Peter John Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English screen and stage actor, best known for playing Richard DeVere in To the Manor Born, as well as Guthrie Featherstone in Rumpole of the Bailey and Archie Glover in Only When I Laugh.

He gained prominence for television dramas such as Callan: A Magnum for Schneider and I, Claudius, before becoming recognised for his roles in sitcoms and television comedy dramas, such as The Bounder, The Irish R.M., Lytton's Diary, Executive Stress and Perfect Scoundrels.

Early life and education

Bowles was born in London, England. His father was Herbert Reginald Bowles, valet-companion and chauffeur to Drogo Montagu, son of the Earl of Sandwich, then a butler to the daughter of Lord Beaverbrook. His mother was Sarah Jane (née Harrison), from Scotland, who served as a nanny to the family of the Duke of Argyll before coming to England and working for Beaverbrook's family, which is where they met. He attended Co-op Arts Centre.

Theatre

After RADA, Bowles began his career with the Old Vic Company in 1956 playing small parts in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida and Richard II, with Claire Bloom, Paul Rogers and John Neville. After a season the company toured North America, concluding with a sell-out season at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway.

In March 1956, he was given a contract by the theatre company to take part on a 25-week tour of the US and Canada, from September 1956. He first appeared at the Nottingham Playhouse on Monday 2 December 1957, in Witness for the Prosecution, with Rosalie Westwater, Richard Mathews, Brian Spink, Gillian Martell, John Cater and producer John Rule.

Later in December 1957 he played the Wolf in a pantomime of Little Red Riding Hood, written by David Waller. In January 1958, the company put on Henry V, with him playing the Constable of France. In February 1958, the company put on The Perfect Woman and Three Sisters (play) by Chekhov. In March the company put on Our Town. From mid-April the company put on She Stoops to Conquer, where he played Sir Charles Marlow, and the production featured John Woodvine.

Bowles then joined the Bristol Old Vic Company for a season playing character parts and taking two Shakespeare productions to the Baalbeck Festival. This led to him being offered two plays by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre, London in September 1960: Dr Copperthwaite in The Happy Haven written by John McGragh and directed by Bill Gaskell, and Kirill in Platanov by Checkov, directed by George Devine, which starred Rex Harrison.

In 1961, after appearing in J.B. at the Phoenix Theatre directed by Laurier Lister in September (which closed after four weeks on the day of his wedding

Later, Bowles was in Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends, also starring Richard Briers, at the Garrick Theatre in 1975. Then came Tom Stoppard's Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land at the Arts Theatre in 1976. (Bowles had last played there in 1963 in Anthony Powell's Afternoon Men in a cast that also included James Fox, Alan Howard and the actress and pop artist Pauline Boty). In 1980 in starred in Born in the Gardens by Peter Nichols directed by Clifford Williams first at the Bristol Old Vic and then at the Globe.

Bowles's first starring role in the theatre after many years of TV successes was as Archie Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1986; he was the first actor to play the part in London since Laurence Olivier in 1957. In 1990 Bowles starred opposite Michael Gambon in Alan Ayckbourn's Man of the Moment at the Globe Theatre

The role of Vic Parkes was Bowles's first, but not last, performance as an East End gangster. After Running Late Sir Peter Hall began to offer Bowles a succession of leading roles in West End theatre, including Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables opposite Patricia Hodge. and George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara with Jemma Redgrave. George S. Kaufman's The Royal Family and Noël Coward's Hay Fever, both opposite Judi Dench at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, followed. In 1996 Bowles played Arnolphe in Molière's The School for Wives at the Piccadilly Theatre.

Another play for Hall, this time at the Theatre Royal, Bath, was Rattigan's The Browning Version. Bowles' last play for Hall was Sheridan's The Rivals in 2011, opposite Dame Penelope Keith, again at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. His other West End theatre plays include Coward's Present Laughter, Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, Peter Nichols' Born in the Gardens, and in 2004, Simon Gray's The Old Masters. directed by Harold Pinter at the Comedy Theatre.

Then again at the Haymarket Theatre in Hutchinson's The Beau, opposite Richard McCabe, and Rattigan's In Praise of Love at the Apollo Theatre. In a South Bank Show special Melvyn Bragg interviewed George MacDonald Fraser, and Bowles played the part of Fraser's hero 'Harry Flashman'. Other parts include Higgins in Shaw's Pygmalion and the General in Jean Anouilh's The Waltz of the Toreadors, both at the Chichester Festival Theatre; and Judge Brack in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (translation: Frank McGuinness) opposite Francesca Annis.

Bowles played the ultimate gangster in Mellis and Scinto's Gangster No 1 at the Almeida Theatre in 1995 for which he held the film rights; he raised money from Channel 4 Films and was executive producer for the film Gangster No. 1 (2000), starring Paul Bettany.

Bowles's final starring role was Father Merrin in The Exorcist at the Phoenix Theatre directed by Sean Mathias.

Television

Bowles was warned by casting directors on leaving the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) that because of his swarthy looks he would never play an Englishman. The couple lived in Barnes, south-west London and had three children.

Bowles died aged 85, on 17 March 2022, from cancer.

  • Madge Kendal Prize (1955)
  • Male Comedy Star Award (1983)
  • ITV Personality of the Year (1984)
  • Hon. Doctor of Literature, for contributions to the theatre, television drama and entertainment. (Nottingham Trent University, 2002) (Simon & Schuster, 2010)
  • Behind the Curtain: The Job of Acting (Oberon Masters Series, 2012)

References

  • Selected roles in Bristol University Theatre Archive