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

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

Officer Herr Otto Flick in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

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 Frenc ...

''.

Early life and education

Gibson was born in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It 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 ...

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

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

and educated at its prep school,

St Paul's Cathedral School St Paul's Cathedral School is an independent school associated with St Paul's Cathedral in London and is located in New Change in the City of London. The school has around 220 pupils, most of whom are day pupils, both boys and girls, including ...

, followed by

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley or the College of St. Peter at Radley, is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (independent boarding school) for boys near the village of Radley, in Oxfordshire, in the United Kingd ...

, a

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: **Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where hor ...

public school for boys, near the town of

Abingdon-on-Thames Abingdon-on-Thames ( ), commonly known as Abingdon, is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Thames in the Vale of the White Horse district of Oxfordshire, England. The Historic counties of England, historic county town of Berksh ...

, in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, and the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, commonly shortened to Central, is a drama school 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 ...

. He has said that, as 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 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

in 1965, and was paid £2 10s for his work on the day.

Life and career

Gibson was a main cast member in ''

'' for all but the final 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 Helga (derived from Old Norse ''heilagr'' - "holy", "blessed") is a female name, used mainly in Scandinavia, German-speaking countries and the Low Countries (''Hege'', ''Helle'', ''Helge'', ''Helga'', ''Helka'' or ''Oili''). The name was in use ...

, 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 ''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 French caf� ...

'' 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 a novel by Thomas Hughes, published in 18 ...

''. 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, a ...

) who passed messages between

Julie Christie Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. Christie's accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has appeared in six films ranked in the British Film Institu ...

and

Alan Bates Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the Cinema of the United Kingdom#The 1960s, 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from ''Whistle Down the Wind (film), Whistle Down ...

, 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 British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'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, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' 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. a ...

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 Folkestone Racecourse in Kent with many of the prominent 'Allo 'Allo! cast, excepting Gordon Kaye. 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.

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 English male film actors English male television actors Living people People educated at Radley College People educated at St. Paul's Cathedral School Male actors from Kampala Ugandan male actors