Charles Laurence

Charles Laurence, born Carlos Felipes on 10 January 1931 in Tangiers during its period as an International zone, was a British actor and playwright who worked across stage, film, and television. His mother was Swiss-Scottish and his father was Gibraltarian of Spanish-Italian descent. French and Spanish were his only languages until the age of seven, when his family relocated to England and he acquired English as well. He attended Taunton School in Somerset before training at RADA.

His professional stage career took shape in the early 1950s, beginning with a period at Guildford Repertoire in 1953, followed by appearances in stage plays and comedies at the Oxford Playhouse and the Bristol Old Vic. In the West End, he appeared in Ross at the Haymarket Theatre. His Broadway credits span two distinct periods: an appearance in 1939 and a role in Folies Bergère in 1964.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Laurence accumulated a substantial body of work in British film and television. His film appearances included Cross Channel (1955), in which he played Jean-Pierre Moreau; A Hill in Korea (1956), where he portrayed Pte. Kim; Hotel Imperial (1960) as Jose da Irala; and A High Wind in Jamaica (1965) as a Tallyman. On television, he appeared in ITV Play of the Week productions The School for Wives (1958) and The Last Hours (1959), as well as Dixon of Dock Green (1962), Sierra Nine (1963), The Third Man (1964), 199 Park Lane (1965), Vendetta (1966), The Magnificent Two (1967), and Man in a Suitcase (1967–1968).

From 1969 onward, Laurence transitioned into playwriting, a pursuit he continued until 1999. His television writing included What's a Mother For? (1969) and The Swan Won't Go in the Fridge (1969), both for Armchair Theatre on ITV; the six-episode BBC series Now, Take My Wife (1971), starring Sheila Hancock, Donald Houston, and Liz Edmiston; Just Harry and Me (1971) for BBC's Comedy Playhouse; and Poor Little Rich Girls (1984), an eight-episode television series featuring Maria Aitken, Jill Bennett, and Joan Hickson. His stage comedies included My Fat Friend (1972), with Kenneth Williams and Jennie Linden; Snap! (1974), which starred Maggie Smith and ran at the Vaudeville Theatre in London; About Alice (1998); and The Ring Sisters (1999). Laurence died on 13 July 2013 in St John's Wood, London.