John Le Mesurier

John Le Mesurier (/lə ˈmɛʒərər/,[1] born John Elton Le Mesurier
Halliley; 5 April 1912 – 15 November 1983)
was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic
role as
Sergeant Arthur Wilson

Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the
BBC

BBC television situation comedy
Dad's Army

Dad's Army (1968–77). A self-confessed "jobbing actor",[2] Le
Mesurier appeared in more than 120 films across a range of genres,
normally in smaller supporting parts.
Le Mesurier became interested in the stage as a young adult and
enrolled at the
Fay Compton

Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art in 1933. From there
he took a position in repertory theatre and made his stage debut in
September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre in
Edinburgh

Edinburgh in the J. B.
Priestley play Dangerous Corner. He later accepted an offer to work
with
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness in a
John Gielgud

John Gielgud production of Hamlet. He first
appeared on television in 1938 as Seigneur de Miolans in the BBC
broadcast of The Marvellous History of St Bernard. During the Second
World War Le Mesurier was posted to British India, as a captain with
the Royal Tank Regiment. He returned to acting and made his film debut
in 1948, starring in the second feature comedy short Death in the
Hand, opposite
Esme Percy and Ernest Jay. He undertook a number of
roles on television in 1951 including
Educating Archie

Educating Archie alongside Tony
Hancock.
Le Mesurier had a prolific film career, appearing mostly in comedies,
usually in roles portraying figures of authority such as army
officers, policemen and judges. As well as Hancock's Half Hour, Le
Mesurier appeared in Hancock's two principal films, The Rebel and The
Punch and Judy Man. In 1971 Le Mesurier received his only award: a
British Academy of Film and Television Arts

British Academy of Film and Television Arts "Best Television Actor"
award for his lead performance in Dennis Potter's television play
Traitor; it was one of the few lead roles he played during the course
of his career.
He took a relaxed approach to acting and felt that his parts were
those of "a decent chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own
making".[3] Le Mesurier was married three times, most notably to the
actress Hattie Jacques. A heavy drinker of alcohol for most of his
life, Le Mesurier died in 1983, aged 71, from a stomach haemorrhage,
brought about as a complication of cirrhosis of the liver. After his
death, critics reflected that, for an actor who normally took minor
roles, the viewing public were "enormously fond of him".[4]
Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Early life
1.2 Career
1.2.1 1934–46
1.2.2 1946–59
1.2.3 1960–68
1.2.4 1968–77
1.2.5 1977–83
1.3 Personal life
2 Approach to acting
3 Portrayals
4 Filmography and other works
5 Notes and references
5.1 Notes
5.2 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Sherborne School, Dorset, which Le Mesurier disliked intensely
Le Mesurier was born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley, in
Bedford

Bedford on 5
April 1912.[5] His parents were Charles Elton Halliley, a
solicitor,[6] and Amy Michelle (née Le Mesurier), whose family were
from
Alderney

Alderney in the Channel Islands;[1] both families were affluent,
with histories of government service or work in the legal
profession.[7][a] While John was an infant the family settled in Bury
St Edmunds, in West Suffolk. He was sent to school, first to Grenham
House in Kent, and later to
Sherborne School

Sherborne School in Dorset where one of
his fellow-pupils was Alan Turing.[8] Le Mesurier disliked both
schools intensely,[9] citing insensitive teaching methods and an
inability to accept individualism.[10][11] He later wrote: "I resented
Sherborne for its closed mind, its collective capacity for rejecting
anything that did not conform to the image of manhood as portrayed in
the ripping yarns of a scouting manual".[12]
From an early age Le Mesurier had been interested in acting and
performing; as a child he had frequently been taken to the West End of
London to watch
Ralph Lynn

Ralph Lynn and
Tom Walls
.jpg)
Tom Walls perform in the popular series
of farces at the Aldwych Theatre. These experiences fuelled an early
desire to make a career on the stage.[13][14] After leaving school he
was initially persuaded to follow his father's line of work, as an
articled clerk at Greene & Greene, a firm of solicitors in Bury St
Edmunds; in his spare time he took part in local amateur
dramatics.[13] In 1933 he decided to leave the legal profession, and
in September of that year enrolled at the
Fay Compton

Fay Compton Studio of
Dramatic Art; a fellow-student was Alec Guinness, with whom he became
close friends.[15] In July 1934, the studio staged their annual public
revue in which both Le Mesurier and Guinness took part; among the
judges for the event were John Gielgud, Leslie Henson, Alfred
Hitchcock and Ivor Novello.[16] Le Mesurier received a Certificate of
Fellowship, while Guinness won the
Fay Compton

Fay Compton prize.[17] After the
revue, rather than remain at the studio for further tuition Le
Mesurier took an opportunity to join the Edinburgh-based Millicent
Ward Repertory Players at a salary of £3.10s (£3.50) a week.[13][18]
Career[edit]
1934–46[edit]
The Millicent Ward repertory company typically staged evening
performances of three-act plays; the works changed each week, and
rehearsals were held during the daytime for the following week's
production.[19] Under his birth name John Halliley, Le Mesurier made
his stage debut in September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre, Edinburgh
in the
J. B. Priestley

J. B. Priestley play Dangerous Corner, along with three other
newcomers to the company.[20] The reviewer for
The Scotsman

The Scotsman thought
that Le Mesurier was well cast in the role.[20] Appearances in While
Parents Sleep and Cavalcade were followed by a break, as problems
arose with the lease of the theatre. Le Mesurier then accepted an
offer to appear with
Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness in a
John Gielgud

John Gielgud production of
Hamlet, which began in Streatham in the spring of 1935 and later
toured the English provinces. Le Mesurier understudied Anthony
Quayle's role of Guildenstern, and otherwise appeared in the play as
an extra.[21]
Royal Lyceum Theatre

Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, where Le Mesurier appeared in
numerous roles during 1938
In July 1935, Le Mesurier was hired by the
Oldham

Oldham repertory company,
based at the Coliseum Theatre; his first appearance with them was in a
version of the
Wilson Collison

Wilson Collison play, Up in Mabel's Room; he was sacked
after one week for missing a performance after oversleeping.[22][b] In
September 1935, he moved to the
Sheffield Repertory Theatre to appear
in Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, and also played
Malvolio

Malvolio in
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Le Mesurier later commented on the slow
progress of his career: "had I known it was going to take so long, I
might well have given the whole thing up".[25] In 1937 he joined the
Croydon

Croydon Repertory Theatre, where he appeared in nine productions in
1936 and 1937. During this period Le Mesurier changed his professional
name from John Halliley to John Le Mesurier; his biographer Graham
McCann observes that "he never bothered, at least in public, to
explain the reason for his decision".[26] Le Mesurier used his new
name for the first time in the September 1937 production of Love on
the Dole.[27]
Le Mesurier first appeared on television in 1938, thus becoming one of
the medium's pioneering actors. His initial appearance was in a
production of The Marvellous History of St Bernard in which he
appeared as Seigneur de Miolans in a play adapted from a 15th-century
manuscript by Henri Ghéon.[28] Alongside the television appearance,
he continued to appear on stage in
Edinburgh

Edinburgh and Glasgow with the
Howard and Wyndham Players, at least until late 1938 when he returned
to London and re-joined
Croydon

Croydon Repertory Theatre. His second spell
with the troupe ended a few months later when, from May to October
1939 he appeared in Gas Light, first in London and subsequently on
tour. The reviewer in The Manchester Guardian considered that Le
Mesurier gave "a faultless performance", and that "the character is
not overemphasised. One may praise it best by saying that Mr. Le
Mesurier gives one a really uncomfortable feeling in the stomach".[29]
From November to December 1939, Le Mesurier toured Britain in a
production of Goodness, How Sad,[30] during which time he met the
director's daughter, June Melville, whom he married in April 1940.[31]
After spending January and February 1940 in
French Without Tears

French Without Tears at
the Grand Theatre in Blackpool, he returned to London where he was
employed by the
Brixton

Brixton Theatre, appearing in a series of
productions.[32] In his time in repertory, Le Mesurier took on a
variety of roles across a number of genres; his biographer Graham
McCann observed that his range included "comedies and tragedies,
thrillers and fantasies, tense courtroom dramas and frenzied farces,
Shakespeare and Ibsen, Sheridan and Wilde,
Molière
_-_Google_Art_Project_(cropped).jpg/400px-Pierre_Mignard_-_Portrait_de_Jean-Baptiste_Poquelin_dit_Molière_(1622-1673)_-_Google_Art_Project_(cropped).jpg)
Molière and Shaw, Congreve
and Coward. The range was remarkable".[21]
In September 1940 Le Mesurier's rented home was hit by a German bomb,
destroying all his possessions, including his call-up papers.[33] In
the same bombing raid, the theatre in
Brixton

Brixton in which he was working
was also hit.[34] A few days later he reported for basic training with
the Royal Armoured Corps;[35] in June 1941 he was commissioned into
the Royal Tank Regiment.[36] He served in Britain until 1943 when he
was posted to British India where he spent the rest of the war.[13] Le
Mesurier later claimed that he had had "a comfortable war, with
captaincy thrust upon me, before I was demobbed in 1946".[37]
1946–59[edit]
On his return to Britain, Le Mesurier returned to acting, although he
initially struggled for work, finding only a few minor roles.[38] In
February 1948 he made his film debut in the second feature comedy
short Death in the Hand,[39] which starred
Esme Percy and Ernest
Jay.[40] He followed this with equally small roles in the 1949 film
Old Mother Riley's New Venture—although his name was misspelt on the
credits as "Le Meseurier"[41][42]—and the 1950 crime film Dark
Interval.[43] During the same period he also frequently appeared on
stage in Birmingham.[32]
Le Mesurier undertook a number of roles on television in 1951,
including that of Doctor Forrest in The Railway Children,[44] the
blackmailer Eduardo Lucas in Sherlock Holmes: The Second Stain,[45]
and Joseph in the nativity play A Time to be Born.[46] In the same
year
Tony Hancock

Tony Hancock joined Le Mesurier's second wife, Hattie Jacques
(the couple had married in 1949 following his divorce from June
Melville earlier that year) in the radio series Educating Archie. Le
Mesurier and Hancock became friends; they would often go for drinking
sessions around Soho, where they ended up in jazz clubs.[47] When
Hancock left
Educating Archie

Educating Archie in 1954 to work on his own radio show,
Hancock's Half Hour,[48] he maintained his friendship with Le
Mesurier, and Jacques joined the cast for the fourth series of
Hancock's show, in 1956.[49]
Terry-Thomas, alongside whom Le Mesurier appeared in Private's
Progress and Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
In 1952, as well as appearing in the films Blind Man's Bluff and
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire,[50] Le Mesurier also appeared as the
doctor in Angry Dust at the New Torch Theatre, London. Parnell
Bradbury, writing in The Times, thought Le Mesurier had played the
role extraordinarily well,[51] although Harold Hobson, writing in The
Sunday Times, thought that "the trouble with Mr. John Le Mesurier's
Dr. Weston is that he approaches the man too snarlingly ... [it
is] a notion of genius that would be unacceptable anywhere outside
Victorian melodrama".[52] In 1953, he had a role as a bureaucrat in
the short film The Pleasure Garden, which won the Prix de Fantasie
Poetique at the
Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival in 1954.[53] After a long run of
small roles in second features, his 1955 portrayal of the registrar in
Roy Boulting's comedy Josephine and Men, "jerked him out of the rut",
according to Philip Oakes.[23]
Following his appearance in Josephine and Men, John and Roy Boulting
cast Le Mesurier as a psychiatrist in their 1956 Second World War
film, Private's Progress. The cast featured many leading British
actors of the time, including
Ian Carmichael and Richard
Attenborough.[54] Dilys Powell, reviewing for The Sunday Times,
thought that the cast was "embellished" by Le Mesurier's presence,
among others.[54] Later in 1956 Le Mesurier again appeared alongside
Attenborough, with small roles in Jay Lewis's The Baby and the
Battleship and Roy Boulting's Brothers in Law, the latter which also
featured Carmichael and Terry-Thomas.[55][56] He was also active in
television, in a variety of roles in episodes of Douglas Fairbanks
Presents, a series of short dramas.[57]
Le Mesurier's friendship with
Tony Hancock

Tony Hancock provided a further source
of work when Hancock asked him to be one of the regular supporting
actors in Hancock's Half Hour, when it moved from radio to television.
Le Mesurier subsequently appeared in seven episodes of the show
between 1957 and 1960, and then in two episodes of a follow-up series
entitled Hancock.[58] In 1958 he appeared in ten films, among them Roy
Boulting's comedy Happy Is the Bride,[59] about which Dilys Powell
wrote in The Sunday Times: "[M]y vote for the most entertaining
contributions ... goes to the two fathers,
John Le Mesurier

John Le Mesurier and
Cecil Parker".[60] In 1959, the busiest year of his career, Le
Mesurier took part in 13 films, including I'm All Right Jack,[61]
which was critically and commercially the most successful of Le
Mesurier's credited films that year,[62] although he also had an
uncredited role as a doctor in Ben-Hur.[63][c]
1960–68[edit]
Le Mesurier appeared in nine films in 1960,[65][d] as well as nine
television programmes, including episodes of Hancock's Half Hour,
Saber of London

Saber of London and Danger Man.[66][e] His work the following year
included a part in Peter Sellers's directorial debut Mr. Topaze, a
film which failed both critically and commercially.[67] He provided
the voice of Mr. Justice Byrne in a recording of excerpts from the
transcript of R v Penguin Books Ltd.—the court case concerning the
publication of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover—which also
featured
Michael Hordern

Michael Hordern and Maurice Denham. J.W. Lambert, reviewing
for The Sunday Times, wrote that Le Mesurier gave "precisely the air
of confident incredulity which the learned gentleman exhibited in
court".[68] Later that year he played Hancock's office manager in the
first of Tony Hancock's two principal film vehicles, The Rebel.[69]
Peter Sellers, with whom Le Mesurier appeared in several films
In 1962 he appeared in Wendy Toye's comedy film We Joined the Navy[70]
before teaming up again with
Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers in Only Two Can Play,
Sidney Gilliat's film of the novel That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley
Amis; Powell noted with pleasure "the armour of his gravity pierced by
polite bewilderment".[71] She compared Le Mesurier with the well-known
American straight-face comedian, John McGiver.[71] After appearing in
another Sellers film in 1962—Waltz of the Toreadors—Le Mesurier
joined him in the 1963 comedy The Wrong Arm of the Law.[65] Powell
again reviewed the pair's film, commenting that "I thought I knew by
now every shade in the acting of
John Le Mesurier

John Le Mesurier (not that I could
ever get tired of any of them); but there seems a new shade here".[72]
In the same year he appeared in a third Sellers film, The Pink
Panther, as a defence lawyer,[73] and in the second Tony Hancock
vehicle, The Punch and Judy Man. Le Mesurier played Sandman in the
latter film; Powell wrote that the role "allowed a gentler and subtler
character than usual".[74] He also appeared in a series of
advertisements for
Homepride

Homepride flour in 1964, providing the voice-over
for the animated character Fred the Flourgrader; he continued as the
voice until 1983.[75][76]
In a change from his usual comedic roles, Le Mesurier portrayed the
Reverend Jonathan Ives in Jacques Tourneur's 1965 science fiction
film, City Under the Sea, before returning to comedy in Where the
Spies Are, a comedy-adventure film directed by Val Guest, which
starred David Niven. In 1966 Le Mesurier also played the role of
Colonel Maynard in the ITV sitcom George and the Dragon, with Sid
James and Peggy Mount. The programme ran to four series between 1966
and 1968, totalling 26 episodes.[77] He also took a role in four
episodes of a
Coronation Street

Coronation Street spin-off series,[78] Pardon the
Expression, in which he starred opposite Arthur Lowe.[79]
1968–77[edit]
In 1968 Le Mesurier was offered a role in a new
BBC

BBC situation comedy
playing an upper-middle-class
Sergeant Arthur Wilson

Sergeant Arthur Wilson in Dad's
Army,[80] although he was the second choice after Robert Dorning.[81]
Le Mesurier was unsure about taking the part as he was finishing the
final series of George and the Dragon and did not want another
long-term television role.[82] He was persuaded both by an increase in
his fee—to £262 10s (£262.50) per episode—and by the
casting of his old friend
Clive Dunn

Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones.[83] Le
Mesurier was initially unsure of how to portray his character, and was
advised by series writer
Jimmy Perry

Jimmy Perry to make the part his own.[84] Le
Mesurier decided to base the character on himself, later writing that
"I thought, why not just be myself, use an extension of my own
personality and behave rather as I had done in the army? So I always
left a button or two undone, and had the sleeve of my battle dress
slightly turned up. I spoke softly, issued commands as if they were
invitations (the sort not likely to be accepted) and generally assumed
a benign air of helplessness".[85] Perry later observed that "we
wanted Wilson to be the voice of sanity; he has become John".[86]
Le Mesurier (second from left) with the cast of Dad's Army, from the
1971 Christmas
Special

Special Battle of the Giants!
Nicholas de Jongh, in a tribute written after Le Mesurier's death,
suggested that it was in the role of Wilson that Le Mesurier became a
star.[2] His interaction with Arthur Lowe's character Captain George
Mainwaring was described by
The Times

The Times as "a memorable part of one of
television's most popular shows".[87] Tise Vahimagi, writing for the
British Film Institute's Screenonline, agreed, and commented that "it
was the hesitant exchanges of one-upmanship between Le Mesurier's
Wilson, a figure of delicate gentility, and Arthur Lowe's pompous,
middle class platoon leader Captain Mainwaring, that added to its
finest moments".[88] Le Mesurier enjoyed making the series,
particularly the fortnight the cast would spend in
Thetford

Thetford each year
filming the outside scenes.[89] The programme lasted for nine series
over nine years, and covered eighty episodes, ending in 1977.[90]
During the filming of the series in 1969, Le Mesurier was flown to
Venice over a series of weekends to appear in the film Midas Run, an
Alf Kjellin-directed crime film that also starred Richard Crenna, Anne
Heywood and Fred Astaire.[91][92] Le Mesurier became friends with
Astaire during the filming and they often dined together in a local
cafe while watching horse-racing on television.[93] In 1971 Norman
Cohen directed a feature film of Dad's Army;[94] Le Mesurier also
appeared as Wilson in a stage adaptation, which toured the UK in
1975–76.[95] Following the success of Dad's Army, Le Mesurier
recorded the single "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" with
"Hometown" on the reverse side (the latter with Arthur Lowe). This,
and an album, Dad's Army, featuring the whole cast, was released on
the Warner label in 1975.[96]
In between the annual shooting of Dad's Army, Le Mesurier acted in
films, including the role of the prison governor opposite Noël Coward
in the 1969 Peter Collinson-directed The Italian Job.[97] The cinema
historian Amy Sargeant likened Le Mesurier's role to the "mild
demeanour" of his Sergeant Wilson character.[98] In 1970, Le Mesurier
appeared in Ralph Thomas's
Doctor in Trouble

Doctor in Trouble as the purser;[99] he
also made an appearance in Vincente Minnelli's On a Clear Day You Can
See Forever, a romantic fantasy musical.[100]
In 1971 Le Mesurier played the lead role in Dennis Potter's television
play Traitor, in which he portrayed a "boozy British aristocrat who
became a spy for the Soviets";[101] his performance won him a British
Academy of Film and Television Arts "Best Television Actor"
award.[102] Writing for the British Film Institute, Sergio Angelini
considered "Le Mesurier is utterly compelling throughout in an
atypical role".[103] Chris Dunkley, writing in The Times, described
the performance as "a superbly persuasive portrait, made vividly real
by one of the best performances Mr Mesurier [sic] has ever
given".[104] The reviewer for
The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times agreed, saying that Le
Mesurier, "after a lifetime supporting other actors with the strength
of a pit-prop, gets the main part; he looks, sounds and feels exactly
right".[105] Reviewing for The Guardian,
Nancy Banks-Smith called the
role "his Hamlet", and said that it was worth waiting for.[106]
Although delighted to have won the award, Le Mesurier commented that
the aftermath proved "something of an anticlimax. No exciting offers
of work came in".[107]
Le Mesurier made a cameo appearance in Val Guest's 1972 sex comedy Au
Pair Girls, and starred alongside
Warren Mitchell

Warren Mitchell and
Dandy Nichols in
Bob Kellett's The Alf Garnett Saga.[108] In 1974 he played a police
inspector in a similar
Val Guest

Val Guest comedy, Confessions of a Window
Cleaner, alongside
Robin Askwith and Antony Booth.[109] The following
year he also narrated Bod, an animated children's programme from the
BBC; there were thirteen episodes in total.[110]
1977–83[edit]
In 1977 Le Mesurier portrayed
Jacob Marley

Jacob Marley in a
BBC

BBC television
adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which starred
Michael Hordern

Michael Hordern as
Ebenezer Scrooge;[111] Sergio Angelini, writing for the British Film
Institute about Le Mesurier's portrayal, considered that "although
never frightening, he does exert a strong sense of melancholy, his
every move and inflection seemingly tinged with regret and
remorse".[111] In 1979 he portrayed Sir Gawain in Walt Disney's
Unidentified Flying Oddball, directed by Russ Mayberry, and
co-starring Dennis Dugan,
Jim Dale and Kenneth More.[112] The film, an
adaptation of Mark Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court, was hailed by Time Out as "an intelligent film with a cohesive
plot and an amusing script" and cited it as "one of the better Disney
attempts to hop on the sci-fi bandwagon".[113] The reviewers praised
the cast, particularly Kenneth More's Arthur and Le Mesurier's Gawain,
which they said were "rather touchingly portrayed as friends who have
grown old together".[113]
Le Mesurier played The Wise Old Bird in the 1980
BBC

BBC Radio 4 series
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and appeared on the same station
as
Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo Baggins in the 1981 radio version of The Lord of the
Rings.[114] In the spring of 1980 he took the role of David Bliss
alongside Constance Cummings—as Judith Bliss—in a production of
Noël Coward's 1920s play Hay Fever.[115][116] Writing for The
Observer, Robert Cushman thought that Le Mesurier played the role with
"deeply grizzled torpor",[116] while Michael Billington, reviewing for
The Guardian, saw him as a "grey, gentle wisp of a man, full of
half-completed gestures and seraphic smiles".[117]
He took on the role of Father Mowbray in Granada Television's 1981
adaptation of Brideshead Revisited.[118] He guest-starred in episodes
of the British comedy television series The Goodies, and in an early
episode of Hi-de-Hi!.[119] His final film appearance was also Peter
Sellers's final cinema role, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, which
was completed just months before Sellers's death in July 1980.[120]
In 1982 Le Mesurier reprised the role of Arthur Wilson for It Sticks
Out Half a Mile, a radio sequel to Dad's Army, in which Wilson had
become bank manager of the Frambourne-on-Sea branch, while Arthur
Lowe's character, Captain George Mainwaring, was trying to apply for a
loan to renovate the local pier. The death of Lowe in April 1982 meant
that only a pilot episode was recorded, and the project was
suspended.[121] It was revived in 1982 with Lowe's role replaced by
two other
Dad's Army

Dad's Army cast members: Pike, played by Ian Lavender, and
Hodges, played by Bill Pertwee. A pilot and twelve episodes were
subsequently recorded,[122] and broadcast in 1984.[57] Le Mesurier
also teamed up with another ex-
Dad's Army

Dad's Army colleague, Clive Dunn, to
record a novelty single, "There Ain't Much Change from a Pound These
Days"/"After All These Years", which had been written by Le Mesurier's
stepson, David Malin.[121] The single was released on KA Records in
1982.[96]
He appeared opposite
Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins in a four-part television series,
A Married Man, in March 1983, before undertaking the narration on the
short film The Passionate Pilgrim, an
Eric Morecambe

Eric Morecambe vehicle, which
was Morecambe's last film before his death.[123]
Personal life[edit]
JOHN LE MESURIER Wishes it to be known that he conked out on November
15th. He sadly misses family and friends.
Self-penned death notice in The Times, 16 November 1983[124]
In 1939, Le Mesurier accepted a role in the
Robert Morley

Robert Morley play
Goodness, How Sad!, directed by June Melville—whose father Frederick
owned a number of theatres, including the Lyceum, Prince's and
Brixton.[30] Melville and Le Mesurier soon began a romance, and were
married in April 1940.[31] Le Mesurier was conscripted into the army
in September 1940; after his demobilisation in 1946, he discovered
that his wife had become an alcoholic: "She became careless about
appointments and haphazard professionally".[125] As a result, the
couple separated and were divorced in 1949.[13][126]
In June 1947, Le Mesurier went with fellow actor
Geoffrey Hibbert to
the
Players' Theatre in London, where among the performers was Hattie
Jacques.[127] Le Mesurier and Jacques began to see each other
regularly, although Le Mesurier was still married, albeit estranged
from his wife.[126] In 1949, when his divorce came through, Jacques
proposed to Le Mesurier, asking him, "Don't you think it's about time
we got married?".[128] The couple married in November 1949[129][130]
and had two sons, Robin and Kim.[131]
Jacques began an affair in 1962 with her driver, John Schofield, who
gave her the attention and support that Le Mesurier did not.[132] When
Jacques decided to move Schofield into the family home, Le Mesurier
moved into a separate room and tried to repair the marriage.[133] He
later commented about this period: "I could have walked out, but,
whatever my feelings, I loved Hattie and the children and I was
certain—I had to be certain—that we could repair the damage".[134]
The affair caused a downturn in his health; he collapsed on holiday in
Tangier

Tangier in 1963 and was hospitalised in Gibraltar.[135] He returned to
London to find the situation between his wife and her lover was
unchanged, which caused a relapse.[136]
During the final stages of the breakdown of his marriage, Le Mesurier
met Joan Malin at the Establishment club in
Soho

Soho in 1963.[137] The
following year he moved out of his marital house, and that day
proposed to Joan, who accepted his offer.[138] Le Mesurier allowed
Jacques to bring a divorce suit on grounds of his own infidelity, to
ensure that the press blamed him for the break-up, thus avoiding any
negative publicity for Jacques.[139] Le Mesurier and Malin married in
March 1966.[78][140] A few months after they were married, Joan began
a relationship with Tony Hancock,[141] and left Le Mesurier to move in
with the comedian.[142] Hancock was a self-confessed alcoholic by this
time,[143] and was verbally and physically abusive to Joan during
their relationship.[144] After a year together, with Hancock's
violence towards her worsening, Joan attempted suicide; she
subsequently realised that she could no longer live with Hancock and
returned to her husband.[145] Despite this, Le Mesurier remained
friends with Hancock, calling him "a comic of true genius, capable of
great warmth and generosity, but a tormented and unhappy man".[146]
Without Le Mesurier's knowledge, Joan resumed her affair with Hancock
and, when the comic moved to Australia in 1968, she planned to follow
him if he was able to overcome his alcoholism. She abandoned these
plans and remained with Mesurier after Hancock committed suicide on 25
June 1968.[147]
The grave of Le Mesurier at St. George's Church, Ramsgate
Le Mesurier was a heavy drinker, but was never noticeably drunk.[148]
In 1977 he collapsed in Australia and flew home, where he was
diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and ordered to stop
drinking.[149] Until then he had not considered himself an alcoholic,
although he accepted that "it was the cumulative effect over the years
that had done the damage".[150] It was a year and a half before he
drank alcohol again, when he avoided spirits and drank only beer.[151]
Jacques claimed that his calculated vagueness was the result of his
dependence on cannabis,[152] although according to Le Mesurier the
drug was not to his taste; he smoked it only during his period of
abstinence from alcohol.[153] Le Mesurier's favoured pastime was
visiting the jazz clubs around Soho, such as The Establishment or
Ronnie Scott's, and he observed that "listening to artists like Bill
Evans,
Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson or
Alan Clare

Alan Clare always made life seem that little
bit brighter".[146]
Towards the end of his life Le Mesurier wrote his autobiography, A
Jobbing Actor; the book was published in 1984, after his death.[154]
Le Mesurier's health visibly declined from July 1983 when he was
hospitalised for a short time after suffering a haemorrhage.[123] When
the condition recurred later in the year he was taken to Ramsgate
Hospital;[155] after saying to his wife, "It's all been rather
lovely", he slipped into a coma[156] and died on 15 November 1983,
aged 71.[157] His remains were cremated, and the ashes buried at the
Church of St. George the Martyr, Church Hill, Ramsgate. His epitaph
reads: "John Le Mesurier. Much loved actor. Resting."[158] His
self-penned death notice in
The Times

The Times of 16 November 1983 stated that
he had "conked out" and that he "sadly misses family and
friends".[124][156]
After Le Mesurier's death fellow comedian
Eric Sykes

Eric Sykes commented: "I
never heard a bad word said against him. He was one of the great
drolls of our time".[159] Le Mesurier's fellow
Dad's Army

Dad's Army actor Bill
Pertwee mourned the loss of his friend, saying, "It's a shattering
loss. He was a great professional, very quiet but with a lovely sense
of humour".[159] Director Peter Cotes, writing in The Guardian, called
him one of Britain's "most accomplished screen character actors",[37]
while
The Times

The Times obituarist observed that he "could lend distinction to
the smallest part".[87]
The Guardian

The Guardian reflected on Le Mesurier's popularity, observing that "No
wonder so many whose lives were very different from his own came to be
so enormously fond of him".[4] A memorial service was held on 16
February 1984 at the "Actors' Church", St Paul's, Covent Garden, at
which
Bill Pertwee

Bill Pertwee gave the eulogy.[160]
Approach to acting[edit]
The character he cumulatively created will be remembered when others
more famous are forgotten, not just for the skill of his playing but
because he somehow embodied a symbolic British reaction to the
whirlpool of the modern world—endlessly perplexed by the dizzying
and incoherent pattern of events, but doing his best to ensure that
resentment never showed.
—The Guardian, 16 November 1983[4]
Le Mesurier took a relaxed approach to acting, saying, "You know the
way you get jobbing gardeners? Well, I'm a jobbing actor ... as
long as they pay me I couldn't care less if my name is billed above or
below the title".[2] Although Le Mesurier played a wide range of
parts, he became known as "an indispensable figure in the gallery of
second-rank players which were the glory of the British film industry
in its more prolific days".[13] He felt his characterisations owed "a
lot to my customary expression of bewildered innocence"[3] and tried
to stress for many of his roles that his parts were those of "a decent
chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own making".[3]
Philip French

Philip French of
The Observer considered that when playing a
representative of bureaucracy, Le Mesurier "registered
something ... complex. A feeling of exasperation, disturbance,
anxiety [that] constantly lurked behind that handsome bloodhound
face".[161] The impression he gave in these roles became an
"inimitable brand of bewildered persistence under fire which Le
Mesurier made his own".[4]
The Times

The Times noted of him that although he was
best known for his comedic roles, he, "could be equally effective in
straight parts", as evidenced by his BAFTA-award-winning role in
Traitor.[87] Director
Peter Cotes agreed, adding, "he had depths
unrealised through the mechanical pieces in which he generally
appeared";[37] while
Philip Oakes considered that, "single-handed, he
has made more films watchable, even absorbing, than anyone else
around".[23]
Portrayals[edit]
Le Mesurier's second and third marriages have been the subject of two
BBC

BBC Four biographical films, the 2008
Hancock and Joan on Joan Le
Mesurier's affair with Tony Hancock—with Le Mesurier played by Alex
Jennings[162]—and the 2011 Hattie on Jacques's affair with John
Schofield—with Le Mesurier played by Robert Bathurst.[163] In We're
Doomed! The
Dad's Army

Dad's Army Story, a 2015 comedy drama about the making of
Dad's Army, Le Mesurier was portrayed by Julian Sands.[164]
Filmography and other works[edit]
Main article:
John Le Mesurier

John Le Mesurier on stage, radio, screen and record
Notes and references[edit]
Notes[edit]
^ On his father's side, the Halliley family had been civil servants
based abroad; Elton's father, Charles Bailey Halliley, was brought up
in Ceylon where his father was a senior civil servant in the Customs
Department.[6] Other members of the Halliley family held high ranks in
the services, or positions of power in Whitehall.[1] Amy Le Mesurier's
family included the Rev. Thomas Le Mesurier, a British cleric, lawyer
and polemicist; John Le Mesurier, the last hereditary governor of
Alderney; and Colonel Frederick Le Mesurier, the inventor of the screw
gun.[7]
^ On hearing the story later,
Noël Coward

Noël Coward told Le Mesurier "A very
sensible choice of play to sleep through, dear boy".[23][24]
^ The thirteen films in which Le Mesurier appeared in 1959 were: Our
Man in Havana, The Captain's Table, Operation Amsterdam, Ben-Hur, The
Lady Is a Square, Jack the Ripper, The Wreck of the Mary Deare, Desert
Mice, Follow a Star, Too Many Crooks, Carlton-Browne of the F.O., The
Hound of the Baskervilles and I'm All Right Jack.[64][65]
^ The nine films were School for Scoundrels, The Day They Robbed the
Bank of England, Never Let Go, Doctor in Love, The Bulldog Breed, The
Pure Hell of St Trinian's, A Touch of Larceny, Let's Get Married and
Dead Lucky.[64][65]
^ The nine television programmes were
Saber of London

Saber of London (two episodes),
Hancock's Half Hour, The Somerset Maugham Stories, Play Gems, The
Adventures of William Tell, Jazz Session,
Danger Man

Danger Man and The Third
Man.[65][66]
References[edit]
^ a b c McCann 2010, p. 2.
^ a b c de Jongh, Nicholas (16 November 1983). "
Dad's Army

Dad's Army star dies".
The Guardian. London. p. 1.
^ a b c Le Mesurier 1984, p. 72.
^ a b c d "The ubiquitous second row". The Guardian. London. 16
November 1983. p. 10.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 1.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 1.
^ a b McCann 2010, pp. 1–2.
^ McCann 2010, p. 33.
^ McCann 2010, p. 42.
^ McCann 2010, p. 39.
^ McCann 2010, p. 31.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 17.
^ a b c d e f Nimmo, Derek (January 2011). "Le Mesurier, John
(1912–1983)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31350. Retrieved 21
August 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership
required)
^ McCann 2010, p. 53.
^ McCann 2010, p. 58.
^ McCann 2010, p. 61.
^ "Multiple Classified Advertising Items". The Sunday Times. London.
22 July 1934. p. 6.
^ McCann 2010, pp. 63–64.
^ McCann 2010, p. 67.
^ a b "Palladium Theatre: 'Dangerous Corner'". The Scotsman.
Edinburgh. 4 September 1934. p. 6.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 69.
^ McCann 2010, p. 71.
^ a b c Oakes, Philip (7 February 1971). "Worrier on the Warpath". The
Sunday Times. London. p. 26.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 29.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 18.
^ McCann 2010, p. 77.
^ McCann 2010, p. 78.
^ Barry 1992, p. 190.
^ "The Prince's Theatre: 'Gas Light'". The Manchester Guardian.
Manchester. 24 October 1939. p. 4.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 83.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 86.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 306.
^ McCann 2010, p. 88.
^ McCann 2010, p. 89.
^ McCann 2010, p. 90.
^ "No. 35218".
The London Gazette

The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 July 1941.
pp. 4055–4056.
^ a b c Cotes, Peter (16 November 1983). "The quiet man of comedy:
Peter Cotes pays tribute to John Le Mesurier". The Guardian. London.
p. 9.
^ McCann 2010, p. 104.
^ McCann 2010, p. 111.
^ "
Death in the Hand (1948)". Film & TV Database. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
^ "Old Mother Riley's New Venture". Film & TV Database. British
Film Institute. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
^ McCann 2010, p. 112.
^ "
Dark Interval (1950)". Film & TV Database. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
^ "Cast: The Railway Children (
BBC

BBC TV, 1951): An Illness and a
Birthday". Film & TV Database. British Film Institute. Retrieved
30 August 2012.
^ "Cast: Sherlock Holmes (BBC, 1951): The Second Stain". Film & TV
Database. British Film Institute. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
^ "A Time to Be Born (1951)". Film & TV Database. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
^ McCann 2010, p. 136.
^ Foster & Furst 1996, p. 188.
^ McCann 2010, p. 24.
^ Browning & Picart 2010, p. 127.
^ Bradbury, Parnell (17 January 1952). "New Torch Theatre". The Times.
London. p. 2.
^ Hobson, Harold (20 January 1952). "Drama's Essence". The Sunday
Times. London. p. 2.
^ "The Pleasure Garden". British Film Institute. Retrieved 30 August
2012.
^ a b Powell, Dilys (19 February 1956). "Spellbound". The Sunday
Times. London. p. 6.
^ Dimmitt 1967, p. 51.
^ Castell 1984, p. 120.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 308.
^ McCann 2010, p. 138.
^ Maltin, Anderson & Sader 2003, p. 584.
^ Powell, Dilys (23 February 1958). "A Heroine from the Crowd". The
Sunday Times. London. p. 23.
^ Mayer 2003, p. 206.
^ McCann 2010, p. 130.
^ Lloyd & Robinson 1988, p. 294.
^ a b McCann 2010, pp. 310–311.
^ a b c d e "Filmography: Le Mesurier, John". Film & TV Database.
British Film Institute. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
^ a b McCann 2010, pp. 308–310.
^ "Mr Topaze". Radio Times. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
^ Lambert, J. W. (28 May 1961). "Hazards of the Old Bailey". The
Sunday Times. London. p. 33.
^ "Cast: The Rebel". Film & TV Database. British Film Institute.
Retrieved 5 September 2012.
^ "Cast: We Joined the Navy". Film & TV Database. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
^ a b Powell, Dilys (22 May 1966). "Faces to remember". The Sunday
Times. London. p. 29.
^ Powell, Dilys (17 March 1963). "Old faces, new jokes". The Sunday
Times. London. p. 41.
^ "Cast: The Pink Panther". Film & TV Database. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
^ Powell, Dilys (7 April 1963). "Skirmish at the beach". The Sunday
Times. London. p. 41.
^ Breese, James (21 August 2005). "Your Money: Treasure Hunters".
Sunday Mirror. London. p. 55.
^ Evans, Ann (24 April 2004). "Weekend: Food: Fred Has Still Got Flour
Power". Coventry Evening Telegraph. Coventry. p. 27.
^ McCann 2010, p. 309.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 180.
^ McCann 2010, p. 215.
^ McCann 2010, p. 208.
^ McCann 2001, p. 56.
^ McCann 2010, p. 209.
^ McCann 2010, p. 214.
^ McCann 2010, p. 217.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 118.
^ Hutchison, Tom (15 August 1970). "Last of the breed". The Guardian.
London. p. 6.
^ a b c "Obituary: John Le Mesurier". The Times. London. 16 November
1983. p. 14.
^ Vahimagi, Tise. "Le Mesurier, John (1912–1983)". Screenonline.
British Film Institute. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
^ McCann 2010, p. 245.
^ McCann 2010, p. 257.
^ "Cast: Midas Run". Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved
22 September 2012.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 134.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 137.
^ Slide 1996, p. 151.
^ Pertwee 2009, p. 165.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 311.
^ "Cast: The Italian Job". Film & TV Database. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
^ Sargeant 2005, p. 246.
^ Halliwell 1994, p. 304.
^ Harvey 1990, p. 311.
^ Jerry Roberts (15 June 2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film
Directors. Scarecrow Press. p. 60.
ISBN 978-0-8108-6138-1.
^ "BAFTA Awards 1971". BAFTA Awards Database. British Academy of Film
and Television Arts. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
^ Angelini, Sergio. "Traitor (1971)". Screenonline. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
^ Dunkley, Chris (15 October 1971). "Traitor". The Times. London.
p. 12.
^ "Inside the enigmatic spy". The Sunday Times. London. 10 October
1971. p. 53.
^ Banks-Smith, Nancy (15 October 1971). "Traitor on television". The
Guardian. London. p. 10.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 127.
^ "The Alf Garnett Saga". Film & TV Database. British Film
Institute. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
^ Halliwell 1994, p. 231.
^ Lister, David (26 September 2002). "Bod Recreated For a New
Generation of Fans". The Independent. London. p. 11.
^ a b Angelini, Sergio. "Christmas Carol, A (1977)". Screenonline.
British Film Institute. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
^ Umland & Umland 1996, p. 188.
^ a b "Unidentified Flying Oddball". Time Out. Retrieved 24 August
2012.
^ McCann 2010, p. 287.
^ McCann 2010, p. 283.
^ a b Cushman, Robert (4 May 1980). "Inside Pinter's Hothouse:
Theatre". The Observer. London. p. 16.
^ Michael Billington, Michael (30 April 1980). "Hay Fever". The
Guardian. London. p. 10.
^ "Cast: Brideshead Revisited: Julia Episode 6". Film & TV
Database. British Film Institute. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
^ McCann 2010, p. 310.
^ Evans 1980, p. 245.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 290.
^ McCann 2010, p. 292.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 294.
^ a b Le Mesurier, John (16 November 1983). "Announcements". The
Times. London. p. 26.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 62.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 114.
^ McCann 2010, p. 107.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 74.
^ Merriman 2007, p. 60.
^ General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration
Indexes, volume 5c, p. 2328.
^ McCann 2010, p. 123.
^ Merriman 2007, pp. 122–123.
^ McCann 2010, p. 162.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, pp. 86–87.
^ McCann 2010, p. 165.
^ McCann 2010, p. 166.
^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 96.
^ Le Mesurier 1988, pp. 69–70.
^ Merriman 2007, p. 136.
^ General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration
Indexes, volume 5b, p. 1040.
^ McCann 2010, p. 183.
^ McCann 2010, p. 186.
^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 76.
^ McCann 2010, p. 187.
^ Le Mesurier 1988, pp. 140–141.
^ a b Le Mesurier 1984, p. 111.
^ McCann 2010, pp. 203–205.
^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 143.
^ McCann 2010, p. 262.
^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 144.
^ McCann 2010, p. 277.
^ Lewis, Roger (18 October 2007). "Carry on Hattie Jacques".
telegraph.co.uk. London.
^ Le Mesurier 1984, p. 156.
^ McCann 2010, p. 302.
^ Le Mesurier 1988, p. 189.
^ a b McCann 2010, p. 298.
^ General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration
Indexes, volume 16, p. 1890.
^ Farndale, Nigel (24 February 2008). "
Joan Le Mesurier had affair
with Tony Hancock". telegraph.co.uk. London.
^ a b Marshall, William (16 November 1983). "Just tell them I've
conked out". Daily Mirror. London. p. 11.
^ "Deaths: Memorial services". The Times. London. 17 February 1984.
p. 14.
^ French, Philip (20 November 1983). "Mesurier's multitude". The
Observer. London. p. 34.
^ "Hancock and Joan". BBC: Drama. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January
2016.
^ Chamberlain, Laura. "Ruth Jones stars in
BBC

BBC Four drama Hattie".
BBC: Wales. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
^ "We're Doomed! The
Dad's Army

Dad's Army Story!". BBC. Retrieved 19 July
2017.
Bibliography[edit]
Barry, Michael (1992). From the Palace to the Grove: Michael Barry.
London: Royal Television Society. ISBN 978-1-871527-40-7.
Browning, John Edgar; Picart, Caroline Joan (Kay) (2010). Dracula in
Visual Media: film, television, comic book and electronic game
appearances, 1921–2010. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland &
Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-3365-0.
Castell, David (1984). Richard Attenborough: a pictorial film
biography. London: The Bodley Head. ISBN 978-0-370-30986-6.
Dimmitt, Richard Bertrand (1967). An Actor Guide to the Talkies: A
comprehensive listing of 8,000 feature-length films from January,
1949, until December, 1964. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.
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Evans, Peter (1980). The Mask Behind the Mask. London: Severn House
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Halliwell, Leslie (1994). Halliwell's Film Guide. New York: Harper
Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06-271573-9.
Harvey, Stephen (1990). Directed by Vincente Minnelli. New York:
Museum of Modern Art. ISBN 978-0-06-016263-4.
Le Mesurier, Joan (1988). Lady Don't Fall Backwards: A memoir
dedicated to
Tony Hancock

Tony Hancock and John Le Mesurier. London: Sidgwick &
Jackson. ISBN 978-0-283-99664-1.
Le Mesurier, John (1984). A Jobbing Actor. London: Elm Tree Books.
ISBN 0-241-11063-7.
Lloyd, Ann; Robinson, David (1988). Seventy Years at the Movies. New
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Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 2004. New York: Plume.
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Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-30307-4.
McCann, Graham (2001). Dad's Army. London: Fourth Estate.
ISBN 978-1-84115-308-7.
McCann, Graham (2010). Do You Think That's Wise? The life of John Le
Mesurier. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-84513-583-6.
Merriman, Andy (2007). Hattie: The authorised biography of Hattie
Jacques. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-84513-257-6.
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External links[edit]
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John Le Mesurier at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
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John Le Mesurier at the TCM Movie Database
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VIAF: 59289450
LCCN: n84127752
ISNI: 0000 0000 7730 1603
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BNF: cb140667230 (data)
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