Terry Thomas
Terry Thomas born on 14 July 1911 was a distinctive English comic actor. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, with a “toothbrush” moustache, the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and catch-phrases such as “What an absolute shower!” and “Good show!”
He played a variety of exuberant, malevolent and silly characters during the 1960s, and became famous for his humourous portrayal of the archetypal English gentleman cad and bounder. (Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Monte Carlo or Bust; How Sweet It Is!; Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon). In the 1970s he reprised his character from the first two of the films above along with Eric Sykes to make high quality cinema and TV advertisements for Benson and Hedges cigarettes.
In 1966, he played a notable but very different role as an RAF airman travelling through occupied France – and nicknamed “Big Moustache” by his French helpers – in the French film La Grande Vadrouille, which for over forty years remained the most successful film in the history of cinema in France.
He was married twice. His first marriage was to Ida Patlansky, from 1938 to 1962, and he was married to Belinda Cunningham from 1963 until his death. He had two sons.
In 1971 Thomas was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and by 1977, he had retired. During the 1980s he spent periods on and off working with ghost writer Terry Baum on an autobiography, Terry-Thomas Tells Tales, which was published posthumously in 1992. In 1989, writer and broadcaster Richard Hope-Hawkins, and actor Jack Douglas, organised a benefit concert for Thomas, after discovering he was living in virtual obscurity and ill health. The gala, held at London’s Theatre Royal, ran for five hours, Phil Collins topping the bill along with 120 artists. Michael Caine was the gala chairman. The show raised over £75,000 for Thomas and the Parkinson’s Disease Society. He was a second cousin of the actor, Richard Briers, who because of Terry-Thomas’s Parkinson’s disease, became President of the Parkinson’s Disease Society.
Terry-Thomas died in 1990 at the age of 78 in Busbridge Hall nursing home, Godalming, Surrey. The funeral service was held in Busbridge’s St. John the Baptist Church. He was cremated at Guildford Crematorium.
