Terry-Thomas

[Aenima]

Hi All,

Terry Thomas was , in my opinion, one of the finest comedy actors ever. I just love him in School for Scoundrels (Hard cheese old boy). Does anybody know if he ever played any staright roles? I can't think of any off hand.



My favourite line of his comes from I'm alright Jack. It's not so much the line as the delivery....."They're an absolute shower" .....brilliant.



Cheers,

A

[Steve Crook]

Originally posted by Aenima@May 16 2005, 12:31 PM

Hi All,

Terry Thomas was , in my opinion, one of the finest comedy actors ever. I just love him in School for Scoundrels (Hard cheese old boy). Does anybody know if he ever played any staright roles? I can't think of any off hand.



My favourite line of his comes from I'm alright Jack. It's not so much the line as the delivery....."They're an absolute shower" .....brilliant.



Cheers,

A

He played it fairly straight (or as straight as he could with his instantly recognisable voice) in a few towards the end of his career like The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971). But even those tend to be a bit campy or deliberate parodies.



Otherwise you'll have to look to the start of his career and see if any of those early films are still available. One that you probably can find is For Freedom (1940) where T-T played a newsreader.



Steve

[samkydd]

(Aenima @ May 16 2005, 11:31 AM)

Hi All,

Terry Thomas was , in my opinion, one of the finest comedy actors ever. I just love him in School for Scoundrels (Hard cheese old boy). Does anybody know if he ever played any staright roles? I can't think of any off hand.



My favourite line of his comes from I'm alright Jack. It's not so much the line as the delivery....."They're an absolute shower" .....brilliant.



Cheers,

A

I've just had a triple DVD set of Terry-Thomas films for my birthday; Too Many Crooks, The Naked Truth and Make Mine Mink none of which I've seen before. I watched Too Many Crooks yesterday and it was excellent, with a host of good actors and a lot of original humour. Sid James, the wonderful Brenda de Banzie, Vera Day, Bernard Bresslaw, George Cole and Joe Melia. Supporting greats were John Le Mesurier, Nicholas Parsons, Sydney Tafler and a minor role as a policeman for a young Terry Scott, and of course Sam Kydd was in there somewhere!



I've only just noticed that Terry-Thomas always has the hyphen in his name which is quite strange.



Two of the films were produced by someone called Mario Zampi, never heard of him!

[smudge]

According to his HEROES OF COMEDY biog. Richard Briers (his 2nd cousin IIRC) said old T-T used to get rather upset if people missed out his hyphen. He also had a false tooth for his famous gap, so he could travel incognito...



Terry Scott's films career in the early days was basically character policemen - he did a fair few.



SMUDGE

[noglea]

Mario Zampi was an Italian who directed quite a few films in England. Apart from 'The Naked Truth' (my favourite of the films of his that I have seen) and 'Too Many Crooks' he also directed 'Bottoms Up' the big screen version of the Jimmy Edwards situation comedy 'Whacko' and more importantly in my opinion 'Laughter in Paradise' with Alaistair Sim, George Cole and Joyce Grenfell.

[Steve Crook]

(smudge @ Nov 20 2005, 11:08 AM)

According to his HEROES OF COMEDY biog. Richard Briers (his 2nd cousin IIRC) said old T-T used to get rather upset if people missed out his hyphen. He also had a false tooth for his famous gap, so he could travel incognito...



SMUDGE

But could he disguise that instantly recognisable voice?

I recognised him straight away as the newsreader in For Freedom (1940)



Steve

[David Brent]

One of Britain's all time favourite and much loved comedy actors.

Just to look at Terry often used to make me laugh. The famous gap between his top teeth, his posh manner and his great sayings like "You're an absolute shower" made him a stand-out star around the world.



Yet there is very little information available about his life away from the screen. His sad final days when he was dying from Parkinson's Disease have remained private. I cannot even find his place of burial.

Does anyone know of any biography that has been released on the life of Terry-Thomas?

I'm sure it would make a great read. It was only recently that I found that Terry was cousin to Richard Briers.



Dave.

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

Dave,



I've got two books on T-T:



His autobiography Terry-Thomas Tells Tales, published by Robson Books in 1990, and The Complete terry-Thomas by Robert Ross and published by Reynolds & Hearn in 2002. Both are highly informative and the latter has a chapter on his sad final years. He was truly a class act.



Sonny

[fred kite]

One of the best films that Terry Thomas ever done was Make Mine Mink, he is so hilarious acting in it and the way he act's every time Miss Pincaton does something wrong I crack me and my family laughing every time we see it.

[David Brent]

Dave,



I've got two books on T-T:



His autobiography Terry-Thomas Tells Tales, published by Robson Books in 1990, and The Complete terry-Thomas by Robert Ross and published by Reynolds & Hearn in 2002. Both are highly informative and the latter has a chapter on his sad final years. He was truly a class act.



Sonny

Cheers Sonny



I'll try to track them down. They both sound like an excellent read.



Dave.

[David Brent]

Some extra information regarding Terry-Thomas's last days.



He died on the 8th January 1990 at Busbridge Hall Nursing Home near Godalming.

He had suffered from Parkinson's Disease for over 15 years.

A benefit night had been organised for him the previous year in which 100,000 pounds were raised so that Terry could be cared for the rest of his life.



A service was held at St. John's Church, Busbridge followed by cremation at Guildford crematorium.



Dave.

[tali122]

TT was pure quality , dunno if you've seen this '+'

[MJ Simpson]

I would love to read (and if no-one else gets there first, would love to write) a proper biography of Terry-Thomas, something which is long overdue. His co-written, posthumously published autobiography is very sad and really falls apart towards the end when his health deteriorated beyond a level where he could actually recall things properly. Robert Ross' book is an okay career overview but contains a lot of errors. Neither book has an accurate list of all his films.

[Lord Lucan]

Yes it's arrived, my Terry Thomas box set arrived from Amazon this very afternoon, I can't wait. I think school for scoundrels will be first.



I'll report back when I've watched all six of them...



This should keep me quiet for a few hours

[Lord Lucan]

Well, having watched all six what can I say...a mixed bag! Without doubt the best (imo) was School for scoundrels followed by Brothers in Law but, it's difficult to see how Brothers in Law could be included in a Terry Thomas box set since he [Terry Thomas] made only a very brief appearance towards the end of the film, the central character was Ian Carmichael supported by Dicky Attenborough, it was an enjoyable film none the less and one that I will no doubt watch again. The runt of the bunch was certainly "Make Mine Mink" farce isn't the word, it was (imo) awfull and in spite of the lovely Billie Whitelaw I couldn't watch it to it's painfull conclusion.

[Geoffers]

Well, having watched all six what can I say...a mixed bag! Without doubt the best (imo) was School for scoundrels followed by Brothers in Law but, it's difficult to see how Brothers in Law could be included in a Terry Thomas box set since he [Terry Thomas] made only a very brief appearance towards the end of the film, the central character was Ian Carmichael supported by Dicky Attenborough, it was an enjoyable film none the less and one that I will no doubt watch again. The runt of the bunch was certainly "Make Mine Mink" farce isn't the word, it was (imo) awfull and in spite of the lovely Billie Whitelaw I couldn't watch it to it's painfull conclusion.

That's interesting because according to the cover of this box-set displayed on Amazon, Brother-in-Law is not included. Maybe it's another set?



I'm still hoping for a Terry-Thomas box-set that will include A Matter of WHO, which I haven't seen on TV for about 30 years!

[John Hodson]

'Brothers-in-Law' was a late - and very welcome - addition to the Optimum box, that's why it's not shown on the cover art Amazon have. And, yes, it is an excellent set.

[Geoffers]

'Brothers-in-Law' was a late - and very welcome - addition to the Optimum box, that's why it's not shown on the cover art Amazon have. And, yes, it is an excellent set.

Ah I see, that's very good. So, seeing as Amazon show it as a 6-DVD set, is this now a 7-DVD set? Or has it replaced something else?

[Pegasus]

I'm pretty sure he was Richard Briars' uncle. Briars tells the story of when he first began acting. His father, TT's brother, invited him along to watch a play he was appearing in. During the interval, Briars' father asked TT "Well, do you think he has much of a future as an actor?" To which TT answered, looking at his watch, "I don't know. What time is it now?"

[batman]

Briers and TT were second cousins.