A look at Peter Sallis' life
Early Life
Sallis was born February 1, 1921, in Twickenham, then Middlesex, now Greater London, England. After attending Minchenden Grammar School in North London, Sallis started as an amateur actor in the RAF during World War II. He failed to get into the aircrew because of a medical problem and so taught radio procedures at RAF Cranwell.
During his four years with the RAF, one of his students offered him the lead in an amateur production. His success in the role caused him to resolve to become an actor after the War, and so he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, making his first professional appearance on the London stage in 1946.
Career
Numerous appearances in London's West End followed, such as the Orson Welles directed production Rhinoceros (1960) at the Royal Court, co-starring Sir Laurence Olivier.
He also appeared in a couple of the most notable Hammer Horror Films including The Curse of the Werewolf and Taste the Blood of Dracula. In the latter he plays a leading role as a Victorian/Edwardian gentleman, one of three who betrays Dracula and has to face his revenge. Sallis does not mention either film in his autobiography, Fading Into the Limelight.
Fading Into the Limelight
His first notable television role was as Samuel Pepys in the BBC serial of the same name in 1958. He appeared in the Doctor Who story The Ice Warriors in 1968, playing renegade scientist Elric Penley and in 1983 was due to play the role of Striker in another Doctor Who story, Enlightenment, before having to withdraw. In 1970 he was cast in the BBC comedy The Culture Vultures, which saw him play stuffy Professor George Hobbs to Leslie Phillips' laid-back rogue Dr. Michael Cunningham. During the production, Phillips was rushed to the hospital with an internal hemorrhage and as a result, only five episodes were ever made.
The Ice Warriors
Sallis was cast in a one-off pilot for Comedy Playhouse entitled Last of the Summer Wine as the unobtrusive lover of a quiet life, Norman Clegg. Sallis had already worked with Michael Bates, who played the unofficial ring-leader Blamire in the first two series. The pilot proved popular and the BBC commissioned a series. Sallis is still playing the role of Clegg, and is one of only two cast members remaining from the original Comedy Playhouse pilot, along with Jane Freeman who plays Ivy, the café owner. In 1988 he appeared as Clegg's father in First of the Summer Wine, a prequel to Last of the Summer Wine set in 1939.
Last of the Summer Wine
Between 1976 and 1978 he appeared in the children's series The Ghosts of Motley Hall, in which he played Mr. Gudgin, an estate agent who did not want to see the eponymous Hall fall into the wrong hands.
In 1978, he starred alongside northern comic actor David Roper for the ITV sitcom Leave It to Charlie as Charlie's (Roper) pessimistic boss. The programme lasted for four series, ending in 1980.
In 1983 he was the narrator on Rocky Hollow, a show produced by Bumper Films for S4C before Fireman Sam and Joshua Jones were made.
Between 1984 and 1990, he alternated with Ian Carmichael as the voice of Ratty in the British television series The Wind in the Willows, based on the book by Kenneth Grahame. Alongside him were Michael Hordern as Bader, David Jason as Toad and Richard Pearson as Mole. The series was animated in stop motion, prefiguring his work in Aardman Animations.
He also voiced Trebor's Polo Mint television commercials.
Sallis achieved great success when , in 1989, he voiced Wallace, the eccentric inventor in Aardman Animations' Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out. The made-for-television film won a BAFTA award and was followed by the Oscar-winning films The Wrong Trousers in 1993 and A Close Shave in 1995. Though the characters were temporarily retired in 1996, Sallis has returned to voice Wallace in several short films and in the Oscar-winning 2005 motion picture Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Most recently Sallis starred in a new Wallace and Gromit short A Matter of Loaf and Death in 2008.
Wallace
Sallis was then recruited to play the part of Sidney Bliss in two episodes of The New Statesman. Bliss was a pub landlord and ex-hangman in main character Alan B'Stard's constituency.
Sallis is currently starring in the 29th series of Last of the Summer Wine. However, due to increasing frailty and difficulty with his sight, his appearances in the episodes are not as prolific as they once were. Clegg remains central to the storylines but is often seen only at the very beginning, middle and end of the episode. He is currently filming the 30th series of the show which will be aired on BBC1 in 2009. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honors list for services to Drama.
Autobiography
In 2006 Sallis published a well-received autobiography entitled, with typical self-deprecation, Fading Into the Limelight. Reviewing in The Mail on Sunday, Roger Lewis said "Though Sallis is seemingly submissive, he has a sly wit and a sharp intelligence that make this book a total delight." Sallis recounts revealing tales from his lifetime as an actor.
Sallis starred with Welles in his stage play Moby Dick Rehearsed and tells of a later meeting with him where he received a mysterious telephone call summoning him to the deserted and spooky Gare d'Orsay in Paris where Welles announced he wanted him to dub Hungarian bit -players in his cinema adaption of Kafka's The Trial. As Sallis says "the episode was Kafka-esque, to coin a phrase."
Despite his nearly 35 years in Last of the Summer Wine, this is far from the main focus of the book, in which Sallis also recounts the early era of his relationship with Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park when it took six years for A Grand Day Out to be completed. He admits that his works as Wallace has raised his standing a few notches in the public eye."
Personal Life
Sallis suffers from macular degeneration and in 2005 recorded an appeal on BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Macular Disease Society. He recorded a television appeal on behalf of the society which was broadcast on BBC1 on March 8, 2009.
www.wikipedia.org
Back To Top ‹ Previous Article | Next Article ›
