Born
John Paton Laurie
Died
Resting place
Cremated; ashes scattered in the English Channel[2]
Education
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation
Actor
Years active
1921–1979
Spouses
Florence May Saunders
(m. 1925; died 1926)Oonah Veronica Todd-Naylor
(m. 1928)Children
1
Military career
Allegiance
Service/
Unit
Honourable Artillery Company
Paddington Home Guard
Battles/wars
First World War
Second World War
John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in scores of feature films with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier, generally playing memorable small or supporting roles. As a stage actor, he was cast in Shakespearean roles and was a speaker of verse, especially of Robert Burns.[3] He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977) as Private Frazer, a member of the Home Guard.[4]
Laurie was born on 25 March 1897 in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire,[5] to William Laurie (1856–1903), a clerk in a tweed mill and later a hatter and hosier, and Jessie Ann Laurie (née Brown; 1858–1935). He attended grammar school at Dumfries Academy, then abandoned a career in architecture to serve in the First World War as a member of the Honourable Artillery Company. Upon demobilisation he trained to become an actor under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London. He made his debut on stage in 1921.[6][7]
A prolific Shakespearean actor, Laurie made his first appearance on the London stage in 1922 at the Old Vic where he played many leading roles.[8] Soon after joining the Old Vic Laurie became involved with the Shakespeare Memorial TheatreinStratford-upon-Avon where he played such roles as Richard III, Othello and Macbeth. In only his second season at Stratford, Laurie got the chance to play Hamlet, which was almost unheard of for someone with such little experience. Laurie later said that he believed that his performance of the role was the definitive version, saying "That's the way to play Hamlet, don't wait too long, like some of the boys are doing today."[9]
On radio, he created the role of John the Baptist in Dorothy L Sayers' cycle of plays The Man Born to Be King, and reprised the role in two further versions of the cycle. Laurie also played the part of MacDuff in a radio adaptation of Macbeth, with Ralph Richardson in the title role.[10]
I’ve played every part in Shakespeare. I was considered to be the finest Hamlet of the twenties and I had retired, and now I'm famous for doing this crap.
John Laurie comment on Dad's Army recalled by Ian Lavender[11]
Laurie's first film was the 1930 film Juno and the Paycock, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock next cast him as John the Crofter in 1935's The 39 Steps, a breakthrough role for Laurie in just his third film. In 1936 Laurie and fellow Old Vic alumnus Laurence Olivier made their first film appearance together in As You Like It. Laurie went on to appear in Olivier's three Shakespearean films, Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955).[12] During the Second World War Laurie served in the Home Guard, experience that would be useful for later projects.[13] Other roles included Peter Manson in Michael Powell's The Edge of the World (1937), Clive Candy's batman in Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), a gardener in Medal for the General (1944), the farmer recruit in The Way Ahead (1944), and the brothel proprietor in Fanny by Gaslight (1944). In the 1945 Powell and Pressburger film I Know Where I'm Going! he had a small speaking part in a céilidh sequence for which he was also credited as an adviser. In the next decade, he played the psychiatrist Dr. James Garsten in Mine Own Executioner (1947), the repugnant Pew in Disney's Treasure Island (1950), Angus in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), and Dr. MacFarlane in Hobson's Choice (1954).[14]
In 1954, Laurie joined the Edinburgh Gateway Company to play the leading role in Robert Kemp's The Laird o' Grippy, a translation into ScotsofMolière's L'avare.[15]
Laurie's role as Private Frazer, the gaunt-faced, intense, pessimistic undertaker, and British Home Guard soldier in the sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977) remains his best known TV role.[16] Dad's Army co-star Frank Williams noted in his autobiography that Laurie had ‘a sort of love-hate relationship with the show’, as despite earning him a lot a money he felt that a sitcom was beneath him.[17] Said Graham McCann in his book Dad's Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy: "John Laurie was cantankerous, he was rather mischievous, he was someone who enjoyed playing a kind of a professional pessimist."[18] He featured in many British series of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s including Tales of Mystery, Doctor Finlay's Casebook, and The Avengers.[19]
Laurie starred as Mad Peter in the Hammer film The Reptile (1966), and later appeared in The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), the Disney film One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1979).[5] One of his last appearances was in Return to the Edge of the World (1978), in which Michael Powell revisited his film of forty years earlier.[20] Laurie's final work was in the BBC Radio 2 comedy series Tony's (1979) along with Victor Spinetti and Deborah Watling.[21]
Laurie was married twice, first to Florence May Saunders, whom he met while at the Old Vic; she died from meningitis in 1926. His second wife was Oonah Veronica Todd-Naylor, who survived him. Together they had a daughter, Veronica (1939–2022).
Laurie died in 1980, aged 83, from emphysema in the Chalfont and Gerrards Cross Hospital, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire.[22] His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the English Channel. His widow Oonah (1901–1990) died ten years later.
Year
Title
Role
Notes
1930
Johnny Boyle
1934
Forsyth
Uncredited
1935
John the crofter
Robb
John Knox
Uncredited
1936
Mc Tavish
Dr. Fergusson
Oliver
1937
Mons. Coutard
Private McAllister
Hassan
Also known as Dark Sands
Peter Manson
Stranger
1938
The Duchess of Malfi
Ferdinand of Aragon
TV
Wilson – the Valet
Uncredited
White Secret
MacDonald
TV
Joseph Bonaparte
The Last Voyage of Captain Grant
Captain Grant
TV
Henson, the gamekeeper
1939
Mary Rose
Cameron
TV
Bees on the Boat-Deck
Gaster
TV
Newspaper Editor
Uncredited
The Khalifa
1940
Jock
Gates
McNab
1941
Jamie
McAdam
Wing Commander
1942
Lt. Comdr. Reid
1943
Alexander Balfour, Scots corporal
Murdoch
British Sailor
Mr. Hervey
Harry Fyfe
Short, uncredited
1944
William Hopwood
Pvt. Luke
McNab
Jamy
Men of Rochdale
Mr. Ferguson
Short
1945
Matthews
Scottish sergeant
Tom Tetley
John Campbell
1st. Auxiliary Sentinel
Read All About It
John
Short, uncredited
1946
MacTavish
Jeannie
Father
TV
Two Gentlemen of Soho
Sneak
TV
Dr. Jock McVitie
1947
Dugald McLeod / Alistair MacDonald
Tom Woodroofe
Giles
Dr. James Garsten
1948
Francisco
Blind Jamie
1949
Joe Drummond
1950
Scots Divine
Uncredited
Blind Pew
Mr. Campbell
(segment "Sanatorium")
Inspector MacDougall
1951
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
Angus
Jonskill
Gordon Webb
Andrews, Engineer
(segment "Winter Cruise")
1952
Grimshaw
Angus McDonald
Too Many Detectives
Edward Potter
Short
Potter of the Yard
Short
1953
Mac Wells
Captain Brassbound's Conversion
Rankin
TV
Henry V
Pistol
TV
Henry Mason
Policeman
Mr. Bartleby
Mr. Beamish Goes South
Edward Potter
Short
McCutcheon
1954
Dr. McFarlane
Calling Scotland Yard: The Sable Scarf
Short
"Jamie" Jamieson
James, the servant
Destination Milan
Walter McHarry
1955
Lovel
1956
Festival Fever
Annie's father
TV
A Day of Grace
Uncle Henry
Short
1957
Murder Reported
Mac North – Editor
Mac
1958
Abercrombie, Scottish Director
Capt. MacKechnie
Uncredited
1960
Ebenezer Balfour
1961
Taxi Driver
One Way Pendulum
Judge
TV
1963
Dr. MacGregor
1964
Eagle Rock
Mr. McTavish
Voice
1966
Mad Peter
1967
The Scotsman
1970
Step Laughing Into the Grave
TV
1971
Darrow
1974
Charles Dickens' World of Christmas
TV
1975
One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing
Jock
1976
Crime Casebook
George Winterman / Sellens
Short
1979
Archbishop
(final film role)
Year
Title
Role
Notes
1938
The Duchess Of Malfi[23]
Ferdinand of Aragon
Single drama
The Last Voyage of Captain Grant[24]
Captain Grant
Single drama
Mary Rose[25]
Cameron
Single drama
1939
Bees on the Boat-Deck[26]
Gaster
Single drama
1952
Insp. MacGillivray
Four episodes
1961–1963
Host / Algernon Blackwood
29 episodes
1962–1969
1963
The Vet
Episode "Wallah, Wallah Catsmeat"
1965
Dr Ferguson
Episode "Partners"
Professor Corliss
Six episodes
1968–1977
80 episodes, regular role
1970
Lord McBracken
One episode alongside Dads Army co-star Clive Dunn
1971
Storyteller
Five episodes reading The Princess and the Goblin
1973
Storyteller
Five episodes reading The Princess and Curdie
1975
Storyteller
Five episodes reading stories 'The Light Princess' and 'The Golden Key'
1979
Larry Grayson's Generation Game
Himself
Guest Appearance
International
National
Artists
People
Other
