George Cole RIP

[subcontrabass]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33803144

[jean]

But everyone seems to have forgotten this:

https://archive.org/details/ALifeOfBlissBbc

(I remember because my mother particularly liked him)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Lovely man, lovely actor; sad news

[subcontrabass]

But everyone seems to have forgotten this:

https://archive.org/details/ALifeOfBlissBbc

It got a mention on Radio 4 World at One.

[johncorrigan]

It got a mention on Radio 4 World at One.

I used to love the bits in St Trinian's when he pushed the hat down and the coat collar up to walk across the open spaces of the school.

[johnb]

Another George Cole comedy series that seems to be totally forgotten is the 1970s "Don't Forget to Write". It has never been repeated but I thought it brilliant at the time (and much preferred it to the later Minder series).

I've just realised that the first episode of "Don't Forget to Write" is on YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u0NYMB3J6ac

[Serial_Apologist]

Having missed Minder first time round through not having had a telly, I was at last able to catch up through re-showings on ITV4 a couple of years ago with a great deal of personal nostalgia, for both the typical droll sense of humour in them parts back then, and the neighbourhoods around Notting Hill/Shepherds Bush, still showing quite a lot of pre-gentrification tattiness from my childhood days when first done in the late '70s, when George would have been in his mid-50s.

[Nick Armstrong]

I used to love the bits in St Trinian's when he pushed the hat down and the coat collar up to walk across the open spaces of the school.

Flash Harry.... accompanied by a nice bit of Malcolm Arnold

And Arthur Daley was - and is - one of my favourite creations of all time

The world is your lobster

He's an inverterbrate liar

What's French for en-suite facilities?

One of the absolute greats gone

[Beef Oven!]

Loved his performances. Will be missed by so many. RIP

[french frank]

But everyone seems to have forgotten this:

https://archive.org/details/ALifeOfBlissBbc

When I saw the thread title, it's what I thought of at once. David Alexander Bliss …

[Richard Tarleton]

And Arthur Daley was - and is - one of my favourite creations of all time

Mine too. I just looked through the list of Minder episodes - pure joy. Every one a masterpiece. A glance through reminds one that just about every great actor of the age guested in it - there's our own SHB's dad about half way down the list . I only cottoned on to Minder in 1982 (Series 3 episode 5, with the late Richard Griffiths and Benedict Cumberbatch's mum Wanda Ventham) but never looked back.

[Nick Armstrong]

Mine too. I just looked through the list of Minder episodes - pure joy. Every one a masterpiece. ....

Even the summaries make me laugh:

"Arthur persuades Terry to guard ‘Pelmet’, a racehorse"





.


...and wow! I'm delighted to find the classic full length 'Orient Express' parody on YouTube!

[vinteuil]

... with a great deal of personal nostalgia, for both the typical droll sense of humour in them parts back then, and the neighbourhoods around Notting Hill/Shepherds Bush, still showing quite a lot of pre-gentrification tattiness from my childhood days when first done in the late '70s, when George would have been in his mid-50s.

... yes, the opening shot, looking north from Augustine Road to the bend in Blythe Road - a biscuit's toss from my first pad in London, in Brook Green [1976-1982] - lots of personal nostalgia with all that, and the Shepherd's Bush of those pre-gentrified days...

Loved Minder - but also enjoyed his early works - Cottage to Let, The Green Man (tho' really watched both for Alastair Sim...)

[Nick Armstrong]

(tho' really watched both for Alastair Sim...)

... ditto, the early St Trinian's films...

And of course

Sim and his wife were keen to promote and encourage young acting talent. Among their protégés was George Cole, who lived with them on and off from 1940, when he was 15 years old, until 1952, when he married and bought a house nearby. Cole appeared with Sim in eight films from Cottage to Let (1941), to Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957). An obituary of Naomi Sim noted in 1999: "Cole wasn't the only youngster to benefit from the Sims's generosity and love of youthful spirits. At least half a dozen others – 'our boys' as Naomi called them – mostly unhappy at home, have cherished memories of life at Forrigan, the welcoming woodland retreat built by the couple near Henley-on-Thames in 1947. They also found time to have a child of their own, Merlith, who lives at Forrigan with her own family and next door to George Cole, who remained close to Naomi Sim to the end."

[jean]

When I saw the thread title, it's what I thought of at once. David Alexander Bliss …

So that's just you and me, then (and my mother, of course)!