Richard Gibson (born 1 January 1954) is an English actor, best known for his role as the archetypal

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

Officer

Herr Otto Flick Herr may refer to: * Herr (honorific), a German honorific * Herr (surname) * Herr (title), a German title * Herr, Indiana, an unincorporated town in Perry Township, Boone County, Indiana, US * Herr's Snacks, a Pennsylvania-based snack fo ...

in the BBC hit sitcom series, ''

'Allo 'Allo! ''Allo 'Allo!'' is a British sitcom television series, created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, starring Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Guy Siner and Richard Gibson. Originally broadcast on BBC1, the series focuses on the life of a Fre ...

''.

Career

Gibson was born in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and R ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

, before the country gained independence from the UK. He was a chorister at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...

and educated at

St Paul's Cathedral School (''By Faith and By Learning'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent preparatory schoolChoral foundation school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , hea ...

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...

near

Abingdon, Oxfordshire Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England, on the River Thames. Historically the county town of Berkshire, since 1974 Abingdon has been admin ...

, and the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

. He took part in ''

'' during the vast majority of the series. Dressed in an ankle-length leather coat and with the obligatory stiff-legged limp and walking stick, Herr Flick spent his life suppressing peasants, seducing Helga, the German town Commandant's assistant, and vainly trying to get his hands on the original of the painting '' The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies'' by Van Klomp. Gibson then toured with the group when ''Allo 'Allo!'' transferred to the stage and had successful tours both in the United Kingdom and abroad. The stage version of the show gave rein to his other skills, and he was able to demonstrate his mastery of the violin. He played Sunning in the 1971 BBC1 television series ''

Tom Brown's Schooldays ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (sometimes written ''Tom Brown's Schooldays'', also published under the titles ''Tom Brown at Rugby'', ''School Days at Rugby'', and ''Tom Brown's School Days at Rugby'') is an 1857 novel by Thomas Hughes. The stor ...

''. His first film role of note was in the 1971 film '' The Go Between'', in which he played Marcus Maudsley, school friend of Leo Colston (

Dominic Guard Dominic Guard (born 18 June 1956) is an English child psychotherapist and author, formerly an actor. Early life Guard was born in London on 18 June 1956. His father, Philip Guard, was an English stage actor, his mother, Charlotte Mitchell, an ...

) who passed messages between

Julie Christie Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She ...

and

Alan Bates Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story '' Whistle Down the Wind'' to the " kitchen sink" dram ...

, and he also played young Tony Farrant in the 1973 film version of '' England Made Me''. He has also played a wide variety of roles on stage and the TV screen, and in 2006 was a regular guest on ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

's'' World Cup Pubcast, where he usually took the role of Herr Flick, providing a more biased view of the proceedings. In 2003, he guest starred in the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' audio drama '' Flip-Flop''. He has divided his time between Ireland and the UK, and continues to work in films, television, and theatre as well as working as a sub-editor for newspaper publications. Owing to the enduring popularity of ''Allo! 'Allo!'', he and

Kim Hartman Kim Lesley Hartman (born 11 January 1952) is an English actress, best known for her role as Private Helga Geerhart in the BBC television sitcom Allo 'Allo!'' (1982–1992). She was educated at The King's High School for Girls, Warwick. an ...

have formed a Flick and Helga fan club and made numerous cabaret appearances, using songs and sketches in character. In 2012, as guest speakers on the Fred Olsen ships, ''Boudicca'' and ''Balmoral'', they travelled to the Canary Islands and up the Amazon River. In 2014, they were also guest performers at the Malfest Arts Festival in Malpas, Cheshire, and appeared at the War and Peace Show at the Hop Farm in Kent. In 2014 Gibson appeared with fellow ''Allo, 'Allo!'' cast members at the Sofia International Film Festival. Gibson also works as a radio actor, scriptwriter and voiceover artist. He has claimed that, while a chorister, he sang at the

funeral service A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

of Sir

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

in 1965, and was paid £2

10s The 10s decade ran from January 1, AD 10, to December 31, AD 19. In Europe, the decade saw the end of the Early Imperial campaigns in Germania when Roman forces led by Germanicus defeated Germanic tribes in the Battle of Idistaviso in 16 AD. ...

for his work on the day.

References

External links

*
Interview at Den of Geek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Richard 1954 births 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama British male comedy actors English male film actors English male television actors Living people People educated at Radley College People educated at St. Paul's Cathedral School People from Kampala