Owen John "Terry" Scott (4 May 1927 – 26 July 1994) was an English

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

and

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audienc ...

who appeared in seven of the ''

Carry On films The ''Carry On'' series of 31 British comedy films were released between 1958 and 1978, produced by Peter Rogers with director Gerald Thomas. The humour of ''Carry On'' was in the British comic tradition of music hall and bawdy seaside postc ...

''. He is also best known for appearing in the

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

Terry and June ''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, T ...

'' with

June Whitfield Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress. Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy ''Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...

Early life

Scott was born and brought up in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

and educated at Watford Field Junior School and

Watford Grammar School for Boys Go Forward with Preparation , established = 1884 ( Single-sex) , type = partially selective academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Ian A. Cooksey , r_head_label = , ...

. He was the youngest of three children, and the only surviving son after his brother Aubrey died when Scott was six.'' The Unforgettable'', ITV1, 22 September 2010 After

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he briefly studied accounting.

Career

Scott began his acting career with appearances on radio shows such as '' Workers Playtime'', which were followed by appearances on television. He gained an opportunity to perform in

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

when he joined the Whitehall Theatre Company. With Bill Maynard he appeared at Butlin's Holiday Camp in

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

and partnered him in the TV series '' Great Scott - It's Maynard!''. During the 1960s, he appeared alongside

Hugh Lloyd Hugh Lewis Lloyd (22 April 1923 – 14 July 2008) was an English actor who made his name in film and television comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in ''Hancock's Half Hour'', ''Hugh and I'' and other sit ...

in ''

Hugh and I ''Hugh and I'' is a black-and-white British sitcom that aired from 1962 to 1967. It starred Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd as two friends who shared lodgings with Terry's mother and was followed by a sequel called '' Hugh and I Spy''. The two actor ...

'' (1962–1967). They both appeared as Ugly Sisters in pantomime at The London Palladium and Scott reappeared in the same role with Julian Orchard in later years. Scott later appeared with Lloyd in '' Hugh and I Spy'' (1968) and in the 1969 sitcom '' The Gnomes of Dulwich'' (1969) as

gnome A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...

s. Scott's novelty record "My Brother" (written by Mitch Murray, released in 1962 on

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

) was based on a schoolboy character (he dressed in the uniform to sing it on TV). In the 1970s, he had a role in TV commercials for Curly Wurly caramel bars, in which he again appeared dressed as a schoolboy, with short trousers and cap. He repeated this performance several times on BBC TVs long-running variety show '' The Good Old Days''. Scott had played a small role in the very first of the ''

'' series of films, '' Carry On Sergeant'' in 1958. In 1968 he returned to the series with a role in ''

Carry On Up the Khyber ''Carry On Up the Khyber'' is a 1968 British comedy film, the 16th in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It stars ''Carry On'' regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butte ...

'' (1968), playing main roles in six of the later films. He starred alongside

in several series of the comedy '' Happy Ever After'' and its successor, ''

''. They had first worked together making a series of the sketch show ''Scott On'' (1968). They also featured in supporting roles together in the film version of '' Bless This House''. Although both Scott and Whitfield both made several ''Carry On'' appearances, they never appeared in the same film. From 1981 to 1992, Scott was the

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

of Penfold the

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The ...

in the

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

'' Danger Mouse''.

Personal life and death

He suffered from ill health for several years in the latter part of his life. In 1979, he had a life-saving operation after a brain haemorrhage. He also suffered from creeping paralysis and had to wear a

neck brace A cervical collar, also known as a neck brace, is a medical device used to support and immobilize a person's neck. It is also applied by emergency personnel to those who have had traumatic head or neck injuries, and can be used to treat chronic m ...

. Scott was also diagnosed with cancer in 1987. He died from its effects at his family home in Witley,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

, on 26 July 1994, at the age of 67. He said of his last illness: "I know it would be better to give up the booze, fags and birds, but life would be so boring, wouldn't it?". When ''

'' ended in 1987, he suffered a nervous breakdown. The breakdown was in part brought on by his public confession that he had indulged in a series of affairs since his marriage to dancer Margaret Peden in 1957. The couple had four daughters: Sarah, Nicola, Lindsay and Ally.

Filmography

Discography

*''Don't Light The Fire 'Til After Santa's Gone''/''My Brother'', Parlophone R 4967 (December 1962)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Terry 1927 births 1994 deaths Butlins Redcoats Deaths from cancer in England English male film actors English male comedians English male television actors English male voice actors People educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys People from Watford Male actors from Hertfordshire 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English comedians British male comedy actors British novelty song performers Royal Navy personnel of World War II