John Laurie

At 83 years old, John Laurie physical status not available right now. We will update John Laurie's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

John Paton Laurie (born in 1897 and 1980) was a Scottish actor.

Laurie performed a variety of theatre and film roles throughout her career.

Private Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977), perhaps best known to modern audiences.

Laurie appeared in scores of feature films with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell, and Laurence Olivier, mainly playing bit-parts or supporting roles rather than leading roles.

He was also a stage actor (particularly in Shakespearean roles) and a poet of verse, especially of Robert Burns.

Early life

John Paton Laurie was born in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, 1897-1935), a clerk in a tweed mill and later a hosier, and Jessie Ann Laurie (née Brown, 1858–1935). Laurie attended Dumfries Academy (a grammar school at the time), before abandoning a career in architecture to serve in the Honourable Artillery Company in the First World War. Following his demobilization, he trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, later based at the Royal Albert Hall, London, and first appeared on stage in 1921.

Personal life

Laurie was married twice; Florence May Saunders, his first wife, died of meningitis in 1926. Oonah Veronica Todd-Naylor, who lived with him, was his second wife. Veronica (1939–2022) was their daughter and they had a boy together.

Source

Career

Laurie made his first appearance on stage in 1922 at the Old Vic, where he appeared in numerous leading roles. After joining the Old Vic Laurie, he became involved with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he appeared in Richard III, Othello, and Macbeth roles. Laurie had the opportunity to play Hamlet in only his second season with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which was almost unheard of for someone with such little experience. Laurie later said that his interpretation of the role was the correct version, and that "playing Hamlet is the only way to play Hamlet," she said, "don't wait too long, like some of the boys are doing today.'

He created the role of John the Baptist in Dorothy L Sayers' cycle of plays The Man Born to Be King and resurrects the role in two subsequent iterations of the cycle. Laurie appeared in "MacDuff" on radio, with Ralph Richardson as the title actor.

Laurie's first film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In what would be Hitchcock's breakthrough third film, The 39 Steps in 1935, the actor did not forget Laurie and cast him in the role of John the Crofter. Laurie had first met Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic before going on to make their first film appearance together in the 1936 version of As You Like It. Laurie went on to appear in Olivier's three Shakespearean films, Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). Laurie served in the Home Guard during the Second World War, providing them with the experience that might be useful for later projects. Peter Manson from Michael Powell's The Edge of the World (1937), Clive Candy's batman (1941), and Ferdinand Blimp (1944), a gardener recruited in The Way Ahead (1944), and the brothel owner in Fanny by Gaslight (1944).

In the film I Know Where I'm Going!

Laurie (1945), another Powell and Pressburger product, was involved in a small speaking engagement in a céilidh sequence in which he was also credited as an advisor. He played psychiatrist Dr. James Garsten in Mine Own Executioner (1947), the repugnant Pew in Disney's Treasure Island (1950), Angus in Pandora (1951), and Dr. MacFarlane in Hobson's Choice (1954).

Laurie's character in the sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977) remains his best known television role. Private Frazer, the gaunt-faced, intense, pessimistic funeraleer, and a British Home Guard soldier, is the best known soldier in the series Dad's Army (1968-1977). Laurie had "a sort of love-hate relationship with the show," according to his autobiography, although he was made aware that a sitcom was beneath him. Laurie had a reputation on film for being a teessimist, according to Graham McCann's book Dad's Army: The Story of a Very British Comedian" says that "John Laurie was cantankerous, he was also a professional pessimist." He appeared in numerous British series of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, including Tales of Mystery, Doctor Finlay's Casebook, and The Avengers.

Mad Peter appeared in Hammer's The Reptile (1966), and later appeared in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1979). Michael Powell revisited his film of forty years ago in Return to the Edge of the World (1978), one of his last appearances. Laurie's last appearance was in the BBC Radio 2 comedy series Tony's (1979), as well as Victor Spinetti and Deborah Watling.

Source