Terry Scott (born Owen John Scott; 4 May 1927 – 26 July 1994) was an English actor and comedian who appeared in seven of the Carry On films. He is also well known for appearing in the BBC1 sitcoms Happy Ever After and Terry and June with June Whitfield.
Early life
Scott was born and brought up in Watford, Hertfordshire, After National Service in the Navy at the end of the Second World War, he briefly studied accounting.
Career
Scott began his acting career with appearances on radio shows such as Workers Playtime, which were followed by appearances on television. He gained an opportunity to perform in farce when he joined the Whitehall Theatre Company. With Bill Maynard he appeared at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Skegness, Lincolnshire and partnered him in the TV series Great Scott - It's Maynard!. During the 1960s he appeared alongside Hugh Lloyd in Hugh and I (1962–1967). They both appeared as Ugly Sisters in pantomime at The London Palladium; Scott reappeared in later years in the same role alongside Julian Orchard. Scott and Lloyd later appeared in Hugh and I Spy (1968) and, as gnomes, in the sitcom The Gnomes of Dulwich (1969).
In 1966 Scott was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance, for his performances on Scott on Birds; Scott on Money; Scott on Food; Hugh and I; and Christmas Night with the Stars.
Scott's novelty record "My Brother" (written by Mitch Murray, and released in 1962 on Parlophone) was based on a schoolboy character (he dressed in school uniform to sing it on TV). In the 1970s he had a role in TV commercials for Curly Wurly caramel bars, in which he again appeared dressed as a schoolboy, with short trousers and cap. He repeated this performance several times on BBC TV's long-running variety show The Good Old Days. Scott had played a small role in the very first of the Carry On films series of films, Carry On Sergeant in 1958. In 1968 he returned to the series with a role in Carry On Up the Khyber (1968), playing main roles in six of the later films.
Scott starred alongside <!-- Not a DBE until 2017. -->June Whitfield in several series of the comedy Happy Ever After and its successor Terry and June. They had first worked together making a series of the sketch show Scott On (1968). He also suffered from creeping paralysis and had to wear a neck brace.
Scott was also diagnosed with cancer in 1987 and besides voicing Penfold, gradually wound down his performing career. He died from its effects at his family home in Witley, Surrey, on 26 July 1994, at the age of 67. He said of his last illness: "I know it would be better to give up the booze, fags and birds, but life would be so boring, wouldn't it?"
When Terry and June ended in 1987, Scott suffered a nervous breakdown. The breakdown was in part brought on by his public confession that he had indulged in a series of affairs since his marriage to dancer Margaret Peden in 1957. The couple had four daughters.
Stage work
Scott’s career extended beyond television and film into a substantial body of stage work, particularly in British farce and traditional pantomime. He appeared regularly in West End comedies and in major pantomime seasons, including several productions at the London Palladium, and toured widely in farces such as A Bedfull of Foreigners and Run for Your Wife.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Selected theatre credits
! Years
! Production
! Role
! Venue / Company
! Notes
|-
| 1966–1967
| Cinderella
| Ugly Sister
| London Palladium
| Listed in contemporary Palladium pantomime material as one of the Ugly Sisters, alongside Hugh Lloyd, in the 1966–67 production of Cinderella.
|-
| 1970
| Aladdin
| Pantomime cast
| London Palladium
| Recalled by director Christopher Luscombe as part of the 1970 Palladium production of Aladdin, in which Scott performed a celebrated comic “striptease” routine.
|-
| 1971–1972
| Cinderella
| Ugly Sister
| London Palladium
| Photographic archive shows Scott and Julian Orchard as the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella at the London Palladium in December 1971; pantomime listings note Scott and Orchard as Ugly Sisters in the 1972 season.
|-
| 1974
| A Bedfull of Foreigners
| Stanley Parker
| Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon
| World premiere production of Dave Freeman’s farce, 19 February – 2 March 1974, with Scott originating the role of Stanley Parker; the planned transfer to Bournemouth Pavilion was cancelled due to Scott’s throat infection.
|-
| 1976–1977
| A Bedfull of Foreigners
| Stanley Parker
| Victoria Palace Theatre and Duke of York’s Theatre, London
| West End run of the farce, produced by Triumph Theatre Productions and Pieter Toerien, at the Victoria Palace (8 April – September 1976) and Duke of York’s Theatre (4 October 1976 – 11 June 1977), with Scott starring as Stanley Parker alongside June Whitfield; also documented in contemporary programmes and rehearsal photography.
|-
| 1980
| A Bedfull of Foreigners
| Stanley Parker
| Theatre Royal, Newcastle
| Photographic record shows Scott and Anita Graham in a scene from A Bedfull of Foreigners at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, dated 16 September 1980, indicating his continued association with the play on tour.
|-
| 1980s
| Run for Your Wife
| John Smith / Stanley Gardner (various casts)
| Shaftesbury, Criterion, Whitehall, Aldwych and Duchess Theatres, London
| During the long West End run of Ray Cooney’s farce, Scott appeared in multiple casts in the 1980s, playing the bigamist taxi driver John Smith in some engagements and the neighbour Stanley Gardner in others; cast lists on Cooney’s official site and contemporary commentary link Scott closely with the play.
|-
| 1985
| Jack and the Beanstalk
| Pantomime cast
| Theatre Royal, Bath
| Director Christopher Luscombe recalls appearing with Scott in a production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Theatre Royal, Bath, at Christmas 1985, highlighting Scott’s continued prominence as a pantomime performer into the mid-1980s.
|}