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]
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 Theatre in Stratford-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]
TV and film
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.
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 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).
Death
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.
^"Macbeth: a broadcast version of Shakespeare's tragedy will be given on Sunday afternoon". Radio Times 50th Anniversary Souvenir 1923–1973 (The page in the souvenir is a reproduction from the original journal, which was published in March 1933). BBC: 32. 1973.
