Derek Royle

Derek Royle (7 September 1928 – 23 January 1990) was a British actor born in London, England.^[1] He graduated from RADA in 1950.^[2] His face was probably better known than his name to British viewers, but he acted in films and TV from the early 1960s until his death.^[1] He had a supporting role in the Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour in 1967, as well as a minor one with Cilla Black in the film Work Is a Four-Letter Word a year later.^[3]

Most of his film appearances were in comedy films such as Tiffany Jones (1973), Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! (1974) and (1974).^[1]

Stage and television roles[]

He appeared in a children's TV comedy series, Hogg's Back (1975) as Doctor Hogg, an eccentric general practitioner (GP); in 2016, this series appeared on Talking Pictures TV.^[4] Royle acted with Wendy Richard and Pat Coombs over two series.^[5] Hog's Back is a ridge of hills in Surrey.^[6] Royle played the hotel guest who dies in his room in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Kipper and the Corpse".^[7] He also was the first actor to portray Monsieur Ernest Leclerc in the sixth series of 'Allo 'Allo! (replacing Jack Haig, who had portrayed Ernest's brother Roger),^[8] and had a supporting role in a remake of Indiscreet (1988) and a new BBC version of a Lord Peter Wimsey story.^[9][10] As a stage actor he was a mainstay of Brian Rix's Whitehall farces company.^[11] He specialised in absent minded characters and used his acrobatic skills to fall down stairs and immediately get up again as if nothing had happened.^[12] Theatre critic Michael Coveney called him "simply one of the funniest men on the English stage".^[13]

Personal life and death[]

He was married to make-up artist Jane Royle and their daughters Amanda and Carol Royle became actresses.^[13] He died from cancer aged 61.^[14]

References[]

External links[]

• Derek Royle at IMDb

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