Ceylon-born Colin Gordon was born 27th April 1911 and began his acting career as the hind legs of a horse in the West End stage production of 'Toad of Toad Hall' in 1934. After wartime service, he returned to the stage. His award-winning stage role of teacher Rupert Billings in 'The Happiest Days of Your Life' was recreated for the film version by another bespectacled actor, Richard Wattis.
Though he is usually described as a 'light comedy actor', Colin made his mark in the acting profession as much by playing countless supercilious or sneering bureaucrats, lawyers or haughty military types. His stock-in-trade became his ever-present horn-rimmed glasses, combined with a cynical or asinine manner and a precisely modulated voice. One of his most recognisable, and probably his best, performances was as the pompous BBC announcer Reginald Willoughby-Cruft (1st photo) in The Green Man (1956).
One of his first appearances was in Winslow Boy in 1948 which co-starred Basil Radford – he went on to feature in another film alongside Basil Radford with his acting partner Naunton Wayne, when he played the part of Chadbeater Longwick (2nd photo) in 1949’s Helter Skelter.
He had a long career in British cinema and television from the 1940s to the 1970s; some of his other films include; Bond Street (1948) – Clerk in Travel Agency, Edward, My Son (1949) – Ellerby, Traveller's Joy (1949) – Tom Wright, Laughter in Paradise (1951) – Station Constable, The Man in the White Suit (1951) – Hill, Folly to Be Wise (1952) – Prof. James Mutch, The Heart of the Matter (1953), Up to His Neck (1955) – Lt. Cmdr. Sterning, Keep It Clean (1956) – Peter, Marquiss of Hurlingford, Up in the World (1956) – Fletcher Hetherington, The One That Got Away (1957) – Army Interrogator, The Mouse That Roared (1959) – BBC Announcer, Carry On Constable (1960) – (uncredited), House of Mystery (1961) – Burdon, Very Important Person (1961) – Briggs, Crooks Anonymous (1962), The Boys (1962) – Gordon Lonsdale, Heavens Above! (1963) – Prime Minister, The Pink Panther (1963) – Tucker, The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) – Noakes, The Family Way (1966) – Mr. Hutton and as The Casino Director in Casino Royale (1967).
He also had a productive TV career with appearances in 1959’s Don’t Tell Father, as Tony Fellows in A Life of Bliss, Dr Who as The Commandent in 1967’s The Faceless One, twice in The Prisoner TV series, 1968’s Oh Brother!, as Walpole Gibb in Hine, 1970’s UFO, twice in Steptoe and Son., The Complete and Utter History of Britain, Bachelor Father, Hine and Steptoe and Son.
Colin Gordon died 4th October 1972.
The Commandent in 1967’s The Faceless One, twice in The Prisoner TV series, 1968’s Oh Brother!, as Walpole Gibb in Hine, 1970’s UFO and twice in Steptoe and Son.
Though he is usually described as a 'light comedy actor', Colin made his mark in the acting profession as much by playing countless supercilious or sneering bureaucrats, lawyers or haughty military types. His stock-in-trade became his ever-present horn-rimmed glasses, combined with a cynical or asinine manner and a precisely modulated voice. One of his most recognisable, and probably his best, performances was as the pompous BBC announcer Reginald Willoughby-Cruft (1st photo) in The Green Man (1956).
One of his first appearances was in Winslow Boy in 1948 which co-starred Basil Radford – he went on to feature in another film alongside Basil Radford with his acting partner Naunton Wayne, when he played the part of Chadbeater Longwick (2nd photo) in 1949’s Helter Skelter.
He had a long career in British cinema and television from the 1940s to the 1970s; some of his other films include; Bond Street (1948) – Clerk in Travel Agency, Edward, My Son (1949) – Ellerby, Traveller's Joy (1949) – Tom Wright, Laughter in Paradise (1951) – Station Constable, The Man in the White Suit (1951) – Hill, Folly to Be Wise (1952) – Prof. James Mutch, The Heart of the Matter (1953), Up to His Neck (1955) – Lt. Cmdr. Sterning, Keep It Clean (1956) – Peter, Marquiss of Hurlingford, Up in the World (1956) – Fletcher Hetherington, The One That Got Away (1957) – Army Interrogator, The Mouse That Roared (1959) – BBC Announcer, Carry On Constable (1960) – (uncredited), House of Mystery (1961) – Burdon, Very Important Person (1961) – Briggs, Crooks Anonymous (1962), The Boys (1962) – Gordon Lonsdale, Heavens Above! (1963) – Prime Minister, The Pink Panther (1963) – Tucker, The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) – Noakes, The Family Way (1966) – Mr. Hutton and as The Casino Director in Casino Royale (1967).
He also had a productive TV career with appearances in 1959’s Don’t Tell Father, as Tony Fellows in A Life of Bliss, Dr Who as The Commandent in 1967’s The Faceless One, twice in The Prisoner TV series, 1968’s Oh Brother!, as Walpole Gibb in Hine, 1970’s UFO, twice in Steptoe and Son., The Complete and Utter History of Britain, Bachelor Father, Hine and Steptoe and Son.
Colin Gordon died 4th October 1972.
The Commandent in 1967’s The Faceless One, twice in The Prisoner TV series, 1968’s Oh Brother!, as Walpole Gibb in Hine, 1970’s UFO and twice in Steptoe and Son.
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