George Authur Woodbridge (16 February 1907 – 31 March 1973) was an English actor who appeared in films, television, and theatre ranging from the 1930s to the 1970s. George became well known for his ruddy-cheeked complexion and

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

accent, this meant he often played publicans, policemen or yokels, most prominently in horror and comedy films alongside

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

and

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...

Personal life

Woodbridge was born in

Exeter, England Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

,McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. p. 839; where he was raised and lived most of his life. He died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1973.

Career

Woodbridge became a Chief Steward in the Merchant Navy before becoming an actor, first appearing on the London stage in 1928. He made his film debut in 1940 in ''

The Big Blockade ''The Big Blockade'' is a 1942 British black-and-white war propaganda film in the style of dramatised documentary. It is directed by Charles Frend and stars Will Hay, Leslie Banks, Michael Redgrave and John Mills. It was produced by Michael Bal ...

'', he went on to appear in films such as ''

Green for Danger ''Green for Danger'' is a popular 1944 detective novel by British writer Christianna Brand, praised for its clever plot, interesting characters, and wartime hospital setting. It was made into a 1946 film which is regarded by film historians ...

'' (1946), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), '' The Queen of Spades'' (1949), '' Stryker of the Yard'' (1953), ''

An Inspector Calls ''An Inspector Calls'' is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is c ...

'' (1954), and ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

'' (1955). His horror film roles include the innkeeper in ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

'' (1958) and its sequel '' Dracula: Prince of Darkness'' (1966), as well as parts in ''

The Revenge of Frankenstein ''The Revenge of Frankenstein'' is a 1958 Technicolor British horror film made by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Terence Fisher, the film stars Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews, Michael Gwynn and Eunice Gayson. In the United States, it wa ...

'' (1958), ''

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...

'' (1959), ''

The Flesh and the Fiends ''The Flesh and the Fiends'' (US title ''Mania'') is a 1960 British horror film directed by John Gilling. It stars Peter Cushing as 19th-century medical doctor Robert Knox, who purchases human corpses for research from a murderous pair named Bu ...

'' (1959), ''

The Curse of the Werewolf ''The Curse of the Werewolf'' is a 1961 British horror film based on the novel '' The Werewolf of Paris'' by Guy Endore. The film was made by the British company Hammer Film Productions and was shot at Bray Studios on sets that were constru ...

'' (1961), ''

The Reptile ''The Reptile'' is a 1966 horror film made by Hammer Film Productions. It was directed by John Gilling, and starred Noel Willman, Jacqueline Pearce, Ray Barrett, Jennifer Daniel, and Michael Ripper. Plot summary In the 20th century in the fic ...

'' (1966) and ''

Doomwatch ''Doomwatch'' is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist ...

'' (1972). He also appeared in two

M.R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...

adaptations on television, in the ''

Mystery and Imagination ''Mystery and Imagination'' is a British television anthology series of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 by the ITV network and produced by ABC and (later) Thames Television. Outline The se ...

'' episode "Room 13" and the 1968 '' Omnibus'' episode, "

Whistle and I'll Come to You "Whistle and I'll Come to You" is a 1968 BBC television drama adaptation of the 1904 ghost story 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' by M. R. James. It tells of an eccentric and distracted professor who happens upon a strange whistle whi ...

". His jovial manner lent itself to comedy films as well, including ''

An Alligator Named Daisy ''An Alligator Named Daisy'' is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway. Plot Returning from a cricket match in I ...

'' (1955), ''

Three Men in a Boat ''Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)'',The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: ''Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!'' published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a tw ...

'' (1956), ''

Two-Way Stretch ''Two-Way Stretch'', is a 1960 British comedy film, about a group of prisoners who plan to break out of jail, commit a robbery, and then break back into jail again, thus giving them the perfect alibi – that they were behind bars when the ro ...

'' (1960), '' Raising the Wind'' (1961), '' What a Carve Up!'' (1961), ''

Only Two Can Play ''Only Two Can Play'' is a 1962 British comedy film starring Peter Sellers, based on the 1955 novel ''That Uncertain Feeling (novel), That Uncertain Feeling'' by Kingsley Amis. Sidney Gilliat directed the film from a screenplay by Bryan Forbes. ...

'' (1962), '' Nurse on Wheels'' (1963), ''

Heavens Above! ''Heavens Above!'' is a 1963 British satirical comedy film starring Peter Sellers, directed by John and Roy Boulting, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey, from an idea by Malcolm Muggeridge. It is in a similar vein to the earlier collab ...

'' (1963), ''

Carry On Jack ''Carry On Jack'' is a 1964 British comedy film, the eighth in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). Most of the usual ''Carry On'' team are missing from this film: only Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey appear throughout, wi ...

'' (1963), ''

Take a Girl Like You ''Take a Girl Like You'' is a comic novel by Kingsley Amis. The narrative follows the progress of twenty-year-old Jenny Bunn, who has moved from her family home in the North of England to a small town not far from London to teach primary school ...

'' (1970), '' All the Way Up'' (1970), and ''

Up Pompeii ''Up Pompeii!'' is a British television comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell, a scriptwriter for the ''Carry On'' films, and the second series by Rothwell and S ...

'' (1971). He also appeared as the sergeant in the Stryker of the Yard featurettes during the 1950s. He first appeared on television before the

Second World War 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and went on to appear in ''

Jude the Obscure ''Jude the Obscure'' is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book form in 1895 (though the title page says 1896). It is Hardy's last completed novel. The protagonist, Jude Fawley ...

'' (1971), ''

Adam Adamant Lives! ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' is a British adventure television series that ran from 1966 to 1967 on BBC 1, starring Gerald Harper in the title role. The series was created and produced by several alumni from ''Doctor Who''. Proposing that an adventur ...

'', ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Canad ...

'', ''

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

'', ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

'', ''

The Forsyte Saga ''The Forsyte Saga'', first published under that title in 1922, is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by the English author John Galsworthy, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. They chronicle the vici ...

'', ''

The Persuaders! ''The Persuaders!'' is an action-comedy series starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, produced by ITC Entertainment, and initially broadcast on ITV and ABC in 1971. The show has been called 'the last major entry in the cycle of adventure serie ...

'' and '' Softly Softly''. He gained popularity late in his career as the titular puppet-maker in the children's TV show '' Inigo Pipkin''. He died five weeks into the filming of the second series, an occurrence which was dealt with in the programme's storyline. The series continued for another seven years however under the title, ''

Pipkins ''Pipkins'' (originally ''Inigo Pipkin'') is a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov, Octavia and the gang were the stars of ATV's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981. ''Pipkins'' was one of th ...

''.

Selected filmography

* '' Tower of Terror'' (1941) - Gruppenfuhrer Rudolf Jurgens * ''

The Black Sheep of Whitehall ''The Black Sheep of Whitehall'' (the opening credits read ''Black Sheep of Whitehall'') is a 1942 British black-and-white comedy war film, directed by Will Hay and Basil Dearden, starring Will Hay, John Mills, Basil Sydney and Thora Hird in h ...

'' (1942) - Male Nurse * ''

'' (1942) - Quisling * ''

The Day Will Dawn ''The Day Will Dawn'', released in the US as ''The Avengers'', is a 1942 British war film set in Norway during World War II. It stars Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Hugh Williams and Griffith Jones, and was directed by Harold French from a s ...

'' (1942) - Journalist Sitting at Bar in Pub (uncredited) * ''

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' is a 1943 British romantic drama war film written, produced and directed by the Cinema of the United Kingdom, British film making team of Powell and Pressburger, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It s ...

'' (1943) - Man with Debris Clearing Unit (uncredited) * ''

Escape to Danger ''Escape to Danger'' is a 1943 British thriller film directed by Lance Comfort and Victor Hanbury and starring Eric Portman, Ann Dvorak and Karel Stepanek. Plot During the Second World War a British schoolteacher working in Denmark is caught u ...

'' (1943) - (uncredited) * ''

I See a Dark Stranger ''I See a Dark Stranger'' – released as ''The Adventuress'' in the United States – is a 1946 British World War II spy film with touches of light comedy, by the team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Deborah Kerr and T ...

'' (1946) - Walter * ''

Temptation Harbour ''Temptation Harbour'' is a British black and white crime/drama film directed by Lance Comfort, released in 1947 based on the novel ''Newhaven-Dieppe'' (''L'Homme de Londres'') by Georges Simenon. The film was made at Welwyn Studios with sets ...

'' (1947) - Frost * ''

'' (1947) - Det.-Sgt. Hendricks * '' The October Man'' (1947) - Grey * ''

Blanche Fury ''Blanche Fury'' is a 1948 British Technicolor drama film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Valerie Hobson, Stewart Granger and Michael Gough. It was adapted from a 1939 novel of the same title by Joseph Shearing. In Victorian era Englan ...

'' (1948) - Aimes * ''

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...

'' (1948) - Farmer Browning (uncredited) * ''

My Brother Jonathan ''My Brother Jonathan'' is a 1948 British drama film directed by Harold French and starring Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray, Ronald Howard and Beatrice Campbell. It is adapted from the 1930 novel '' My Brother Jonathan'' by Francis Brett Young, ...

'' (1948) - Stevens * '' The Red Shoes'' (1948) - Doorman - Covent Garden (uncredited) * '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948) - Police Sergeant * ''

Silent Dust ''Silent Dust'' is a 1949 British drama/thriller film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Sally Gray, Stephen Murray, Derek Farr and Nigel Patrick. The title comes from lines in Thomas Gray's ''Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard'' ''Can ...

'' (1949) - Foreman * '' The Queen of Spades'' (1949) - Vassili * '' Children of Chance'' (1949) - Butcher * '' Double Confession'' (1950) - Sgt. Sawnton * ''

The Black Rose ''The Black Rose'' is a 1950 American-British adventure film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles. Talbot Jennings' screenplay was loosely based on a 1945 novel of the same name by Canadian author Thomas B. C ...

'' (1950) - Warder (uncredited) * ''

The Naked Heart ''The Naked Heart'' (French title: ''Maria Chapdelaine'') is a 1950 British-French historical drama film directed by Marc Allégret, based on the novel '' Maria Chapdelaine'' by Louis Hémon. The film stars Michèle Morgan, Kieron Moore and Fra ...

'' (1950) - Samuel Chapdelaine * ''

Murder in the Cathedral ''Murder in the Cathedral'' is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935, that portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the writin ...

'' (1951) - 2nd Tempter * ''

Cloudburst A cloudburst is an extreme amount of precipitation in a short period of time, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder, which is capable of creating flood conditions. Cloudbursts can quickly dump large amounts of water, e.g. 25 mm of pre ...

'' (1951) - Sergeant Ritchie * ''

The Crimson Pirate ''The Crimson Pirate'' is a 1952 British-American international co-production Technicolor tongue-in-cheek comedy-adventure film from Warner Bros. produced by Norman Deming and Harold Hecht, directed by Robert Siodmak, and starring Burt Lancaste ...

'' (1952) - Pirate (uncredited) * ''

The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan ''The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan'' (also known as ''Gilbert & Sullivan'' and ''The Great Gilbert and Sullivan'') is a 1953 British musical drama film dramatisation of the collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan. Librettist W. S. Gilbert a ...

'' (1953) - Reporter * ''

The Flanagan Boy ''The Flanagan Boy'' (released in the United States as ''Bad Blonde'') is a 1953 British film noir directed by Reginald Le Borg. It was made by Hammer Film Productions and stars Barbara Payton, Tony Wright, Frederick Valk and Sid James. ''The ...

'' (1953) - Police Inspector (uncredited) * '' Stryker of the Yard'' (1953) - Sgt. Hawker * ''

'' (1954) - Fish & Chip Shop Owner * ''

Conflict of Wings ''Conflict of Wings'' is a 1954 British comedy drama film directed by John Eldridge and starring John Gregson, Muriel Pavlow and Kieron Moore. The film is based on a novel of the same title by Don Sharp who later became a noted director. It w ...

'' (1954) - 'Old Circular' * '' For Better, for Worse'' (1954) - Alf * ''

The Crowded Day ''The Crowded Day'' is a 1954 British comedy drama film directed by John Guillermin and starring John Gregson, Joan Rice, Cyril Raymond and Josephine Griffin. The film follows a group of shopgirls working in Bunting and Hobbs, a London depar ...

'' (1954) - Mr. Bunting's Friend * '' Third Party Risk'' (1954) - Inspector Goldfinch * ''

Isn't Life Wonderful! , starring = Cecil ParkerEileen HerlieDonald WolfitPeter Asher , music = Philip Green , cinematography = Erwin Hillier , editing = Edward B. Jarvis , studio = Associated British Picture Corporation , distribu ...

'' (1954) - Cockie * ''

The Green Carnation ''The Green Carnation'' is a novel by Robert Hichens that was first published anonymously in 1894. A satire on contemporary champions of the Aesthetic Movement, it was withdrawn briefly after the scandal of the Oscar Wilde trial in the foll ...

'' (1954) - Farmer * ''

Mad About Men ''Mad About Men'' is a 1954 British Technicolor comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Glynis Johns, Donald Sinden, Anne Crawford and Margaret Rutherford. It was written by Peter Blackmore, who also wrote the 1948 film '' Miranda'' w ...

'' (1954) - Fisherman Outside Pub (uncredited) * ''

Companions in Crime ''Companions in Crime'' (A.K.A. ''Stryker Strikes Twice'') is a 1954 British crime film directed by John Krish and starring Clifford Evans, George Woodbridge and Kenneth Haigh. The film is a spin-off from the television series ''Stryker of th ...

'' (1954) - Sergeant Hawker * ''

Passage Home ''Passage Home'' is a 1955 British drama film directed by Roy Ward Baker. Plot Captain "Lucky" Ryland (Peter Finch) is about to retire. He has a flashback of several years to a voyage on a merchant ship which he was captaining from South Americ ...

'' (1955) - Yorkie * ''

The Constant Husband ''The Constant Husband'' is a 1955 British comedy film, directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Rex Harrison, Margaret Leighton, Kay Kendall, Cecil Parker, George Cole and Raymond Huntley. The story was written by Gilliat together with Val ...

'' (1955) - Old Bailey Warder (uncredited) * ''

'' (1955) - Lord Mayor of London * ''

'' (1955) - PC Jorkins (uncredited) * '' A Yank in Ermine'' (1955) - Landlord * ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'' (1956) - Mr. Carter, garage proprietor/taxi driver (uncredited) * '' Now and Forever'' (1956) - Policeman Charlie (uncredited) * '' Eyewitness'' (1956) - Hospital Security Man * ''

'' (1956) - Policeman * ''

The Passionate Stranger ''The Passionate Stranger'' (U.S. ''A Novel Affair'') is a 1957 British drama film, directed by Muriel Box and starring Margaret Leighton and Ralph Richardson. It uses the film within a film device, with the "real" part of the plot shot in b ...

'' (1957) - 1st Landlord * ''

The Good Companions ''The Good Companions'' is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley. Written in 1929, it follows the fortunes of a concert party on a tour of England. It is Priestley's most famous novel and established him as a national figure. It won ...

'' (1957) - Ripe Gentleman * ''

A King in New York ''A King in New York'' is a 1957 British comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin in his last leading role, which co-stars, among others, his young son Michael. The film presents a satirical view of the McCarthy communist-hunt era ...

'' (1957) - Member of Atomic Commission * '' High Flight'' (1957) - Farmer * ''

A Tale of Two Cities ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the ...

'' (1958) - Dover Innkeeper (uncredited) * ''

'' (1958) - Landlord * ''

The Moonraker ''The Moonraker'' is a British swashbuckler film made in 1957 and released in 1958 and set in the English Civil War. It was directed by David MacDonald and starred George Baker, Sylvia Syms, Marius Goring, Gary Raymond, Peter Arne, John Le M ...

'' (1958) - Captain Lowry * ''

'' (1958) - Janitor * ''

The Son of Robin Hood ''The Son of Robin Hood'' is a 1958 American adventure DeLuxe color CinemaScope film directed by George Sherman, starring David Hedison and June Laverick. Plot The imposter son of Robin Hood gets locked up in the dungeon. His brother later gets ...

'' (1958) - Little John * '' Breakout'' (1959) - Landlord (uncredited) * ''

'' (1959) - Blake * ''

The Siege of Pinchgut ''The Siege of Pinchgut'' (released in the US as ''Four Desperate Men'') is a 1959 British thriller filmed on location in Sydney, Australia, and directed by Harry Watt. It was the last film produced by Ealing Studios, and was entered into the ...

'' (1959) - Newspaper Editor (uncredited) * ''

The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places *Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States *Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in Par ...

'' (1959) - Police Constable * ''

'' (1960) - Chief P.O. Jenkins * ''

'' (1960) - Dr. Ferguson * ''

'' (1961) - Dominique * '' Raising the Wind'' (1961) - Yorkshire Orchestra Leader * '' What a Carve Up!'' (1961) - Dr. Edward Broughton * ''

'' (1962) - Farmer (uncredited) * '' The Iron Maiden'' (1962) - Mr. Ludge * '' Nurse on Wheels'' (1963) - Mr. Beacon * ''

'' (1963) - Bishop * ''

The Scarlet Blade ''The Scarlet Blade'' (released in the United States as ''The Crimson Blade'') is a 1963 British adventure film directed by John Gilling and starring Lionel Jeffries, Oliver Reed, Jack Hedley and June Thorburn. It is a period drama set du ...

'' (1963) - Town Crier (uncredited) * ''

'' (1963) - Ned * '' The Secret of My Success'' (1965) - Pub Regular (uncredited) * '' Dracula: Prince of Darkness'' (1966) - Landlord * ''

'' (1969) - Harry - Publican * ''

Where's Jack? ''Where's Jack?'' is a 1969 British adventure film recounting the exploits of notorious 18th-century criminal Jack Sheppard and London "Thief-Taker General" Jonathan Wild. The film was produced by Stanley Baker through his company Oakhurst Pro ...

'' (1969) - Hangman * '' All the Way Up'' (1970) - Landlord * ''

'' (1971) - Fat Bather * ''

'' (1972) - Ferry Skipper * ''

Diamonds on Wheels ''Diamonds on Wheels'' is a 1973 British family comedy film directed by Jerome Courtland and starring Peter Firth, Patrick Allen, George Sewell, Derek Newark, George Woodbridge and Barry Jackson. This was George woodbridge's last film and it ...

'' (1973) - PC Andrew

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodbridge, George 1907 births 1973 deaths English male stage actors English male film actors English male television actors Actors from Exeter 20th-century English male actors Male actors from Devon