John Louis Mansi (born John Patrick Adams; 8 November 1926 – 6 August 2010
) was a British television and film actor whose career spanned the years from the early 1950s to the early 1990s.
Born in London to an Italian father and an Irish mother, he served in the
merchant navy and the
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
during
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Upon becoming an actor, he chose his father's surname as his stage name, later adopting the name Louis after Louie Dumbrowski, the character played by
Bernard Gorcey
Bernard Gorcey (9 January 1886 – 11 September 1955) was a Russian-born American actor. He began in Vaudeville, performed on Broadway, and appeared in multiple shorts and films. He portrayed ice cream shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski i ...
in
The Bowery Boys film series, whom his friends claimed he resembled.
He was best known for his role as
Engelbert von Smallhausen (although in the BBC books he is named as Bobby Cedric von Smallhausen) in the popular
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' in seasons 2 to 9. He also appeared in ''
'' (as "Maxime" in the episode "The Treasure of the Costa del Sol", 1969), the ''
'' story "The Thirteenth Reunion". His film appearances have included ''
'' ended in 1992, he retired from acting. He was often credited as Louis Mansi in his roles. For six years he suffered from
. His interests included reading, letter writing, animal welfare and watching DVDs/videos of past favourite series/films.