Windsor Davies

Windsor Davies
Davies during filming of Never the Twain
Born28 August 1930
Canning Town, Essex (now London), England[1]
Died17 January 2019(2019-01-17) (aged 88)
France[2]
OccupationActor
Years active1961–2004
Spouse
Eluned Evans
​
​
(m. 1957; died 2018)​
Children5

Windsor Davies (28 August 1930 – 17 January 2019)[3] was a British actor. He is best remembered for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981) over its entire run. The show's popularity resulted in Davies and his co-star Don Estelle achieving a UK number-one hit with a version of "Whispering Grass" in 1975. He later starred with Donald Sinden in Never the Twain (1981–1991), and his deep Welsh-accented voice was heard extensively in advertising voice-overs.

Early life

Davies was born on 28 August 1930 in Canning Town, East London,[1] to Welsh parents. In 1940 they returned to their native village of Nant-y-moel, Glamorgan.[4] Davies studied at Ogmore Grammar School and worked as a coal miner.[5] He performed his National Service in Libya and Egypt, with the East Surrey Regiment, between 1950 and 1952.[6] Following teacher training at Bangor Teacher Training College,[3] he taught English and Maths at Leek in Staffordshire,[7] and at a school in Elephant and Castle, south London.[8]

Davies had become active in amateur dramatics, including the Bromley Little Theatre, and took a short drama course with a Kew theatre company.[7] He became a professional actor at the age of 31 and began working at the Cheltenham repertory theatre in 1961.[8]

Career

Television

Davies' best known role was as Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the British sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981),[3] who was modelled on similar individuals Davies had met as a soldier during his national service. "Bastards, real bastards some of them were. They knew it, too, and took pride in it," he once said.[8] Among his character's catchphrases was "Shut Up!!", delivered as an eardrum-shattering military scream.[9] Another phrase was "Oh dear, how sad, never mind", delivered in a dry, ironic manner, and used when others around him had problems. Journalist Neil Clark, contributing to The Times in 2005, described his performance as the "definitive portrayal of a bullying and uneducated sergeant-major" and reported Spike Milligan was of the opinion that Davies' role was "the funniest comic performance he had ever" watched.[10] Davies and co-star Don Estelle had a number-one hit in the UK with a semicomic version of "Whispering Grass" in 1975.[3]

His other television roles included the sailor Taffy in the first of the BBC series The Onedin Line (1971), a boat captain in an episode of Special Branch, a special branch detective in Callan (1972), and the antique dealer Oliver Smallbridge in Never the Twain (1981–1991), with Donald Sinden.[11] In the field of science fiction television, Davies appeared in the 1967 Doctor Who story "The Evil of the Daleks" as Toby;[12] and was the voice of Sergeant Major Zero (a spherical robotic soldier in charge of 100 other spherical robotic soldiers) in the 1983 Gerry Anderson-Christopher Burr production Terrahawks.[3]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.[13]

In September–October 1985, Davies played the lead role of George Vance, a museum custodian elevated to the peerage, in the six-part BBC Two comedy series The New Statesman.[14] This was based on the play by Douglas Watkinson[15] and is not to be confused with the later sitcom of the same name. (Colin Blakely played the role of Vance in a pilot episode transmitted on BBC2 in December 1984.)[16]

Davies also featured in the BBC comedy sitcom Oh, Doctor Beeching!, written by David Croft and Richard Spendlove, as the Lord Mayor in an episode broadcast in 1997. He also featured in an episode of 2 Point 4 Children in 1999, as Ben's long-lost Uncle Ion.[17]

Films

In the cinema, Davies played major roles in two Carry On films, Behind (1975) and England (1976), in the latter again as a sergeant major. He played Mog in the Welsh rugby film Grand Slam (1978), and was a sergeant in the Highland Regiment in Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973) with Jim Dale and Spike Milligan.[18] In 1989, he revived the role of Sergeant Major Williams in a 30-minute Royal Air Force training film, Hazardous Ops.[19]

Pantomime

Davies appeared as Baron Hardup in the pantomime Cinderella in Bournemouth, UK, from 10 December 1992 to 17 January 1993.

Voice work

Davies' distinctive voice was heard in commercials for New Zealand's Pink Batts house insulations and confectionery ads for Cadbury's Wispa[20] and for Heinz Curried (Baked) Beans.[21] He also appeared alongside New Zealand rugby union coach Alex Wyllie in New Zealand advertisements for Mitre 10 hardware stores in the early 1990s.[22] Davies and Wyllie had worked together previously on the rugby-themed film Old Scores in 1991.[23]

In the 1970s, he read an edition of BBC Radio 4's Morning Story programme,[3] and also narrated the audiobook for the Ladybird children's classic Treasure Island.[24] He sang and voiced many characters in the Paul McCartney film Rupert and the Frog Song in 1984, and appeared in that year's children's film Gabrielle and the Doodleman as three different characters (the Ringmaster, the Black Knight, and an Ugly Sister).[23] In 1984, he auditioned to be the voice of the UK's speaking clock.[3]

Personal life and death

In 1957, he married Eluned Lynne Evans; the couple had four daughters and a son. Eluned died in September 2018.[25][8] Davies lived in the south of France,[4] and was a keen birdwatcher.[8] Davies was an amateur organist and occasionally played at Capel Y Cymru London.

He died on 17 January 2019, aged 88, four months following the death of his wife.[26] His estate was valued at £883,000.[27]

Filmography

References

  1. ^ a b "WEST HAM REGISTRATION DISTRICT". Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Windsor Davies: It Ain't Half Hot Mum actor dies aged 88". BBC News. 19 January 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Stage and screen: Windsor Davies". BBC WalesArts. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  4. ^ a b Stephens, Meic (20 January 2019). "Windsor Davies obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  5. ^ Bevan, Nathan (27 February 2016). "Why Windsor Davies is a Welsh icon (even if he's really English)". Walesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  6. ^ Pratt, Vic (2003–14). "Davies, Windsor (1930-) Biography". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  7. ^ a b "Comedy actor Windsor Davies dies". BBC News. 19 January 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Windsor Davies obituary". The Times. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2020. (subscription required)
  9. ^ "It Ain't Half Hot Mum". BBC. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  10. ^ Clark, Neil (1 September 2005). "Listen and repeat after me . . ". The Times. Retrieved 14 October 2018. (subscription required)
  11. ^ "Windsor Davies". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  12. ^ "The Evil of the Daleks". BBC. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Windsor Davies (1976)". BFI. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022.
  14. ^ "The New Statesman". BBC. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  15. ^ "The New Statesman (1985)". BFI. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  16. ^ "The New Statesman". BBC Genome. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  17. ^ 2 Point 4 Children - Series 8: 5. Carry On Screaming. Retrieved 17 April 2024 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  18. ^ a b "Windsor Davies". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  19. ^ "HAZARDOUS OPS [MAIN TITLE]". Imperial War Museum.
  20. ^ Donohue, Alex (20 August 2007). "Cadbury to resurrect Wispa after social network pressure". Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  21. ^ "Curried Beans Commercial: Windsor Davies". History of Advertising Trust. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  22. ^ "NZ Ad – Mitre 10 with Alex "Grizz" Wyllie". YouTube. 15 October 2012. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  23. ^ a b "Gabrielle and the Doodleman (1984)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  24. ^ "Davies, Windsor (1930-)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  25. ^ Busby, Mattha (20 January 2019). "Windsor Davies, It Ain't Half Hot Mum actor, dies aged 88". The Guardian.
  26. ^ "Windsor Davies: It Ain't Half Hot Mum actor dies aged 88". BBC News. BBC. 19 January 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  27. ^ Bennett, Steve. "Windsor Davies' £900,000 legacy : News 2019 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk.
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