terry-Thomas who, in almost all of Carmichael's
best films, plays the cheat and bounder who initially outwits him but
is finally confounded.
Carmichael and the Boultings had another hit with Happy
is the Bride!, a cameo-filled account of the disastrous run-up to
a marriage, it was a remake of the 1940 success Quiet
Wedding. At this point Rank, doubtless to Carmichael's embarrassment,
decided to resurrect The
Big Money, which cast him, in a red wig, as an inept thief in a
family of successful ones. It did a little business on the strength
of his name, and probably slightly damaged his career. For the moment,
though, all was well. Launder and
Gilliat, another solid British film
team, took him on for a funny political satire, Left,
Right and Centre, and then he was back in the Stanley Windrush role
in I’m
All Right, Jack, the Boulting Brothers cutting thrust at trade unions,
which won a British Oscar for its screenplay. Terry-Thomas was with
him again as the chief bounder at the School
for Scoundrels, in which Carmichael had everyone rooting for him
as he delightfully turned the tables. At this point, Carmichael had
taken over from Alec Guinness as Britain's
hottest comedy bet. But there were bad times just around the corner.
With the Boultings losing their touch, Carmichael went to British Lion
for his next four films, none of which did much. The Boultings called
him back, but only for a cameo in their Heavens
Above! Films after that were few, but Carmichael was still well-liked
and appeared in two television sagas, one playing P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie
Wooster.
