Leonard Rossiter
Encyclopedia
Leonard Rossiter was an English
actor
known for his roles as Rupert Rigsby, in the British
comedy television series Rising Damp
(1974–78), and Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
(1976–79). These roles followed a long and distinguished career in the theatre.
, the son of Elizabeth (née
Howell) and John Rossiter. He lived over the barber shop which had been owned by his father. He was educated at Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School (1939–1946) and it was his ambition to go to university to read modern languages and become a teacher. Tragically his father, a voluntary ambulanceman during the Second World War, was killed in an air-raid
in 1942 and so, having his mother to support, Rossiter was unable to afford to take up the place he had been offered by Liverpool University. Having been demobbed (he served as a sergeant in the Army Education Corps and spent much of his National Service
in Germany writing letters home for soldiers), he went to work as an insurance clerk in the claims and accidents department of the Commercial Union Insurance Company for six years. He began acting when he picked up a girlfriend from her amateur dramatics class and was challenged to do better when he criticised her and her fellow performers. He joined the Wavertree Community Centre Drama Group and made his first appearance with the Adastra Players in Terence Rattigan
's Flare Path
. The local critic said he "was particularly outstanding, his one fault being a tendency to speak too fast on one or two occasions." It was a fault that Rossiter was wisely never to correct. He gave up his job in insurance
to enrol in Preston repertory theatre
and turned professional as an actor at the comparatively late age of 27. He made his stage debut in Joseph Colton's The Gay Dog in Preston, 6 September 1954, later becoming assistant stage manager. He went on to Wolverhampton and Salisbury Repertory Companies.
In his first nineteen months in the business he played some 75 roles. He said later: "There was no time to discuss the finer points of interpretation. You studied the part, you did it and then you studied the next part. I developed a frightening capacity for learning lines. The plays became like elastoplast, which you just stuck on and then tore off. It was the perfect preparation for rehearsing situation comedy
on television at the rate of one episode a week." Those who worked with Rossiter agree that he was a perfectionist, an actor of great energy and enthusiasm and hard work, who expected 100% dedication to the job in hand not only from himself, but from others.
Annette Crosbie
, who appeared with him in Hooray Daisy! at the Theatre Royal, Bristol in 1959 recalled;
" I find it hard to think of Len ever being young and daft. He had no patience with any frivolity when I knew him. All his energy, concentration and passion went into his work and he could be a frightening actor to work with because of this. You felt it as a kind of pressure on you all the time. And yet I remember us both playing hide-and-seek with a kitten backstage... and finding Len at any vast charity gala was like finding a lifebelt."
1957–58 he played in the musical Free as Air
and then toured in Eugene O'Neill
's The Iceman Cometh
. He joined the Bristol Old Vic
and was there for two years 1959–1961, time he described as 'the bedrock of his career', followed by much other stage work: as Brecht
's Arturo Ui
, The Strange Case of Martin Richter, Disabled, The Heretic, The Caretaker
and Semi-Detached (in New York).
His performance in Michael Blakemore
's stage production of Bertolt Brecht
's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
in the late 1960s met with critical acclaim.
in which he plays the title character's boss. This brief role fixed him with audiences as an often flawed and inflexible authority figure – apparently similar to his real-life personality. Through the 1950s and 1960s he established himself as a respected actor in theatre and film, and began to make his presence felt on television, with a semi-regular role as Det-Insp Bamber in the police series Z-Cars
, as well as guest roles in series as diverse as Steptoe and Son
('The Lead Man Cometh', 1964, 'The Desperate Hours', 1972) and The Avengers
('Dressed to Kill', 1963). In 1968 he played the supporting role of undertaker Mr Sowerberry in the film version of Lionel Bart
's musical Oliver!
and further came to wider public notice when he landed one of the few speaking supporting roles in Stanley Kubrick
's 2001: A Space Odyssey
as the Russia
n scientist Smyslov (he was to work with Kubrick again, in Barry Lyndon
seven years later). Continuing the science fiction
theme, in the same year as 2001, he appeared in the prescient BBC TV play The Year of the Sex Olympics
by Quatermass
creator Nigel Kneale
.
In 1969 he premiered in the UK in the title role of Brecht
's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
. The part of the petty tyrant was perfectly suited to Rossiter and garnered critical and public acclaim. He returned to the BBC
sitcom Steptoe and Son
for the 1972 episode 'The Desperate Hours' as an escaped convict, before winning his two leading roles in sitcoms which made him a household name.
In Rising Damp
, on ITV
, he played Rigsby, the lecherous landlord
of a house converted into seedy bedsits, reprising the role from its successful stage version, entitled The Banana Box. While on Rising Damp, he also took the eponymous lead in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
, adapted by David Nobbs
from his own Reginald Perrin comic novels and aired on the BBC. His performances as Rigsby and Perrin earned him enormous critical acclaim, including from his co-stars. During this period, he was given a surprise tribute on This Is Your Life
in 1975.
From 1979 and into the early 1980s he branched out into advertising, making an advert dressed as a traffic warden for Parker Pens, and notably starring with Joan Collins
as her boorish companion in a series of successful and endearing Cinzano
commercials. In these adverts the drink would always somehow manage to be spilt down Melissa's (Joan Collins
) cleavage. In the 2000 Channel 4
programme The 100 Greatest TV Ads, Terry Lovelock, the director of several of these commercials, revealed that he found Rossiter difficult to work with, and that he used to jokingly refer to Collins as "The Prop".
In 1976 he starred in an HTV
TV thriller Machine-gunner, in which he played a debt collector (Machine-gunner is West Country
slang for this profession) who turns private detective when he is drawn into a conspiracy after agreeing to assist a young black woman in her attempts to recover certain incriminating photographs.
In the animated adaptation of The Perishers
he provided the voice for Boot the dog. He reprised Rigsby for a movie version of Rising Damp in 1980 — meaning he had now played the role on stage, TV and film. His last TV role was that of the supermarket
manager in the eponymous Tripper's Day
, an ITV
sitcom. Although successful it was not as successful as his other sitcoms, although audiences did like it. After Rossiter died Bruce Forsyth
took over the role for a second series made two years later.
He continued to make a steady stream of cinema appearances, including a role in Lindsay Anderson
's dark parable Britannia Hospital
(1982).
Rossiter displayed his acid wit in two books: The Devil's Bedside Book in 1980, a collection of cynical dictionary definitions in the style of Ambrose Bierce
's Devil's Dictionary
, and The Lowest Form of Wit in 1981, a collection of biting bon mots, stinging retorts, and insults divided into six main sections, illustrated with cartoons (by Honeysett) and including a definitive guide and a history of sarcasm.
He played the title roles in the BBC Shakespeare production of King John (1984) and in the Galton and Simpson scripted short film Le Pétomane
(1979). Le Pétomane was the stage name of Joseph Pujol who, due to an unusual accident he suffered in youth, was able to take in and expel an almost limitless amount of gas through his anus, an ability he exploited to become, for several years, the main attraction at the Moulin Rouge
in 19th century Paris. Rossiter's last film appearance was in Water
(1985).
, an actress he had worked with many times in Rep in the 1950s and a cousin of actor John Inman
; it ended in divorce in 1961.
His second wife was actress Gillian Raine, with whom he had a daughter, Camilla, and to whom he was still married at the time of his death.
Rossiter had met Raine when he played the lead role of Fred Midway in a play called Semi-Detached, directed by Tony Richardson. She was his co-star, playing Hilda Midway. The play opened on Friday 8 June 1962 at the Belgrade Theatre
in Coventry
and ran for a week. At the time Rossiter's marriage with Josephine Tewson was about to break up. During the play's second run at the Belgrade, in September 1963 Leonard and Raine fell in love and moved in together, but they did not marry until 1972.
After his death it was revealed that during the early 1980s he had had an affair with broadcaster Sue MacGregor
. However this was not revealed until long afterwards. His wife was unaware of the affair, describing their marriage as "up and down". She received a letter from MacGregor breaking the news that her memoirs, which were about to be published, would include an account of the affair.
in 1984 while waiting to go onstage at the Lyric Theatre
, London
, where he was performing in Joe Orton
's play Loot
. His funeral took place at St. Mary's Church, The Boltons, London SW10 a few days after his death.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
known for his roles as Rupert Rigsby, in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy television series Rising Damp
Rising Damp
Rising Damp is a television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in...
(1974–78), and Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
(1976–79). These roles followed a long and distinguished career in the theatre.
Early life and stage work
Rossiter was born in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, the son of Elizabeth (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Howell) and John Rossiter. He lived over the barber shop which had been owned by his father. He was educated at Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School (1939–1946) and it was his ambition to go to university to read modern languages and become a teacher. Tragically his father, a voluntary ambulanceman during the Second World War, was killed in an air-raid
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
in 1942 and so, having his mother to support, Rossiter was unable to afford to take up the place he had been offered by Liverpool University. Having been demobbed (he served as a sergeant in the Army Education Corps and spent much of his National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
in Germany writing letters home for soldiers), he went to work as an insurance clerk in the claims and accidents department of the Commercial Union Insurance Company for six years. He began acting when he picked up a girlfriend from her amateur dramatics class and was challenged to do better when he criticised her and her fellow performers. He joined the Wavertree Community Centre Drama Group and made his first appearance with the Adastra Players in Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
's Flare Path
Flare Path (play)
-1942–43 Broadway production:Flare Path had a short run on Broadway at Henry Miller's Theatre from December 1942 to January 1943. Alec Guinness played Teddy and Nancy Kelly played Patricia. The play was Guinness's Broadway debut, and he was granted leave from the Royal Navy in order to take the role...
. The local critic said he "was particularly outstanding, his one fault being a tendency to speak too fast on one or two occasions." It was a fault that Rossiter was wisely never to correct. He gave up his job in insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
to enrol in Preston repertory theatre
Rep
Rep or REP may refer to:* Rep , a ribbed woven fabric made from various materials* rep, the Röntgen equivalent physical, a unit of exposure to radiation* REP, an x86 assembly language instruction...
and turned professional as an actor at the comparatively late age of 27. He made his stage debut in Joseph Colton's The Gay Dog in Preston, 6 September 1954, later becoming assistant stage manager. He went on to Wolverhampton and Salisbury Repertory Companies.
In his first nineteen months in the business he played some 75 roles. He said later: "There was no time to discuss the finer points of interpretation. You studied the part, you did it and then you studied the next part. I developed a frightening capacity for learning lines. The plays became like elastoplast, which you just stuck on and then tore off. It was the perfect preparation for rehearsing situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
on television at the rate of one episode a week." Those who worked with Rossiter agree that he was a perfectionist, an actor of great energy and enthusiasm and hard work, who expected 100% dedication to the job in hand not only from himself, but from others.
Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie, OBE is a Scottish character actor.-Life and career:Crosbie was born in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland, to Presbyterian parents who disapproved of her becoming an actor. Nevertheless, she joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School while still in her teens...
, who appeared with him in Hooray Daisy! at the Theatre Royal, Bristol in 1959 recalled;
" I find it hard to think of Len ever being young and daft. He had no patience with any frivolity when I knew him. All his energy, concentration and passion went into his work and he could be a frightening actor to work with because of this. You felt it as a kind of pressure on you all the time. And yet I remember us both playing hide-and-seek with a kitten backstage... and finding Len at any vast charity gala was like finding a lifebelt."
1957–58 he played in the musical Free as Air
Free as Air
Free as Air is a musical with lyrics by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade and music by Julian Slade. They are the same team responsible for the much better known musical Salad Days, although Free as Air is said to be "more slick and professional by some critics"...
and then toured in Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1940 the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on 9 October 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling where it ran for 136 performances to close on 15 March 1947.-Characters:* Night Hawk-...
. He joined the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
and was there for two years 1959–1961, time he described as 'the bedrock of his career', followed by much other stage work: as Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a play by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, originally written in 1941...
, The Strange Case of Martin Richter, Disabled, The Heretic, The Caretaker
The Caretaker
The Caretaker is a play by Harold Pinter. It was first published by both Encore Publishing and Eyre Methuen in 1960. The sixth play that Pinter wrote for stage or television production, it was his first significant commercial success...
and Semi-Detached (in New York).
His performance in Michael Blakemore
Michael Blakemore
Michael Howell Blakemore OBE is an Australian actor, writer and theatre director. In 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate....
's stage production of Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a play by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, originally written in 1941...
in the late 1960s met with critical acclaim.
Film career
He broke into film roles with Billy LiarBilly Liar (film)
Billy Liar is a 1963 film based on the novel by Keith Waterhouse. It was directed by John Schlesinger and stars Tom Courtenay as Billy and Julie Christie as Liz, one of his three girlfriends. Mona Washbourne plays Mrs. Fisher, and Wilfred Pickles played Mr. Fisher...
in which he plays the title character's boss. This brief role fixed him with audiences as an often flawed and inflexible authority figure – apparently similar to his real-life personality. Through the 1950s and 1960s he established himself as a respected actor in theatre and film, and began to make his presence felt on television, with a semi-regular role as Det-Insp Bamber in the police series Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
, as well as guest roles in series as diverse as Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...
('The Lead Man Cometh', 1964, 'The Desperate Hours', 1972) and The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
('Dressed to Kill', 1963). In 1968 he played the supporting role of undertaker Mr Sowerberry in the film version of Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
's musical Oliver!
Oliver! (film)
Oliver! is a 1968 British musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris....
and further came to wider public notice when he landed one of the few speaking supporting roles in Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
as the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n scientist Smyslov (he was to work with Kubrick again, in Barry Lyndon
Barry Lyndon
Barry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
seven years later). Continuing the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
theme, in the same year as 2001, he appeared in the prescient BBC TV play The Year of the Sex Olympics
The Year of the Sex Olympics
The Year of the Sex Olympics is a 1968 television play made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 as part of Theatre 625. It stars Leonard Rossiter, Tony Vogel, Suzanne Neve and Brian Cox. It was directed by Michael Elliot...
by Quatermass
Bernard Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading up the British Experimental Rocket Group...
creator Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter from the Isle of Man. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best Screenplay...
.
In 1969 he premiered in the UK in the title role of Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a play by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, originally written in 1941...
. The part of the petty tyrant was perfectly suited to Rossiter and garnered critical and public acclaim. He returned to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...
for the 1972 episode 'The Desperate Hours' as an escaped convict, before winning his two leading roles in sitcoms which made him a household name.
In Rising Damp
Rising Damp
Rising Damp is a television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in...
, on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, he played Rigsby, the lecherous landlord
Landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
of a house converted into seedy bedsits, reprising the role from its successful stage version, entitled The Banana Box. While on Rising Damp, he also took the eponymous lead in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
, adapted by David Nobbs
David Nobbs
David Gordon Nobbs is an English comedy writer.Following an education at Marlborough College and Cambridge University, Nobbs wrote for many of Britain's comedy performers over the years, including Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson and The Two Ronnies...
from his own Reginald Perrin comic novels and aired on the BBC. His performances as Rigsby and Perrin earned him enormous critical acclaim, including from his co-stars. During this period, he was given a surprise tribute on This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
in 1975.
From 1979 and into the early 1980s he branched out into advertising, making an advert dressed as a traffic warden for Parker Pens, and notably starring with Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
as her boorish companion in a series of successful and endearing Cinzano
Cinzano
Cinzano is an Italian brand of vermouth, a brand owned since 1999 by Gruppo Campari. It comes in four versions:*Cinzano Rosso, which is amber-coloured;*Cinzano Bianco, which is white and drier than Rosso, yet still considered a sweet vermouth;...
commercials. In these adverts the drink would always somehow manage to be spilt down Melissa's (Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
) cleavage. In the 2000 Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
programme The 100 Greatest TV Ads, Terry Lovelock, the director of several of these commercials, revealed that he found Rossiter difficult to work with, and that he used to jokingly refer to Collins as "The Prop".
In 1976 he starred in an HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
TV thriller Machine-gunner, in which he played a debt collector (Machine-gunner is West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
slang for this profession) who turns private detective when he is drawn into a conspiracy after agreeing to assist a young black woman in her attempts to recover certain incriminating photographs.
In the animated adaptation of The Perishers
The Perishers
The Perishers was a British comic strip about a group of urban children and a dog. It began in the Daily Mirror on 19th October 1959 and was written for most of its life by Maurice Dodd . It was drawn by Dennis Collins until his retirement in 1983, after which it was drawn by Dodd and later by Bill...
he provided the voice for Boot the dog. He reprised Rigsby for a movie version of Rising Damp in 1980 — meaning he had now played the role on stage, TV and film. His last TV role was that of the supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
manager in the eponymous Tripper's Day
Tripper's Day
Tripper's Day is a British television sitcom produced by Thames Television for ITV. The plot involved Leonard Rossiter as Norman Tripper, a Northern manager assigned to a London supermarket with a problematic staff...
, an ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
sitcom. Although successful it was not as successful as his other sitcoms, although audiences did like it. After Rossiter died Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
took over the role for a second series made two years later.
He continued to make a steady stream of cinema appearances, including a role in Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
's dark parable Britannia Hospital
Britannia Hospital
Britannia Hospital is a 1982 black comedy film by British director Lindsay Anderson which targets the National Health Service and contemporary British society...
(1982).
Rossiter displayed his acid wit in two books: The Devil's Bedside Book in 1980, a collection of cynical dictionary definitions in the style of Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
's Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary is a satirical "reference" book written by Ambrose Bierce. The book offers reinterpretations of terms in the English language, lampooning cant and political doublespeak, as well as other aspects of human foolishness and frailty. It was originally published in 1906 as The...
, and The Lowest Form of Wit in 1981, a collection of biting bon mots, stinging retorts, and insults divided into six main sections, illustrated with cartoons (by Honeysett) and including a definitive guide and a history of sarcasm.
He played the title roles in the BBC Shakespeare production of King John (1984) and in the Galton and Simpson scripted short film Le Pétomane
Le Pétomane
Le Pétomane was the stage name of the French flatulist and entertainer Joseph Pujol . He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him to seem to fart at will. His stage name combines the French verb péter, "to fart" with the -mane, "-maniac" suffix, which...
(1979). Le Pétomane was the stage name of Joseph Pujol who, due to an unusual accident he suffered in youth, was able to take in and expel an almost limitless amount of gas through his anus, an ability he exploited to become, for several years, the main attraction at the Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge is a cabaret built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche.The Moulin Rouge is...
in 19th century Paris. Rossiter's last film appearance was in Water
Water (1985 film)
Water is a 1985 comedy film scripted by Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais, directed by Clement, and starring Michael Caine. This HandMade Films production was released in U.S. theatres in April 1986 by Atlantic Releasing.-Plot summary:...
(1985).
Family and relationships
His first marriage was to Josephine TewsonJosephine Tewson
Josephine Tewson is an English actress. Tewson is perhaps best known for her roles as Elizabeth in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances and as Miss Davenport in the British television series Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:Tewson was born in Hampstead, London. Her father was a...
, an actress he had worked with many times in Rep in the 1950s and a cousin of actor John Inman
John Inman
Frederick John Inman was an English actor best known for his role as Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served?, a British sitcom in the 1970s and 1980s. Inman was also well known in the United Kingdom as a pantomime dame....
; it ended in divorce in 1961.
His second wife was actress Gillian Raine, with whom he had a daughter, Camilla, and to whom he was still married at the time of his death.
Rossiter had met Raine when he played the lead role of Fred Midway in a play called Semi-Detached, directed by Tony Richardson. She was his co-star, playing Hilda Midway. The play opened on Friday 8 June 1962 at the Belgrade Theatre
Belgrade Theatre
The Belgrade Theatre is a live performance venue seating 858 and situated in Coventry, England. It was the first civic theatre to be built after the Second World War in Britain and as such was more than a place of entertainment...
in Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
and ran for a week. At the time Rossiter's marriage with Josephine Tewson was about to break up. During the play's second run at the Belgrade, in September 1963 Leonard and Raine fell in love and moved in together, but they did not marry until 1972.
After his death it was revealed that during the early 1980s he had had an affair with broadcaster Sue MacGregor
Sue MacGregor
Susan Katriona MacGregor CBE is a British writer and broadcaster.-Early life:Her parents were Scottish and emigrated to South Africa where she was brought up. Her father was a doctor, a neurologist who was in the British 14th Army in Burma in the Royal Army Medical Corps...
. However this was not revealed until long afterwards. His wife was unaware of the affair, describing their marriage as "up and down". She received a letter from MacGregor breaking the news that her memoirs, which were about to be published, would include an account of the affair.
Death
Rossiter died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathyHypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a disease of the myocardium in which a portion of the myocardium is hypertrophied without any obvious cause...
in 1984 while waiting to go onstage at the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he was performing in Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
's play Loot
Loot (play)
Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....
. His funeral took place at St. Mary's Church, The Boltons, London SW10 a few days after his death.
Books by Rossiter
- Leonard Rossiter, Devil's Bediside Book, Littlehampton, 1980, ISBN 0600201058.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | A Kind of Loving A Kind of Loving (film) A Kind of Loving is a 1962 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Stan Barstow. It stars Alan Bates and June Ritchie as two lovers in 1960s West Yorkshire. The photography was by Denys Coop, and the music by Ron Grainer... |
Whymper |
| 1963 | This Sporting Life This Sporting Life This Sporting Life is a 1963 British film based on a novel of the same name by David Storey which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award. It tells the story of a rugby league footballer, Frank Machin, in Wakefield, a mining area of Yorkshire, whose romantic life is not as successful as his sporting... |
Phillips, sports writer |
| 1963 | Billy Liar Billy Liar (film) Billy Liar is a 1963 film based on the novel by Keith Waterhouse. It was directed by John Schlesinger and stars Tom Courtenay as Billy and Julie Christie as Liz, one of his three girlfriends. Mona Washbourne plays Mrs. Fisher, and Wilfred Pickles played Mr. Fisher... |
Mr Shadrack |
| 1964 | A Jolly Bad Fellow A Jolly Bad Fellow A Jolly Bad Fellow is a 1964 British film directed by Don Chaffey. It stars Leo McKern and Janet Munro.-Cast:* Leo McKern as Prof Bowls-Ottery* Janet Munro as Delia Brooks* Maxine Audley as Clarina Bowls-Ottery* Duncan Macrae as Dr. Brass... |
Dr. Fisher |
| 1966 | Hotel Paradiso Hotel Paradiso (film) Hotel Paradiso is a 1966 film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Peter Glenville and based on the play Hotel du Libre Echange by Maurice Desvallières and Georges Feydeau.-Synopsis:... |
Inspector |
| 1967 | Deadlier Than the Male Deadlier Than the Male Deadlier Than the Male is a 1967 British action film featuring the character of Bulldog Drummond. It is one of the many take-offs of James Bond produced during the 1960s but based on an established detective fiction hero... |
Henry Bridgenorth |
| 1968 | 2001: A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey (film) 2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel... |
Andrei Smyslov |
| 1968 | Oliver! Oliver! (film) Oliver! is a 1968 British musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris.... |
Mr. Sowerberry |
| 1968 | Otley Otley (film) Otley is a 1968 British comedy thriller film.-Outline:Gerald Arthur Otley , a hapless and light-fingered antiques dealer, is mistaken for a spy and grows into the part - to such an extent that the real spy falls in love with him... |
Johnson |
| 1973 | Luther Luther (1973 film) Luther is the 1973 film of John Osborne's biographical play, presenting the life of Martin Luther. It was one of eight in the first season of the American Film Theater's series of plays made into films. It was produced by Ely Landau, directed by British director Guy Green, and filmed at Shepperton... |
Brother Weinand |
| 1974 to 1980 | Rising Damp Rising Damp Rising Damp is a television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in... |
Rigsby |
| 1975 | Barry Lyndon Barry Lyndon Barry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer... |
Capt. John Quin |
| 1976 | The Pink Panther Strikes Again The Pink Panther Strikes Again The Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth film in the Pink Panther series and picks up where The Return of the Pink Panther leaves off... |
Superintendent Quinlan |
| 1976 to 1979 | The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role... |
Reginald Perrin |
| 1978 | The Losers The Losers (TV series) The Losers is a British sitcom that aired on ITV in 1978. Written by Alan Coren, it stars Leonard Rossiter and Alfred Molina. The Losers was made for ITV by ATV and was produced and directed by Joe McGrath.... |
Sydney Foskett |
| 1982 | Britannia Hospital Britannia Hospital Britannia Hospital is a 1982 black comedy film by British director Lindsay Anderson which targets the National Health Service and contemporary British society... |
Vincent Potter |
| 1984 | Tripper's Day Tripper's Day Tripper's Day is a British television sitcom produced by Thames Television for ITV. The plot involved Leonard Rossiter as Norman Tripper, a Northern manager assigned to a London supermarket with a problematic staff... |
Norman Tripper |
| 1985 | Water Water (1985 film) Water is a 1985 comedy film scripted by Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais, directed by Clement, and starring Michael Caine. This HandMade Films production was released in U.S. theatres in April 1986 by Atlantic Releasing.-Plot summary:... |
Sir Malcolm Leveridge |