John Le Mesurier

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Captain John Le Mesurier (Bedford, 5th April 1912 – 15th November, 1983), born John Charles Elton Le Mesurier De Somerys Halliley, was a British actor.

Born in Bedford, the son of a solicitor, he began to study acting at the age of 20, using his mother's maiden name (common in the Channel Islands) Le Mesurier as his stage name.

Le Mesurier appeared in over 100 films, including Private's Progress, I'm All Right Jack, Brothers in Law, Carlton Brown of the FO, Our Man in Marrakesh, and The Pure Hell of St Trinian's. In Ben-Hur (1959) he has an uncredited cameo role as a doctor. He also appeared in most of Tony Hancock's films and many episodes of his television series. His final film was with Peter Sellers in The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu in 1980. In most of his performances, he presented an impression of good-natured vagueness, which acquaintances claim was close to his true personality.

Le Mesurier's most popular TV (and radio) role was as the upper-class Sergeant Wilson in Dad's Army from 1968 to 1977. He followed this with a memorable performance as Kim Philby in Dennis Potter's play Traitor.

From the mid-1960s until his death he provided the original voice for the animated TV commercial character "Flour Grader Fred", a little man in a bowler hat who advertised Homepride Flour and related products. The character lives on, voiced by other actors.

In 1975 he narrated Bod, an animated children's programme from the BBC about a boy named Bod, his aunt Flo and their friends and their rather strange adventures (like falling into a manhole and finding a giant strawberry).

On radio he reprised the role of Arthur Wilson in It Sticks Out Half a Mile, and played The Wise Old Bird in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1980) and Bilbo Baggins in the BBC's 1981 radio version of The Lord of the Rings (1981).

John Le Mesurier also guest starred in episodes of the British television series The Goodies and Doctor in the House.

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Private life

He was married three times:

1) The actress June Melville (1939-1947)
2) The comedienne Hattie Jacques (1949-1965); two sons Kim and Robin
3) The actress Joan Malin (1965-1983)

When his second wife left him for a younger man, Le Mesurier allowed the press to give him the blame for the break-up. His best friend was the comedian Tony Hancock, a friendship which was tested by a difficult period during his third marriage. In private life, the actor was a heavy drinker. He has also been classed as subversive by some and reportedly smoked a cannabis joint at the BAFTA awards ceremony [1]. Towards the end of Dad's Army he became seriously ill, and lost a great deal of weight. He died at Ramsgate from a stomach haemorrhage, (which was brought on by cirrhosis of the liver) in November 1983, aged 71. His self-penned obituary in The Times stated, that he had "conked out" and "missed his friends and family".