John Laurie
Laurie inKidnapped (1960)
Born	John Paton Laurie (1897-03-25)25 March 1897 Dumfries, Scotland
Died	23 June 1980(1980-06-23) (aged 83) Chalfont St Peter,Buckinghamshire, England[1]
Resting place	Cremated; ashes scattered in theEnglish Channel[2]
Education	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1921–1979
Spouses	Florence May Saunders ​ ​ (m. 1925; died 1926)​ Oonah Veronica Todd-Naylor ​ ​ (m. 1928)​
Children	1
Military career
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/ branch	British Army
Unit	Honourable Artillery Company Paddington Home Guard
Battles / wars	First World War Second World War

John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in scores of feature films with directors includingAlfred Hitchcock,David Lean,Michael Powell andLaurence Olivier, generally playing memorable small or supporting roles. As a stage actor, he was cast in Shakespearean roles and was a speaker of verse, especially ofRobert Burns.^[3] He is also well known for his role in the sitcomDad's Army (1968–1977) asPrivate Frazer, a member of theHome Guard.^[4]

Laurie was born on 25 March 1897 inDumfries^[5] to William Laurie (1856–1903), a clerk in a tweed mill and later a hatter and hosier, and Jessie Ann Laurie (née Brown; 1858–1935). He attended grammar school atDumfries Academy, then abandoned a career inarchitecture to serve in the First World War as a member of theHonourable Artillery Company. Upon demobilisation he trained to become an actor underElsie Fogerty at theCentral School of Speech and Drama, then based at theRoyal Albert Hall,London. He made his debut on stage in 1921.^[6][7]

A prolificShakespearean actor, Laurie made his first appearance on theLondon stage in 1922 at theOld Vic where he played many leading roles.^[8] Soon after joining the Old Vic Laurie became involved with theShakespeare Memorial Theatre inStratford-upon-Avon where he played such roles asRichard III,Othello andMacbeth. In only his second season at Stratford, Laurie got the chance to playHamlet, which was almost unheard of for someone with such little experience. Laurie later said that he believed that his performance of the role was the definitive version, saying "That's the way to play Hamlet, don't wait too long, like some of the boys are doing today."^[9]

On radio, Laurie created the role of John the Baptist inDorothy L Sayers' cycle of playsThe Man Born to Be King, and reprised the role in two further versions of the cycle. Laurie also played the part of MacDuff in a radio adaptation ofMacbeth, withRalph Richardson in the title role.^[10]

Laurie's first film was the 1930 filmJuno and the Paycock, directed byAlfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock next cast him as John the Crofter in 1935'sThe 39 Steps, a breakthrough role for Laurie in just his third film. In 1936 Laurie and fellowOld Vic alumnusLaurence Olivier made their first film appearance together inAs You Like It. Laurie went on to appear in Olivier's three Shakespearean films,Henry V (1944),Hamlet (1948), andRichard III (1955).^[12] During theSecond World War Laurie served in theHome Guard, experience that would be useful for later projects.^[13] Other roles included Peter Manson inMichael Powell'sThe Edge of the World (1937), Clive Candy's batman inPowell and Pressburger'sThe Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), a gardener inMedal for the General (1944), the farmer recruit inThe Way Ahead (1944), and the brothel proprietor inFanny by Gaslight (1944). In the 1945 Powell and Pressburger filmI Know Where I'm Going! he had a small speaking part in acéilidh sequence for which he was also credited as an adviser. In the next decade, he played the psychiatrist Dr. James Garsten inMine Own Executioner (1947), the repugnant Pew in Disney'sTreasure Island (1950), Angus inPandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), and Dr. MacFarlane inHobson's Choice (1954).^[14]

In 1954, Laurie joined theEdinburgh Gateway Company to play the leading role inRobert Kemp'sThe Laird o' Grippy, a translation intoScots ofMolière'sL'avare.^[15]

Laurie's role as Private Frazer, the gaunt-faced, intense, pessimisticundertaker, and BritishHome Guard soldier in the sitcomDad's Army (1968–1977) remains his best known TV role.^[16]Dad's Army co-starFrank Williams noted in his autobiography that Laurie had ‘a sort of love-hate relationship with the show’, as despite earning him a lot a money he felt that a sitcom was beneath him.^[17] Said Graham McCann in his bookDad's Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy: "John Laurie was cantankerous, he was rather mischievous, he was someone who enjoyed playing a kind of a professional pessimist."^[18] He featured in many British series of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s includingTales of Mystery,Doctor Finlay's Casebook, andThe Avengers.^[19]

Laurie starred as Mad Peter in theHammer filmThe Reptile (1966), and later appeared inThe Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), the Disney filmOne of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975), andThe Prisoner of Zenda (1979).^[5] One of his last appearances was inReturn to the Edge of the World (1978), in which Michael Powell revisited his film of forty years earlier.^[20] Laurie's final work was in theBBC Radio 2 comedy seriesTony's (1979) along withVictor Spinetti andDeborah Watling.^[21]

Laurie was married twice, first to Florence May Saunders, whom he met while at the Old Vic; she died frommeningitis in 1926. His second wife was Oonah Veronica Todd-Naylor, who survived him. Together they had a daughter, Veronica (1939–2022).

Laurie died in 1980, aged 83, fromemphysema in the Chalfont and Gerrards Cross Hospital,Chalfont St Peter,Buckinghamshire.^[22] His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in theEnglish Channel. His widow Oonah (1901–1990) died ten years later.

• John Laurie atIMDb
• John Laurie at theBFI'sScreenonline
• John LaurieBFI
• Letter from John Laurie at BBC archive

• 1897 births
• 1980 deaths
• 20th-century Scottish male actors
• Actors from Dumfries
• Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
• British Army personnel of World War I
• British Home Guard soldiers
• Deaths from emphysema
• Honourable Artillery Company soldiers
• Male actors from Dumfries and Galloway
• People educated at Dumfries Academy
• People from Chalfont St Giles
• Scottish male film actors
• Scottish male Shakespearean actors
• Scottish male stage actors
• Scottish male television actors

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2023
• Use British English from May 2015
• Pages using infobox military person with embed
• Articles with hCards