John Comer was a British actor best known for his comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 roles in the television series I Didn't Know You Cared

I Didn't Know You Cared

I Didn't Know You Cared is a British television comedy set in a working class household in South Yorkshire in the 1970s, written by Peter Tinniswood and loosely based upon his books A Touch Of Daniel, I Didn't Know You Cared and Except You're A Bird...

, Last of the Summer Wine

Last of the Summer Wine

Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...

and All Our Saturdays

All Our Saturdays

All Our Saturdays is a British sitcom starring Diana Dors that aired in 1973. Stuart Harris wrote two episodes, while Oliver Free, Eric Geen, Anthony Crouch and Peter Robinson & David Rutherford all wrote one each...

.

Early life

The son of Mary and Thomas Comer, he was born at 104 King Street, Stretford

Stretford

Stretford is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Lying on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, it is to the southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Salford and northeast of Altrincham...

, one of five children. He was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 at St Ann's, Stretford

St Ann's, Stretford

St Ann's, Church, Stretford is a Grade II listed Roman Catholic church in Stretford, Greater Manchester, England, and is located on East side of Chester Road A56. The church was constructed between 1862 and 1863...

, and educated at the Parish School between 1928 and 1939. Comer began his working career as a Bevin Boy

Bevin Boys

Bevin Boys were young British men conscripted to work in the coal mines of the United Kingdom, from December 1943 until 1948. Chosen at random from conscripts but also including volunteers, nearly 48,000 Bevin Boys performed vital but largely unrecognised service in the mines, many of them...

 working in the pits. He later gained an engineering apprentice

Engineering apprentice

An engineering apprenticeship is an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. A typical example is the apprenticeships formerly available at the BTH and EEC at Rugby in England...

ship at Metropolitan-Vickers

Metropolitan-Vickers

Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, they were particularly well known for their industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam...

, Trafford Park

Trafford Park

Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. Located opposite Salford Quays, on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, it is west-southwest of Manchester city centre, and north of Stretford. Until the late 19th century it was the...

.

Early career

Comer began his career performing a comedy routine around local social clubs and pubs in the 1930s and 40s. In 1952, with his younger brother Tony, he performed in a children's theatre production for local schools in Stretford and the siblings then formed a double act named 'The Comer Brothers'. In 1957, the brothers began a regular slot at the Manchester Apollo

Manchester Apollo

O2 Apollo Manchester is a concert venue in Manchester, England. Locally known as The Apollo, it is a listed building, with a capacity of 3,500 ....

 performing a variety act entitled Comer's Cottage

In 1958, The Comer Brothers partook in an ITV talent show called Bid For Fame and also began working for Butlins

Butlins

Butlins is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families....

 and in 1959 won first prize in the Butlins National Talent Contest, winning £1,000 and a film contract with The Boulting Brothers.

Success

In 1959 the Boulting Brothers cast John and Tony Comer in the film I'm All Right Jack

I'm All Right Jack

I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney, based on the novel Private Life by Hackney...

where they starred alongside Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

 and Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough

Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...

 as trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 Shop stewards. Their next film roles were in 1961 when they featured alongside Rita Tushingham

Rita Tushingham

-Career:Born in Liverpool, Tushingham began her career as a stage actress at the Liverpool Playhouse. Her screen debut was in A Taste of Honey...

 in A Taste of Honey

A Taste of Honey (film)

A Taste of Honey is a 1961 British film adaptation of the play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney. Delaney adapted the screenplay herself, aided by director Tony Richardson, who had previously directed the first production of the play...

. However shortly afterwards Tony decided to leave showbusiness and returned to full time work at Metropolitan-Vickers

Metropolitan-Vickers

Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, they were particularly well known for their industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam...

, while John decided to continue pursuing his film career. He appeared in the Boulting Brothers' 1967 film The Family Way

The Family Way

The Family Way is a 1966 British comedy-drama film based on Bill Naughton's play All in Good Time . It began life in 1961 as a television play entitled Honeymoon Postponed....

as a father-of-the-bride to Hayley Mills

Hayley Mills

Hayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay , the Academy Juvenile Award...

's character, whose father John Mills

John Mills

Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...

 portrayed her father-in-law.

He gained a recurring role in 1973 as the primary supporting role of Sid in the new BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine

Last of the Summer Wine

Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...

. He also starred in a long-running advertising campaign for Home Brew Beer. 1977 saw him appear as Bill Malley in the BBC series "Murder Most English".

Death

On 11 February 1984 Comer died of throat cancer

Esophageal cancer

Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...

 at the age of 59. The disease had so affected his voice that in his final television appearance, as cafe owner Sid, in the Last of the Summer Wine Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 film Getting Sam Home, his lines had to be dubbed by another actor, Tony Melody

Tony Melody

Anthony John "Tony" Melody was an English television actor who appeared in a number of long running comedies and soap operas. He was a prolific character actor with over 100 television roles.-Early life:...

. His funeral was held at Carleton Crematorium, Blackpool, where he is commemorated at rose-bed no. 18.

Film roles

Year	Title	Role
1959	I'm Alright Jack	Union Shop Steward
1960	Hell Is a City Hell Is a City Hell Is a City is a 1960 film based on the novel by Maurice Procter. It was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions filmed in Manchester it was also written and directed by Val Guest...	Police Driver
1961	A Taste of Honey A Taste of Honey (film) A Taste of Honey is a 1961 British film adaptation of the play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney. Delaney adapted the screenplay herself, aided by director Tony Richardson, who had previously directed the first production of the play...
1963	Heavens Above! Heavens Above! Heavens Above! is a 1963 British satirical comedy film starring Peter Sellers, directed by John and Roy Boulting, who also co-wrote along with Frank Harvey, from an idea by Malcolm Muggeridge...	Butcher
1964	Allez France!
1965	Rotten to the Core	Police Sergeant
1966	The Family Way The Family Way The Family Way is a 1966 British comedy-drama film based on Bill Naughton's play All in Good Time . It began life in 1961 as a television play entitled Honeymoon Postponed....	Leslie Piper
1968	Happy Deathday	Briggs
1969	Battle of Britain Battle of Britain (film) Battle of Britain is a 1969 Technicolor film directed by Guy Hamilton, and produced by Harry Saltzman and S. Benjamin Fisz. The film broadly relates the events of the Battle of Britain...	Policeman
1970	Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights (1970 film) Wuthering Heights is a 1970 film directed by Robert Fuest. It is based on the classic Emily Bronte novel of the same name. Like the 1939 version, this film depicts only the first sixteen chapters concluding with Catherine Earnshaw Linton's death and omits the trials of her daughter, Hindley's son,...
1970	There's a Girl in My Soup There's a Girl in My Soup ‎ There's a Girl in My Soup is a 1970 British comedy film, directed by Roy Boulting and starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn. Sellers appears as Robert Danvers, a vain, womanizing and wealthy host of a high-profile cooking show...	John
1971	Mr. Forbush and the Penguins Mr. Forbush and the Penguins Mr. Forbush and the Penguins, also known as Cry of the Penguins, is a 1971 British film, directed by Arne Sucksdorff, Alfred Viola and Roy Boulting. It stars John Hurt, Hayley Mills, Dudley Sutton and Tony Britton.-Cast:...	Police Sergeant
1971	Villain Villain (1971 film) Villain is a 1971 gangster film directed by Michael Tuchner and starring Richard Burton, Ian McShane, T. P. McKenna and Donald Sinden.-Plot:...	Waiter
1973	The Lovers! The Lovers (TV series) The Lovers is a British television sitcom by Jack Rosenthal, starring Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox as a courting couple, Geoffrey and Beryl. It was made between 1970 and 1971 by Granada Television for the ITV network. The hook for the show was the mismatch between the two, particularly in...	Geoffrey's Dad

Television roles

Year	Title	Role
1973	Bless This House	The Landlord
1972 to 1974	Play For Today Play for Today Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...	Various
1973	All Our Saturdays All Our Saturdays All Our Saturdays is a British sitcom starring Diana Dors that aired in 1973. Stuart Harris wrote two episodes, while Oliver Free, Eric Geen, Anthony Crouch and Peter Robinson & David Rutherford all wrote one each...	Wilf
1973 to 1983	Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...	Sid
1975	The Life of Riley The Life of Riley The Life of Riley, with William Bendix in the title role, is a popular American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a long-run 1950s television series , and a 1958 Dell comic book...	George Pollitt
1975 to 1979	I Didn't Know You Cared I Didn't Know You Cared I Didn't Know You Cared is a British television comedy set in a working class household in South Yorkshire in the 1970s, written by Peter Tinniswood and loosely based upon his books A Touch Of Daniel, I Didn't Know You Cared and Except You're A Bird...	Les Brandon
1978	All Creatures Great and Small All Creatures Great and Small All Creatures Great and Small may refer to:* All Creatures Great and Small, a book by James Herriot, comprising his first two novels** All Creatures Great and Small , a 1975 adaptation of the book in the Hallmark Hall of Fame...	Mr. Dimmock

External links

• John Comer at the BBC Comedy Guide