Unassuming, innocent-eyed and undeniably ingratiating, Brit comedy actor
Ian Carmichael was quite the popular chap in late 50s and early 60s
film. He was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England on June 18, 1920, the son
of Arthur Denholm Carmichael, an optician, and his wife Kate (Gillett).
After receiving his schooling at Bromsgove High School and Scarborough
College, he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and
trained there, making his stage debut as a mute robot in "RUR". in
1939. That same year he also appeared as Claudius in "Julius Caesar"
and was appearing a revue production of "Nine Sharp" (1940) when his
young career was interrupted by WWII. He served in Europe for many
years with the Royal Armoured Corps as a commissioned officer in the
22nd Dragoons.
Ian returned to the theatre in 1947 with roles in four productions:
"She Wanted a Cream Front Door", "I Said to Myself", "Cupid and Mars"
and "Out of the Frying Pan". He also sharpened his farcical skills in
music hall revues where he worked with such revue legends as
Hermione Baddeley and
Dora Bryan. Given his first film bit as a
waiter in Bond Street (1948), he
continued in rather obscure roles for several years. While he was
sincerely capable of playing it serious, which would include roles in
the U.S. film Verraten (1954) starring
Clark Gable and
Lana Turner, as well as the war-themed
adventures
The Colditz Story (1955) and
Sturm über dem Nil (1955),
it was his association with late 50s "silly-ass" comedy that gave his
cinematic career a noticeable boost. After repeating his stage success
(the only cast member to do do) playing David Prentice in the film
version of Simon und Laura (1955)
opposite Kay Kendall and
Peter Finch, he co-starred in a
series of droll satires for the Boulting Brothers and Ealing Studios.
While he might have been upstaged on occasion by a motley crew of
scene-stealers (Terry-Thomas,
Peter Sellers,
Raymond Huntley,
Margaret Rutherford), Ian was
sublimely funny himself as the hapless klutz caught up in their
shenanigans.
Der beste Mann beim Militär (1956), the
service comedy which got the whole ball rolling, and its sequel,
Junger Mann aus gutem Hause (1959),
along with the Boulting's
Volltreffer ins Glück (1957)
Brothers in Law (1957) and
Wenn zwei Hochzeit machen (1958)
firmly established Ian as a slapstick movie star.
The inane fun continued into the 60s with ripe vehicles in
Light Up the Sky! (1960),
School for Scoundrels (1960),
Double Bunk (1961),
The Amorous Prawn (1962) and
Himmlische Freuden (1963). During the
late 1960s and 1970s, he found more fulfillment playing wry, bemused,
upper-crust characters on comedy TV, particularly his Bertie Wooster in
The World of Wooster (1965)
which reunited him with frequent Boulting Brothers co-star
Dennis Price as Jeeves, Wooster's
chilly-mannered personal valet. Ian's leading role as the
Bachelor Father (1970), based
on the story of a real-life perennial bachelor who took on several
foster children, only added to his popularity. In later years, he
was frequently heard on the BBC radio.
Ian made vigilant returns to the comedy stage whenever possible in such
lightweight vehicles as "The Tunnel of Love", "The Gazebo", "Critic's
Choice", "Birds on the Wing", "Darling, I'm Home", "Springtime for
Henry" and appeared in his last musical "I Do! I Do!" in 1968. Earlier,
in 1965, he made his Broadway debut starring in "Boeing-Boeing", which
lasted only a few weeks. A more successful revival of this show showed
up on Broadway in 2008.
Semi-retired since the mid-1980s, Ian continued to show elderly spryness here and there with a smattering of films including Die herrlichen sieben Todsünden (1971), Die Tür ins Jenseits (1974), Die tödliche Botschaft (1979) and Death and Desire (1989). On TV, he was quite popular in the role of the gentleman detective Lord Peter Wimsey in several crime mystery mini-series: Lord Peter Wimsey - Diskrete Zeugen (1972), Lord Peter Wimsey: Ärger im Bellona-Club (1972), Lord Peter Wimsey: Mord braucht Reklame (1973), Lord Peter Wimsey: Die neun Schneider (1974) and Lord Peter Wimsey: Fünf falsche Fährten (1975), and had a recurring role on the TV series Strathblair (1992).
To cap his career off, he was honored as
an OBE in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List. Made a widower after
40 years by his first wife Jean (Pym) McLean, he married novelist/radio
producer Kate Fenton, who is over thirty years his junior, in 1992. He
has two daughters, Lee and Sally, from his first marriage. In 1979, his
autobiography, "Will the Real Ian Carmichael?...", was published.
A charmer to the end, his last (recurring) appearance was on the TV series
The Royal (2003) in 2009. The actor died on February 7, 2010, following a month-long illness.
