David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000) was an English stage, film and television actor, singer and comedian. Having been described as both a leading actor and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles with The Walt Disney Company as the patriarch father George Banks in Mary Poppins (1964), hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug (1968) and the friendly con man Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Tomlinson was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend in 2002.

Early life

David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson was born on 7 May 1917 in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the son of Clarence Samuel Tomlinson (1883–1978), a well-respected London solicitor, and Florence Elizabeth, née Sinclair-Thomson (1890–1986). He attended Tonbridge School and left to join the Grenadier Guards for 16 months. However, in 1992, at the age of 75, he appeared on the Wogan talk show along with Tommy Cockles.

Accolades

  • 7th Grammy Awards - Winner - Best Recording for Children ( Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke with David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Ed Wynn - Mary Poppins)
  • 15th Eddie Awards - Winner - Best Performance by an Actor in a Film Debut
  • Disney Legends Award - 2002

Personal life and death

Tomlinson was first married to Mary Lindsay Hiddingh, daughter of L. Seton Lindsay, the vice president of the New York Life Insurance Company. She had been widowed in 1941 when her husband, Major Armand Guy Hiddingh, was killed in action, leaving her to care for their two young sons. Tomlinson married Mary in New York in September 1943, but on 2 December 1943, she killed herself and her two sons in a murder–suicide by jumping from a hotel in New York City, after learning that she could not take her two sons with her to join Tomlinson in England until WWII ended.

Tomlinson's second wife was actress Audrey Freeman (born 12 November 1931), whom he married on 17 May 1953, and the couple remained together for 47 years until his death. They had four sons.

Owing to the autism diagnosis of his third son, Willie, Tomlinson campaigned for early awareness of autism in the UK, using his connections to gain the help of friends in showbusiness, and raising a record amount of money from a television appeal, in the 1970s. He and his wife Audrey, among others, helped to found Somerset Court, the first residential home in Europe dedicated to adults with autism.

Tomlinson died peacefully in his sleep at King Edward VII's Hospital, Westminster, at on 24 June 2000, after suffering a stroke.

Filmography

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"

|+ Film performances

|-

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Role

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes

|-

! scope="row" | 1940

| Garrison Follies

|

| Uncredited

|-

! rowspan="3" scope="row" | 1941

| Quiet Wedding

| John Royd

|

|-

| My Wife's Family

| Willie Bagshott

|

|-

| "Pimpernel" Smith

| Steve

|

|-

! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1945

| The Way to the Stars

| Prune' Parsons

|

|-

| Journey Together

| Smith

|

|-

! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1946

| I See a Dark Stranger

| Intelligence Officer

|

|-

| School for Secrets

| Mr. Watlington

|

|-

! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1947

| Fame Is the Spur

| Lord Liskeard

|

|-

| Master of Bankdam

| Lancelot Handel Crowther

|

|-

! rowspan="7" scope="row" | 1948

| Easy Money

| Martin Latham

|

|-

| Miranda

| Charles

|

|-

| Broken Journey

| Jimmy Marshall

|

|-

| My Brother's Keeper

| Ronnie Waring

|

|-

| Sleeping Car to Trieste

| Tom Bishop

|

|-

| Love in Waiting

| Robert Clitheroe

|

|-

| Here Come the Huggetts

| Harold Hinchley

|

|-

! rowspan="6" scope="row" | 1949

| Warning to Wantons

| Count Max Kardak

|

|-

| Vote for Huggett

| Harold Hinchley

|

|-

| Marry Me!

| David Haig

|

|-

| Helter Skelter

| Nick Martin

|

|-

| The Chiltern Hundreds

| Lord Tony Pym

|

|-

| Landfall

| Binks

|

|-

! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1950

| So Long at the Fair

| Johnny Barton

|

|-

| The Wooden Horse

| Philip Rowe

|

|-

! rowspan="3" scope="row" | 1951

| Calling Bulldog Drummond

| Algernon 'Algy' Longworth

|

|-

| Hotel Sahara

| Captain Puffin Cheyne

|

|-

| The Magic Box

| Assistant in Laboratory

|

|-

! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1952

| Castle in the Air

| Earl of Locharne

|

|-

| Made in Heaven

| Basil Topham

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1953

| Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?

| Frank Betteron

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1955

| All for Mary

| Humphrey 'Humpy' Miller

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1956

| Three Men in a Boat

| Jerome

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1957

| Carry On Admiral

| Tom Baker

|

|-

! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1958

| Up the Creek

| rowspan="2" | Lt. Humphrey Fairweather

|

|-

| Further Up the Creek

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1960

| Follow That Horse!

| Dick Lanchester

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1963

| Tom Jones

| Lord Fellamar

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1964

| Mary Poppins

| George Banks

|

|-

! rowspan="3" |1965

| The Truth About Spring

| Charles Skelton

|

|-

| City Under the Sea

| Harold Tufnell-Jones

|

|-

| The Liquidator

| Quadrant

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1968

| The Love Bug

| Peter Thorndyke

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1971

| Bedknobs and Broomsticks

| Professor Emelius Browne

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1975

| From Hong Kong with Love

| Sir John MacGregor

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1977

| Wombling Free

| Roland Frogmorton

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1978

| The Water Babies

| Sir John / Polar Bear

| Voice role

|-

! scope="row" | 1979

| Dominique

| Lawyer

|

|-

! scope="row" | 1980

| The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu

| Sir Roger Avery

|

|}

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"

|+ Television performances

|-

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Role

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes

|-

! scope="row" | 1954

|The Birdcage Room

|Lord Tempest

|Television film

|-

! scope="row" | 1954

|All for Mary

| Clive Norton

|Outside Broadcast of the theatre production

|-

! scope="row" | 1955

|Theatre Royal

| Tom Pettigo

| Episode: "The No Man"

|-

! scope="row" | 1957

|Theatre Night

| David Warren

| Episode: "Dear Delinquent"

|-

! scope="row" | 1960

|ITV Play of the Week

| Tom Swinley

| Episode: "The Happy Man"

|-

! scope="row" | 1967

|Comedy Playhouse

| Charles Pinfold

| Episode: "Loitering With Intent"

|-

! scope="row" | 1976

|Hawaii Five-O

| Blake

| Episode: "Nine Dragons"

|}

See also

  • The Life I Lead, a 2019 one-man comedy play by James Kettle which explores Tomlinson's life, starring Miles Jupp.

References

Further reading

  • Luckier Than Most, Tomlinson's autobiography, published 1990.
  • Nathan Morley, Disney's British Gentleman: The Life and Career of David Tomlinson (History Press), 2021.
  • Mary Poppins Star Dies – BBC News obituary from 2000
  • David Tomlinson at the Disney Legends website
  • Actor David Tomlinson's life plagued by tragedy and misfortune despite finding fame, a 2021 Daily Express article by Nathan Morley describing Tomlinson's personal story, plagued by misfortune.