John Le Mesurier (/ləˈmɛʒərə/,[1] bornJohn Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 1912 – 15 November 1983) was an English actor. He is probably best remembered for his comedic role asSergeant Arthur Wilson in theBBC televisionsituation comedyDad's Army (1968–1977). A self-confessed "jobbing actor",[2] Le Mesurier appeared in more than 120 films across a range of genres, normally in smaller supporting parts.
Le Mesurier became interested in the stage as a young adult and enrolled at theFay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art in 1933. From there he took a position inrepertory theatre and made his stage debut in September 1934 at the Palladium Theatre inEdinburgh in theJ. B. Priestley playDangerous Corner. He later accepted an offer to work withAlec Guinness in aJohn Gielgud production ofHamlet. He first appeared on television in 1938 as Seigneur de Miolans in the BBC broadcast ofThe Marvellous History of St Bernard. During theSecond World War Le Mesurier was posted toBritish India, as acaptain with theRoyal Tank Regiment. Following the war, he returned to acting and made his film debut in 1948, starring in thesecond feature comedy shortDeath in the Hand, oppositeEsmé Percy andErnest Jay.
Le Mesurier had a prolific film career, appearing mostly in comedies, usually in roles portraying figures of authority such as army officers, policemen and judges. As well asHancock's Half Hour, Le Mesurier appeared inTony Hancock's two principal films,The Rebel andThe Punch and Judy Man. In 1971, Le Mesurier received his only award: aBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts "Best Television Actor" award for his lead performance inDennis Potter's television playTraitor; it was one of his few lead roles.
He took a relaxed approach to acting and felt that his parts were those of "a decent chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own making."[3] Le Mesurier was married three times, most notably to the actressHattie Jacques. A heavy drinker of alcohol for most of his life, Le Mesurier died in 1983, aged 71, from a stomach haemorrhage, brought about as a complication ofcirrhosis of the liver. After his death, critics reflected that, for an actor who normally took minor roles, the viewing public were "enormously fond of him".[4]
Le Mesurier was born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley inBedford on 5 April 1912.[5] His parents were Charles Elton Halliley, asolicitor,[6] and Amy Michelle (née Le Mesurier), whose family were fromAlderney in theChannel Islands;[1] both families were affluent, with histories of government service or work in the legal profession.[7][a] While John was an infant the family settled inBury St Edmunds, inWest Suffolk. He was sent to school, first to Grenham House inKent, and later toSherborne School in Dorset, where one of his fellow pupils was the mathematicianAlan Turing.[8]
Le Mesurier disliked both schools intensely,[9] citing insensitive teaching methods and an inability to accept individualism.[10][11] He later wrote: "I resented Sherborne for its closed mind, its collective capacity for rejecting anything that did not conform to the image of manhood as portrayed in the ripping yarns of a scouting manual."[12]
From an early age Le Mesurier had been interested in acting and performing; as a child he had frequently been taken to theWest End of London to watchRalph Lynn andTom Walls perform in the series offarces at theAldwych Theatre. In his childhood in Bury St Edmunds, the family lived less than 300 yards from the Theatre Royal, and his autobiography records meeting actors from that theatre as his earliest childhood memory.[13] These experiences fuelled an early desire to make a career on the stage.[14][15] After leaving school he was initially persuaded to follow his father's line of work, as anarticled clerk at Greene & Greene, a firm of solicitors in Bury St Edmunds; in his spare time he took part in local amateur dramatics.[14] In 1933 he decided to leave the legal profession, and in September he enrolled at theFay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art; a fellow student was the actorAlec Guinness, with whom he became close friends.[16]
In July 1934, the studio staged their annual public revue in which both Le Mesurier and Guinness took part; among the judges for the event wereJohn Gielgud,Leslie Henson,Alfred Hitchcock andIvor Novello.[17] Le Mesurier received a Certificate of Fellowship, while Guinness won the Fay Compton prize.[18] After the revue, rather than remain at the studio for further tuition, Le Mesurier took an opportunity to join theEdinburgh-basedMillicent Ward Repertory Players at a salary of £3.10s (£3.50) a week.[14][19][b]
The Millicent Ward repertory company typically staged evening performances of three-act plays; the works changed each week, and rehearsals were held during the daytime for the following week's production.[21] Under his birth name John Halliley, Le Mesurier made his stage debut in September 1934 at thePalladium Theatre, Edinburgh in theJ. B. Priestley playDangerous Corner, along with three other newcomers to the company.[22] The reviewer forThe Scotsman thought that Le Mesurier was well cast in the role.[22] Appearances inWhile Parents Sleep andCavalcade were followed by a break, as problems arose with the lease of the theatre. Le Mesurier then accepted an offer to appear with Alec Guinness in a John Gielgud production ofHamlet, which began in Streatham in the spring of 1935 and later toured the English provinces. Le MesurierunderstudiedAnthony Quayle's role ofGuildenstern, and otherwise appeared in the play as anextra.[23]
In July 1935, Le Mesurier was hired by theOldham repertory company, based at theColiseum Theatre; his first appearance with them was in a version of theWilson Collison play,Up in Mabel's Room; he was sacked after one week for missing a performance after oversleeping.[24][c] In September 1935, he moved to theSheffield Repertory Theatre to appear inMary, Mary, Quite Contrary, and also playedMalvolio in Shakespeare'sTwelfth Night. Le Mesurier later commented on the slow progress of his career: "had I known it was going to take so long, I might well have given the whole thing up".[27] In 1937 he joined theCroydon Repertory Theatre, where he appeared in nine productions in 1936 and 1937. During this period Le Mesurier changed his professional name from John Halliley to John Le Mesurier; his biographer Graham McCann observes that "he never bothered, at least in public, to explain the reason for his decision".[28] Le Mesurier used his new name for the first time in the September 1937 production ofLove on the Dole.[29]
Le Mesurier first appeared on television in 1938, thus becoming one of the medium's pioneering actors. His initial appearance was in a production ofThe Marvellous History of St Bernard in which he appeared as Seigneur de Miolans in a play adapted from a 15th-century manuscript byHenri Ghéon.[30] Alongside the television appearance, he continued to appear on stage in Edinburgh and Glasgow with the Howard and Wyndham Players, at least until late 1938 when he returned to London and re-joined Croydon Repertory Theatre.
His second spell with the troupe ended a few months later when, from May to October 1939 he appeared inGaslight, first in London and subsequently on tour. The reviewer inThe Manchester Guardian considered that Le Mesurier gave "a faultless performance", and that "the character is not overemphasised. One may praise it best by saying that Mr. Le Mesurier gives one a really uncomfortable feeling in the stomach".[31]
From November to December 1939, Le Mesurier toured Britain in a production ofGoodness, How Sad,[32] during which time he met the director's daughter, June Melville, whom he married in April 1940.[33] After spending January and February 1940 inFrench Without Tears at the Grand Theatre inBlackpool, he returned to London where he was employed by theBrixton Theatre, appearing in a series of productions.[34] In his time in repertory, Le Mesurier took on a variety of roles across several genres; his biographer Graham McCann observed that his range included "comedies and tragedies, thrillers and fantasies, tense courtroom dramas and frenzied farces, Shakespeare andIbsen,Sheridan andWilde,Molière andShaw,Congreve andCoward. The range was remarkable".[23]
In September 1940 Le Mesurier's rented home was hit by a German bomb, destroying all his possessions, including his call-up papers.[35] In the same bombing raid, the theatre in Brixton in which he was working was also hit.[36] A few days later he reported for basic training with theRoyal Armoured Corps;[37] in June 1941 he was commissioned into theRoyal Tank Regiment.[38] He served in Britain until 1943 when he was posted toBritish India where he spent the rest of the war.[14] Le Mesurier later claimed that he had had "a comfortable war, withcaptaincy thrust upon me, before I wasdemobbed in 1946".[39]
On his return to Britain, Le Mesurier returned to acting; he initially struggled for work, finding only a few minor roles.[40] In February 1948 he made his film debut in thesecond feature comedy shortDeath in the Hand,[41] which starredEsmé Percy andErnest Jay.[42] He followed this with equally small roles in the 1949 filmOld Mother Riley's New Venture—where his name was misspelt on the credits as "Le Meseurier"[43][44]—and the 1950 crime filmDark Interval.[45] During the same period he also frequently appeared on stage in Birmingham.[34]
Le Mesurier undertook several roles on television in 1951, including that of Doctor Forrest inThe Railway Children,[46] the blackmailer Eduardo Lucas inSherlock Holmes: The Second Stain,[47] andJoseph in the nativity playA Time to be Born.[48] The same yearTony Hancock joined Le Mesurier's second wife,Hattie Jacques (the couple had married in 1949 following his divorce from June Melville earlier that year) in the radio seriesEducating Archie. Le Mesurier and Hancock became friends; they would often go for drinking sessions aroundSoho, where they ended up in jazz clubs.[49] After Hancock leftEducating Archie in 1952 after one season,[50] the friendship continued, and Jacques joined the cast ofHancock's Half Hour during the fourth radio series in 1956.[51]
In 1952, as well as appearing in the filmsBlind Man's Bluff andMother Riley Meets the Vampire,[52] Le Mesurier also appeared as the doctor inAngry Dust at the New Torch Theatre, London.Parnell Bradbury, writing inThe Times, thought Le Mesurier had played the role extraordinarily well;[53]Harold Hobson, writing inThe Sunday Times, thought that "the trouble with Mr. John Le Mesurier's Dr. Weston is that he approaches the man too snarlingly ... [it is] a notion of genius that would be unacceptable anywhere outside Victorian melodrama".[54] In 1953, he had a role as a bureaucrat in the short filmThe Pleasure Garden, which won thePrix du Film de Fantaisie Poétique at theCannes Film Festival in 1954.[55] After a long run of small roles in second features, his 1955 portrayal of the registrar inRoy Boulting's comedyJosephine and Men, "jerked him out of the rut", according toPhilip Oakes.[25]
Following his appearance inJosephine and Men, John and Roy Boulting cast Le Mesurier as apsychiatrist in their 1956 Second World War film,Private's Progress. The cast featured many leading British actors of the time, includingIan Carmichael andRichard Attenborough.[56]Dilys Powell, reviewing forThe Sunday Times, thought that the cast was "embellished" by Le Mesurier's presence, among others.[56] Later in 1956 Le Mesurier again appeared alongside Attenborough, with small roles inJay Lewis'sThe Baby and the Battleship and Roy Boulting'sBrothers in Law, the latter of which also featured Carmichael andTerry-Thomas.[57][58] He was also active in television, in a variety of roles in episodes ofDouglas Fairbanks Presents, a series of short dramas.[59]
Le Mesurier's friendship with Tony Hancock provided a further source of work when Hancock asked him to be one of the regular supporting actors inHancock's Half Hour, when it moved from radio to television. Le Mesurier subsequently appeared in seven episodes of the show between 1957 and 1960, and then in an episode of a follow-up series entitledHancock.[60] In 1958 he appeared in ten films, among them Roy Boulting's comedyHappy Is the Bride,[61] about which Dilys Powell wrote inThe Sunday Times: "[M]y vote for the most entertaining contributions ... goes to the two fathers, John Le Mesurier andCecil Parker".[62] In 1959, the busiest year of his career, Le Mesurier took part in 13 films, includingI'm All Right Jack,[63] which was the most successful of Le Mesurier's credited films that year;[64] he also had an uncredited role as a doctor inBen-Hur.[65][d]
Le Mesurier appeared in nine films in 1960,[67][e] as well as nine television programmes, including episodes ofHancock's Half Hour,Saber of London andDanger Man.[68][f] His work the following year included a part in Peter Sellers's directorial debutMr. Topaze, a film which failed both critically and commercially.[69] He provided the voice of Mr. Justice Byrne in a recording of excerpts from the transcript ofR v Penguin Books Ltd.—the court case concerning the publication ofD. H. Lawrence'sLady Chatterley's Lover—which also featuredMichael Hordern andMaurice Denham. J.W. Lambert, reviewing forThe Sunday Times, wrote that Le Mesurier gave "precisely the air of confident incredulity which the learned gentleman exhibited in court".[70] Later that year he played Hancock's office manager in the first of Tony Hancock's two principal film vehicles,The Rebel.[71]
In 1962 he appeared inWendy Toye's comedy filmWe Joined the Navy[72] before reuniting with Peter Sellers inOnly Two Can Play, Sidney Gilliat's film of the novelThat Uncertain Feeling byKingsley Amis; Powell noted with pleasure "the armour of his gravity pierced by polite bewilderment".[73] She compared Le Mesurier with the well-known American straight-face comedian,John McGiver.[73] After appearing in another Sellers film in 1962—Waltz of the Toreadors—Le Mesurier joined him in the 1963 comedyThe Wrong Arm of the Law.[67] Powell again reviewed the pair's film, commenting that "I thought I knew by now every shade in the acting of John Le Mesurier (not that I could ever get tired of any of them); but there seems a new shade here".[74] The same year, he appeared in a third Sellers film,The Pink Panther, as a defence lawyer,[75] and in the second and last of Tony Hancock's starring vehicles,The Punch and Judy Man. Le Mesurier played Sandman in the latter film; Powell wrote that the role "allowed a gentler and subtler character than usual".[76] He also appeared in a series of advertisements forHomepride flour in 1964, providing thevoice-over for the animated character Fred the Flourgrader; he continued as the voice until 1983.[77][78]
In a change from his usual comedic roles, Le Mesurier portrayed the Reverend Jonathan Ives inJacques Tourneur's 1965 science fiction film,City Under the Sea, before returning to comedy inWhere the Spies Are, a comedy-adventure film directed byVal Guest, which starredDavid Niven. In 1966 Le Mesurier also played the role of Colonel Maynard in theITV sitcomGeorge and the Dragon, withSid James andPeggy Mount. The programme ran to four series between 1966 and 1968, totalling 26 episodes.[79] He also took a role in four episodes of aCoronation Street spin-off series,[80]Pardon the Expression, in which he starred oppositeArthur Lowe.[81]
In 1968 Le Mesurier was offered a role in a new BBCsituation comedy playing an upper-middle-classSergeant Arthur Wilson inDad's Army;[82] he was the second choice afterRobert Dorning.[83] Le Mesurier was unsure about taking the part as he was finishing the final series ofGeorge and the Dragon and did not want another long-term television role.[84] He was persuaded both by an increase in his fee – to £262 10s per episode – and by the casting of his old friendClive Dunn asCorporal Jones.[85][g] Le Mesurier was initially unsure of how to portray his character, and was advised by series writerJimmy Perry to make the part his own.[86] Le Mesurier decided to base the character on himself, later writing that "I thought, why not just be myself, use an extension of my own personality and behave rather as I had done in the army? So I always left a button or two undone, and had the sleeve of my battle dress slightly turned up. I spoke softly, issued commands as if they were invitations (the sort not likely to be accepted) and generally assumed a benign air of helplessness".[87] Perry later observed that "we wanted Wilson to be the voice of sanity; he has become John".[88]
Nicholas de Jongh, in a tribute written after Le Mesurier's death, suggested that it was in the role of Wilson that Le Mesurier became a star.[2] His interaction with Arthur Lowe's characterCaptain George Mainwaring was described byThe Times as "a memorable part of one of television's most popular shows".[89] Tise Vahimagi, writing for theBritish Film Institute'sScreenonline, agreed, and commented that "it was the hesitant exchanges of one-upmanship between Le Mesurier's Wilson, a figure of delicate gentility, and Arthur Lowe's pompous, middle class platoon leader Captain Mainwaring, that added to its finest moments".[90] Le Mesurier enjoyed making the series, particularly the fortnight the cast would spend inThetford each year filming the outside scenes.[91] The programme lasted for nine series over nine years, and covered eighty episodes, ending in 1977.[92]
During the filming of the series in 1969, Le Mesurier was flown to Venice over a series of weekends to appear in the filmMidas Run, anAlf Kjellin-directed crime film that also starredRichard Crenna,Anne Heywood andFred Astaire.[93][94] Le Mesurier became friends with Astaire during the filming and they often dined together in a local cafe while watching horse-racing on television.[95] In 1971Norman Cohen directed afeature film ofDad's Army;[96] Le Mesurier also appeared as Wilson in a stage adaptation, which toured the UK in 1975–76.[97] Following the success ofDad's Army, Le Mesurier recorded the single "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" with "Hometown" on the reverse side (the latter with Arthur Lowe). This, and an album,Dad's Army, featuring the whole cast, was released on theWarner label in 1975.[98]
In between his performances inDad's Army, Le Mesurier acted in films, including the role of the prison governor oppositeNoël Coward in the 1969Peter Collinson-directedThe Italian Job.[99] The cinema historian Amy Sargeant likened Le Mesurier's role to the "mild demeanour" of his Sergeant Wilson character.[100] In 1970, Le Mesurier appeared in Ralph Thomas'sDoctor in Trouble as the purser;[101] he also made an appearance inVincente Minnelli'sOn a Clear Day You Can See Forever, aromantic fantasymusical.[102]
In 1971 Le Mesurier played the lead role inDennis Potter's television playTraitor, in which he portrayed a "boozy British aristocrat who became a spy for the Soviets";[103] his performance won him aBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts "Best Television Actor" award.[104] Writing for the British Film Institute, Sergio Angelini considered "Le Mesurier is utterly compelling throughout in an atypical role".[105] Chris Dunkley, writing inThe Times, described the performance as "a superbly persuasive portrait, made vividly real by one of the best performances Mr Mesurier [sic] has ever given".[106] The reviewer forThe Sunday Times agreed, saying that Le Mesurier, "after a lifetime supporting other actors with the strength of a pit-prop, gets the main part; he looks, sounds and feels exactly right".[107] Reviewing forThe Guardian,Nancy Banks-Smith called the role "hisHamlet", and said that it was worth waiting for.[108] Although delighted to have won the award, Le Mesurier commented that the aftermath proved "something of an anticlimax. No exciting offers of work came in".[109]
Le Mesurier made a cameo appearance in Val Guest's 1972 sex comedyAu Pair Girls, and starred alongsideWarren Mitchell andDandy Nichols inBob Kellett'sThe Alf Garnett Saga.[110] In 1974 he played a police inspector in a similar Val Guest comedy,Confessions of a Window Cleaner, alongsideRobin Askwith andAntony Booth.[111] The following year he also narratedBod, an animated children's programme from the BBC; there were thirteen episodes in total.[112]
In 1977 Le Mesurier portrayedJacob Marley in a BBC television adaptation ofA Christmas Carol, which starredMichael Hordern asEbenezer Scrooge;[113] Sergio Angelini, writing for the British Film Institute about Le Mesurier's portrayal, considered that "although never frightening, he does exert a strong sense of melancholy, his every move and inflection seemingly tinged with regret and remorse".[113] In 1979 he portrayed Sir Gawain inWalt Disney'sUnidentified Flying Oddball, directed byRuss Mayberry, and co-starringDennis Dugan,Jim Dale andKenneth More.[114] The film, an adaptation ofMark Twain's novelA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, was hailed byTime Out as "an intelligent film with a cohesive plot and an amusing script" and cited it as "one of the better Disney attempts to hop on the sci-fi bandwagon".[115] The reviewers praised the cast, particularly Kenneth More's Arthur and Le Mesurier's Gawain, which they said were "rather touchingly portrayed as friends who have grown old together".[115]
Le Mesurier playedThe Wise Old Bird in the 1980BBC Radio 4 seriesThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and appeared on the same station asBilbo Baggins in the1981 radio version ofThe Lord of the Rings.[116] In the spring of 1980 he took the role of David Bliss alongsideConstance Cummings—as Judith Bliss—in a production ofNoël Coward's 1920s playHay Fever.[117][118] Writing forThe Observer, Robert Cushman thought that Le Mesurier played the role with "deeply grizzled torpor",[118] whileMichael Billington, reviewing forThe Guardian, saw him as a "grey, gentle wisp of a man, full of half-completed gestures and seraphic smiles".[119]
He took on the role of Father Mowbray inGranada Television's 1981 adaptation ofBrideshead Revisited.[120] He guest-starred in episodes of the British comedy television seriesThe Goodies, and in an early episode ofHi-de-Hi!.[121] His final film appearance was also Peter Sellers's final cinema role,The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, which was completed just months before Sellers's death in July 1980.[122]
In 1982 Le Mesurier reprised the role of Arthur Wilson forIt Sticks Out Half a Mile, a radio sequel toDad's Army, in which Wilson had become the bank manager of the Frambourne-on-Sea branch, while Arthur Lowe's character, Captain George Mainwaring, was trying to apply for a loan to renovate the local pier. The death of Lowe in April 1982 meant that only a pilot episode was recorded, and the project was suspended.[123] It was revived later that year with Lowe's role replaced by two otherDad's Army cast members:Pike, played byIan Lavender, andHodges, played byBill Pertwee. A pilot and twelve episodes were subsequently recorded,[124] and broadcast in 1984.[59] Le Mesurier also teamed up with another ex-Dad's Army colleague, Clive Dunn, to record a novelty single, "There Ain't Much Change from a Pound These Days"/"After All These Years", which had been written by Le Mesurier's stepson, David Malin.[123] The single was released on KA Records in 1982.[98]
He appeared oppositeAnthony Hopkins in a four-part television series,A Married Man, in March 1983, before undertaking the narration on the short filmThe Passionate Pilgrim, anEric Morecambe vehicle, which was Morecambe's last film before his death.[125]
JOHN LE MESURIER Wishes it to be known that he conked out on November 15th. He sadly misses family and friends.
In 1939, Le Mesurier accepted a role in theRobert Morley playGoodness, How Sad!, directed by June Melville—whose father Frederick owned several theatres, including theLyceum,Prince's and Brixton.[32] Melville and Le Mesurier soon began a romance, and were married in April 1940.[33] Le Mesurier wasconscripted into the army in September 1940; after his demobilisation in 1946, he discovered that his wife had become an alcoholic: "She became careless about appointments and haphazard professionally".[127] As a result, the couple separated and were divorced in 1949.[14][128]
In June 1947, Le Mesurier went with fellow actorGeoffrey Hibbert to thePlayers' Theatre in London, where among the performers was Hattie Jacques.[129] Le Mesurier and Jacques began to see each other regularly; Le Mesurier was still married, albeit estranged from his wife.[128] In 1949, when his divorce came through, Jacques proposed to Le Mesurier, asking him, "Don't you think it's about time we got married?"[130] The couple married in November 1949[131][132] and had two sons,Robin and Kim.[133]
Jacques began an affair in 1962 with her driver, John Schofield, who gave her the attention and support that Le Mesurier did not.[134] When Jacques decided to move Schofield into the family home, Le Mesurier moved into a separate room and tried to repair the marriage.[135] He later commented about this period: "I could have walked out, but, whatever my feelings, I loved Hattie and the children and I was certain—I had to be certain—that we could repair the damage."[136] The affair caused a downturn in his health; he collapsed on holiday inTangier in 1963 and was hospitalised in Gibraltar.[137] He returned to London to find the situation between his wife and her lover was unchanged, which caused a relapse.[138]
During the final stages of the breakdown of his marriage, Le Mesurier metJoan Malin atthe Establishment club in Soho in 1963.[139] The following year he moved out of his marital house and that day proposed to Joan, who accepted his offer.[140] Le Mesurier allowed Jacques to bring a divorce suit on grounds of his own infidelity, to ensure that the press blamed him for the break-up, thus avoiding any negative publicity for Jacques.[141] Le Mesurier and Malin married in March 1966.[80][142] A few months after they were married, Joan began a relationship with Tony Hancock[143] and left Le Mesurier to move in with the comedian.[144] Hancock was a self-confessed alcoholic by this time,[145] and was verbally and physically abusive to Joan during their relationship.[146]
After a year together, with Hancock's violence towards her worsening, Joan attemptedsuicide; she subsequently realised that she could no longer live with Hancock and returned to her husband.[147] Despite this, Le Mesurier remained friends with Hancock, calling him "a comic of true genius, capable of great warmth and generosity, but a tormented and unhappy man".[148] Without Le Mesurier's knowledge, Joan resumed her affair with Hancock and, when the comic moved to Australia in 1968, she planned to follow him if he was able to overcome hisalcoholism. She abandoned these plans and remained with Le Mesurier after Hancock committed suicide on 25 June 1968.[149]
Le Mesurier was a heavy drinker but was never noticeably drunk.[150] In 1977 he collapsed in Australia and flew home, where he was diagnosed withcirrhosis of the liver and ordered to stop drinking.[151] Until then he had not considered himself an alcoholic; he accepted that "it was the cumulative effect over the years that had done the damage".[152] It was a year and a half before he drank alcohol again, when he avoided spirits and drank only beer.[153]
Jacques claimed that his calculated vagueness was the result of his dependence oncannabis,[154] although according to Le Mesurier the drug was not to his taste; he smoked it only during his period of abstinence from alcohol.[155] Le Mesurier's favoured pastime was visiting the jazz clubs around Soho, such asRonnie Scott's, and he observed that "listening to artists likeBill Evans,Oscar Peterson orAlan Clare always made life seem that little bit brighter".[148]
Towards the end of his life Le Mesurier wrote hisautobiography,A Jobbing Actor; the book was published in 1984, after his death.[156] Le Mesurier's health visibly declined from July 1983 when he was hospitalised for a short time after suffering ahaemorrhage.[125] When the condition recurred later in the year he was taken toRamsgate Hospital;[157] after saying to his wife, "It's all been rather lovely", he slipped into a coma[158] and died on 15 November 1983, aged 71.[159] His remains were cremated, and the ashes buried at the Church of St. George the Martyr, Church Hill, Ramsgate. Hisepitaph reads: "John Le Mesurier. Much loved actor. Resting."[160] His self-penned death notice inThe Times of 16 November 1983 stated that he had "conked out" and that he "sadly misses family and friends".[126][158]
After Le Mesurier's death fellow comedianEric Sykes commented: "I never heard a bad word said against him. He was one of the greatdrolls of our time".[161] Le Mesurier's fellowDad's Army actorBill Pertwee mourned the loss of his friend, saying, "It's a shattering loss. He was a great professional, very quiet but with a lovely sense of humour".[161] DirectorPeter Cotes, writing inThe Guardian, called him one of Britain's "most accomplished screen character actors",[39] whileThe Times obituarist observed that he "could lend distinction to the smallest part".[89]
The Guardian reflected on Le Mesurier's popularity, observing that "No wonder so many whose lives were very different from his own came to be so enormously fond of him".[4] A memorial service was held on 16 February 1984 at the "Actors' Church",St Paul's, Covent Garden, at which Bill Pertwee gave the eulogy.[162]
The character he cumulatively created will be remembered when others more famous are forgotten, not just for the skill of his playing but because he somehow embodied a symbolic British reaction to the whirlpool of the modern world—endlessly perplexed by the dizzying and incoherent pattern of events, but doing his best to ensure that resentment never showed.
Le Mesurier took a relaxed approach to acting, saying, "You know the way you get jobbing gardeners? Well, I'm a jobbing actor ... as long as they pay me I couldn't care less if my name is billed above or below the title".[2] Le Mesurier played a wide range of parts, and became known as "an indispensable figure in the gallery of second-rank players which were the glory of the British film industry in its more prolific days".[14] He felt his characterisations owed "a lot to my customary expression of bewildered innocence"[3] and tried to stress for many of his roles that his parts were those of "a decent chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own making".[3]
Philip French ofThe Observer considered that when playing a representative of bureaucracy, Le Mesurier "registered something ... complex. A feeling of exasperation, disturbance, anxiety [that] constantly lurked behind that handsome bloodhound face".[163] The impression he gave in these roles became an "inimitable brand of bewildered persistence under fire which Le Mesurier made his own".[4]The Times noted of him that although he was best known for his comedic roles, he, "could be equally effective in straight parts", as evidenced by his BAFTA-award-winning role inTraitor.[89] Director Peter Cotes agreed, adding, "he had depths unrealised through the mechanical pieces in which he generally appeared";[39] whilePhilip Oakes considered that, "single-handed, he has made more films watchable, even absorbing, than anyone else around".[25]
Le Mesurier's second and third marriages have been the subject of twoBBC Four biographical films, the 2008Hancock and Joan on Joan Le Mesurier's affair with Tony Hancock—with Le Mesurier played byAlex Jennings[164]—and the 2011Hattie on Jacques's affair with John Schofield—with Le Mesurier played byRobert Bathurst.[165][h] InWe're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story, a 2015 comedy drama about the making ofDad's Army, Le Mesurier was portrayed byJulian Sands.[167] Le Mesurier was portrayed byAnton Lesser in the BBC Radio 4 dramaDear Arthur, Love John on 7 May 2012.[168]
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