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1-5 of 5
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Young Arnold Ridley was forced to give up a budding acting career and turn to writing. He hit the jackpot with 'The Ghost Train' which was a great West End success, and has been filmed several times. This was followed by a number of other plays during the 1920s and 1930s. In later life he returned to acting, often as kindly and gentle old men such as his most famous role as Private Godfrey in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army (1968) from 1968 to 1977.
Ridley's acting career began before World War I while he was a student at Bristol University when he was paid a pound a week for, in his own words, "playing bits and pieces" at the Theatre Royal in Bristol (now the Bristol Old Vic). Having been "rather badly knocked about" in World War I (he fought at the Battle of the Somme and was injured three times, with one serious bayonet wound leaving him with no strength in his right arm) he returned to England but could find no acting work and went instead to work for his father's boot company in Bath. Still keen on pursuing a life in the theatre he turned to writing. He wrote a lot of what he called "serious plays," claiming that he didn't like thrillers very much, but after one of these was rejected by London producers, he went to the theatre to pass the evening before returning to the West Country the following morning.
He saw "an American thriller which I didn't like a bit, and I thought to myself, 'If that's the sort of tosh they'll put on, I'll write one of those only I'll try to make mine a bit better than that.'" The result was "The Ghost Train" which was a West End hit and whose popularity endures over 80 years on. He wrote several other plays in the 1920s and '30s, directing in the theatre and on film, and running both a theatre and film company (which went bust). When times were hard in the late-1920s he sold the amateur rights to "The Ghost Train" for 200 pounds, a decision he later regretted, believing that he had "lost a fortune" by selling the rights to such a popular play. He was wounded again in World War II and returned to acting, appearing in numerous television shows through the 1950s and '60s until he was cast as the kindly, retired shop assistant Mr Godfrey in Dad's Army (1968). Colleagues from the show commented that he had been "forced" to work long into his old age by financial circumstances, but he said himself that his great fear was being forced to retire.
He continued to work until the show ended in 1977, by which time he was 81. He was made an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the 1982 Queen's New Years Honours List, for services to drama, and died two years later.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Gotha Andersen was born on 29 January 1921 in Denmark. He was an actor and writer, known for The Element of Crime (1984), Flid, fedt og snyd (1981) and Tyllefyllebølleby Banegård (1972). He died on 12 March 1984 in Denmark.- Actor
- Writer
Al Ramsen was born on 7 February 1926 in New York, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Island of Terror (1966), Shadow of the Cloak (1951) and Jimmy Hughes, Rookie Cop (1953). He died on 12 March 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Heinz Oskar Wuttig was born on 19 July 1907 in Berlin, Germany. He was a writer and actor, known for The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960), Der Zigeunerbaron (1962) and Liebeserwachen (1953). He was married to Marlise Wuttig née Ludwig. He died on 12 March 1984 in West Berlin, West Germany.
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Philip Horne was born on 5 December 1908 in Barnet, Hertfordshire, England, UK. Philip was an assistant director, known for Jim the Penman (1947), Colonel Bogey (1948) and To the Public Danger (1948). Philip died on 12 March 1984 in Barnet, Hertfordshire, England, UK.