Owen John "Terry" Scott (4 May 1927 – 26 July 1994) was an English
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
and
comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing
Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...
who appeared in seven of the ''
Carry On films
The ''Carry On'' series of 31 British comedy films were released between 1958 and 1978, produced by Peter Rogers with director Gerald Thomas. The humour of ''Carry On'' was in the British comic tradition of music hall and bawdy seaside postcard ...
''.
He is also best known for appearing in the
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Terry and June
''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, Te ...
'' with
June Whitfield
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress.
Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy '' Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...
.
Early life
Scott was born and brought up in
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
and educated at Watford Field Junior School and
Watford Grammar School for Boys
Go Forward with Preparation
, established = 1884 ( Single-sex)
, type = partially selective academy
, religious_affiliation =
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Ian A. Cooksey
, r_head_label =
, ...
. He was the youngest of three children, and the only surviving son after his brother Aubrey died when Scott was six.
['' The Unforgettable'', ITV1, 22 September 2010] After
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The l ...
in the
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
at the end of
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 ...
, he briefly studied accounting.
Career
Scott began his acting career with appearances on radio shows such as ''
Workers Playtime'', which were followed by appearances on television. He gained an opportunity to perform in
farce
Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...
when he joined the
Whitehall Theatre Company. With
Bill Maynard
Walter Frederick George Williams (8 October 1928 – 30 March 2018), better known by his stage name Bill Maynard, was an English comedian and actor. He began working in television in the 1950s, notably starring alongside Terry Scott in '' G ...
he appeared at
Butlin's Holiday Camp in
Skegness
Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, i ...
,
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
and partnered him in the TV series ''
Great Scott - It's Maynard!
''Great Scott - It's Maynard!'' was a British television series which aired on the BBC from 1955 to 1956. It was a popular comedy sketch series starring Bill Maynard and Terry Scott, with musical guests including Petula Clark. It was produced by ...
''. During the 1960s, he appeared alongside
Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lewis Lloyd (22 April 1923 – 14 July 2008) was an English actor who made his name in film and television comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in ''Hancock's Half Hour'', ''Hugh and I'' and other sit ...
in ''
Hugh and I
''Hugh and I'' is a black-and-white British sitcom that aired from 1962 to 1967. It starred Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd as two friends who shared lodgings with Terry's mother and was followed by a sequel called ''Hugh and I Spy''. The two actors h ...
'' (1962–1967). They both appeared as Ugly Sisters in pantomime at The London Palladium and Scott reappeared in the same role with
Julian Orchard
Julian Dean Chavasse Orchard (3 March 1930, in Wheatley, Oxfordshire – 21 June 1979, in Westminster, London)GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 1979 15 1935 WESTMINSTER – Julian Dean C. Orchard, DoB = 3 March 1930 was an English comedy actor. He ap ...
in later years. Scott later appeared with Lloyd in ''
Hugh and I Spy
''Hugh and I Spy'' was a black-and-white British sitcom that was transmitted in 1968. It was the sequel of the long-running ''Hugh and I''. ''Hugh and I Spy'' was written by John Chapman and produced by David Croft.
Cast
* Terry Scott – Him ...
'' (1968) and in the 1969 sitcom ''
The Gnomes of Dulwich
''The Gnomes of Dulwich'' is a United Kingdom television sitcom originally shown in six episodes from 12 May 1969 to 16 June 1969. Written by Jimmy Perry, the show starred Terry Scott, Hugh Lloyd, John Clive, Leon Thau, Anne de Vigier and L ...
'' (1969) as
gnome
A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...
s.
Scott's novelty record "My Brother" (written by
Mitch Murray
Mitch Murray (born Lionel Michael Stitcher; 30 January 1940) is an English songwriter, record producer and author. He has won two Ivor Novello Awards, including the Jimmy Kennedy Award. Murray has written, or co-written, songs that have produ ...
, released in 1962 on
Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
) was based on a schoolboy character (he dressed in the uniform to sing it on TV). In the 1970s, he had a role in TV commercials for
Curly Wurly
Curly Wurly is a brand of chocolate bar manufactured by Cadbury UK and sold worldwide. It was launched in the UK in 1970. Its shape resembles three flattened, intertwined serpentine strings. The bar is made of chocolate-coated caramel.
History
T ...
caramel bars, in which he again appeared dressed as a schoolboy, with short trousers and cap. He repeated this performance several times on BBC TVs long-running variety show ''
The Good Old Days''. Scott had played a small role in the very first of the ''
Carry On films
The ''Carry On'' series of 31 British comedy films were released between 1958 and 1978, produced by Peter Rogers with director Gerald Thomas. The humour of ''Carry On'' was in the British comic tradition of music hall and bawdy seaside postcard ...
'' series of films, ''
Carry On Sergeant
''Carry On Sergeant'' is a 1958 British comedy film about National Service starring William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Barker; it is the first in the series of ''Carry On'' films, with 31 entries released from 1958 to 1992. The film wa ...
'' in 1958. In 1968 he returned to the series with a role in ''
Carry On Up the Khyber
''Carry On Up the Khyber'' is a 1968 British comedy film, the 16th in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It stars ''Carry On'' regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butt ...
'' (1968), playing main roles in six of the later films.
He starred alongside
June Whitfield
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress.
Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy '' Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...
in several series of the comedy ''
Happy Ever After'' and its successor, ''
Terry and June
''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, Te ...
''. They had first worked together making a series of the sketch show ''Scott On'' (1968).
They also featured in supporting roles together in the film version of ''
Bless This House''. Although both Scott and Whitfield both made several ''Carry On'' appearances, they never appeared in the same film. From 1981 to 1992, Scott was the
voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...
of
Penfold the
hamster
Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The b ...
in the
animated series
An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...
''
Danger Mouse''.
Personal life and death
He suffered from ill health for several years in the latter part of his life. In 1979, he had a life-saving operation after a brain haemorrhage. He also suffered from creeping paralysis and had to wear a
neck brace
A cervical collar, also known as a neck brace, is a medical device used to support and immobilize a person's neck. It is also applied by emergency personnel to those who have had traumatic head or neck injuries, and can be used to treat chronic m ...
.
Scott was also diagnosed with cancer in 1987. He died from its effects at his family home in
Witley
Witley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England centred south west of the town of Godalming and southwest of Guildford. The land is a mixture of rural (ranging from woodland protected by the Surrey Hills AO ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, on 26 July 1994, at the age of 67. He said of his last illness: "I know it would be better to give up the booze, fags and birds, but life would be so boring, wouldn't it?".
When ''
Terry and June
''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, Te ...
'' ended in 1987, he suffered a nervous breakdown. The breakdown was in part brought on by his public confession that he had indulged in a series of affairs since his marriage to dancer Margaret Peden in 1957. The couple had four daughters: Sarah, Nicola, Lindsay and Ally.
Filmography
Discography
*''Don't Light The Fire 'Til After Santa's Gone''/''My Brother'', Parlophone R 4967 (December 1962)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Terry
1927 births
1994 deaths
Butlins Redcoats
Deaths from cancer in England
English male film actors
English male comedians
English male television actors
English male voice actors
People educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys
People from Watford
Male actors from Hertfordshire
20th-century English male actors
20th-century English comedians
British male comedy actors
British novelty song performers
Royal Navy personnel of World War II