Michael Ward

Michael Ward was born George William Everard Yeo on 9th April 1909 in the village of Carmenellis, Cornwall. Being the son of a clergyman, his family moved from parish to parish for most of his early life. He detested this nomadic lifestyle and being an only child. It was not until 1930 when the family settled in Caddington, near Luton, that he got the chance to make friends and become independent. Between 1930 and 1945 Michael worked as a private tutor and then as an ambulance driver during the war years. By March 1946 he had chosen acting after abandoning his first love, to be a concert pianist, winning a scholarship to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. On completing the course, he began auditioning and in 1946 landed the role as understudy to comedian Vic Oliver in The Night and the Music at the Coliseum, now the home of English National Opera. This was the beginning of a long career in supporting roles comprising of nearly seventy films, twenty West End shows and over two hundred television appearances. It was in 1947 that Michael secured his first film role. Directed by Alexander Korda, An Ideal Husband starred Paulette Goddard and was released in June of that year. It was generally well received and acted as a springboard for Michael's screen career, as between 1947 and 1960 he starred in no fewer than thirty films, making him one of the country's busiest and best-known character actors. The year 1961 brought Michael to the attention of an even wider audience, playing the photographer in Carry On Regardless. Further roles in the series included 'Man in Tweeds' in Carry On Cabbie, 'Archimedes' in Carry On Cleo, 'Vivian the Window Dresser' in Carry On Screaming and 'Andre the Wigmaker' in Carry On Don't Lose Your Head. The BFI credited Michael as delivering one of the funniest one liners in British film history, as the effete gentleman in tweeds who alights from Kenneth Connors' black cab. Remember it? Watch it again and judge for yourself. Other classic British comedy vehicles included four Norman Wisdom comedies, as well as dozens of other films, but eventually television provided the bread and butter of his later career. His work on the big screen was reflected on TV, from the early 1960's to the mid-1970's, the golden age of British television comedy. Appearances ranged from Hancock's Half Hour, The Jack Benny Show, Steptoe and Son, Sykes and Rising Damp. Other shows included The Avengers, The Two Ronnies and The Dick Emery Show. He was most memorably cast in Morecambe and Wise, where he played Adrian, the comedy duo's extremely camp next door neighbour. After making what would be his last ever screen outing in 1978's Revenge of the Pink Panther, Michael suffered a stroke, forcing him to retire. He finally passed away on 8 November 1997 at St Mary's Hospital, Ladbroke Grove, London, aged eighty-eight.