Born in North London, Terry-Thomas came from a working class background
yet became stereotyped as an upper-class cad. From the comic rotter
school, he was particularly associated with the Boulting Brothers comedies
in the 1950s and post-war British film comedy with its links back to
radio and music hall. Terry-Thomas' type was a combination of the raffish
World War II pilot and upper-class rogue who spent too much time at
the racecourse, a type which exported well when he played the RAF pilot,
alongside Bourvil and Louis de Funes, in Don't Look Now ... We're Being
Shot At (1963), one of the most popular French films ever.
His flamboyant moustache, his gap-tooth, his cigarette holder, his
sports cars and his tendency to dress on the loud side were the familiar
emblems of 'class' trying too hard to be 'classy'. His popularity as
a comic cad was ensured by his ultimate ineptitude and underlying innocence.
