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Graham Stark | |
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.jpg) Stark in an episode ofOne Step Beyond (1961) | |
| Born | Graham William Stark (1922-01-20)20 January 1922 |
| Died | 29 October 2013(2013-10-29) (aged 91) London, England |
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| Years active | 1939–1999 |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 3 |
Graham William Stark (20 January 1922 – 29 October 2013) was an English comedian, actor, writer and director, known for his close personal friendship withPeter Sellers, appearance in severalThe Pink Panther films andVictor/Victoria.[2]
The son of a purser on transatlantic liners,[2] Stark was born inNew Brighton[3] (part ofWallasey) inWirral,Cheshire, England. He attended Wallasey Grammar School and made his professional stage debut aged 13 in pantomime at theLyceum Theatre in London.
During theSecond World War he served in 334 company of the BEF inSalonika, Greece, where he was aturner in group workshops.[4] While there he first metDick Emery,Tony Hancock andPeter Sellers, the latter two as fellow members ofRalph Reader's Gang Shows. Sellers would become a long-lasting close friend. With the Gang Shows, Stark toured the locations where military personnel were seeing active service.[4] After the war he studied at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art,[5] and joined the regulars at Grafton's, a pub in Victoria run byJimmy Grafton, a venue at which soon-to-be-prominent entertainers of the next few decades regularly gathered.[2]
Stark began to work onBBC Radio in the postwar years, helped by Tony Hancock's connections,[3] making his debut inHappy Go Lucky and going on toRay's a Laugh, thanks to the intervention of Sellers.[2] For a time, Stark was a regular inEducating Archie, and substituted forSpike Milligan onThe Goon Show[6][7] when the comedian was ill. Stark was a regular supporting player on TV with Sellers inA Show Called Fred andSon of Fred, and withBenny Hill. Stark's profile was sufficient for him to gain his own, albeit short-lived, sketch series,The Graham Stark Show (BBC 1964).[2] Now entirelylost,[8] it was scripted byJohnny Speight with each episode featuring a different group of supporting actors, includingDeryck Guyler,Arthur Mullard,Derek Nimmo,Patricia Hayes andWarren Mitchell. An episode ofTill Death Us Do Part, called "In Sickness and in Health", 1967, where Stark plays decrepit Dr. Kelly, survives.
Adept at comic French accents, Stark stole scenes as a haplessgendarme inHammer's 1961 comedyA Weekend with Lulu. He became a regular performer in thePink Panther film series. His first role in the series was as Hercule Lajoy,Inspector Clouseau's stonefaced assistant, inA Shot in the Dark (1964). Along withHerbert Lom andBurt Kwouk, he appeared in morePink Panther films than any other actor, playing a variety of characters, including reprising Lajoy inTrail of the Pink Panther (1982) and twice playing Dr Auguste Balls (inRevenge of the Pink Panther, 1978; andSon of the Pink Panther, 1993). He was cast as the hotel clerk in the "Does your dog bite" scene inThe Pink Panther Strikes Again. Stark, as well as Lom and Kwouk, each appeared in seven titles from the series.
In the filmAlfie (1966), Stark was Humphrey, a timid bus conductor who takes on a woman (Julia Foster) and her child when the title character (played byMichael Caine) refuses commitment. He also played the role of Lord Fortnum's physician, Captain Pontius Kak, in the original stage play ofThe Bedsitting Room, which opened at theMermaid Theatre on 31 January 1963.[6][9][10] Following the sudden death ofJames Beck in 1973, Stark took over the role ofPrivate Joe Walker for the remainder of episodes in the first series of the radio adaptation ofDad's Army.
In 1982, Stark appeared in a cameo role as a butler, alongsideDandy Nichols, in the music video forAdam Ant's UK No. 1 hit "Goody Two Shoes".[11] He played the character of Mr Nadget in the 1994 BBC adaptation ofMartin Chuzzlewit.
In 1959 he married Audrey Nicholson, who survived him with their two sons and a daughter.Peter Sellers is their godfather.Christiane Kubrick is their godmother.[12] Stark was also an accomplished stills photographer. He was the last known performer to have appeared onThe Goon Show during its original run. In 2003 he published anautobiography,Stark Naked. He associated with people such asBlake Edwards,Julie Andrews,Yul Brynner,Julie Christie,Stanley Kubrick,Sidney Poitier,Jack Palance,Kim Basinger,Sean Connery,Tony Curtis, andRingo Starr.[13]
He died in London on 29 October 2013 at age 91, after suffering a stroke.[14][15]
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