Ian Carmichael

Ian Gillett Carmichael, born on 18 June 1920 in Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, was an English actor whose career on stage, screen, and radio extended across seven decades. He died on 5 February 2010. The eldest child of Kate and Arthur Denholm Carmichael, an optician working within the family jewellery business, he grew up alongside twin sisters Mary and Margaret, born in December 1923. His early education began with a single term at Froebel House School before he was sent, at age seven, to Scarborough College in North Yorkshire, a preparatory school he attended until thirteen. He found the institution's regime harsh and described its discipline as Dickensian, with corporal punishment applied for minor infractions and cold-water ablutions conducted even in freezing conditions. He subsequently enrolled at Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire, where he found the academic demands undemanding enough to allow him to concentrate on acting, popular music, and cricket.

In January 1939 Carmichael left Yorkshire for London to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, a decision his parents accepted despite preferring he enter the family jewellery business, which they supported financially. During his second term at RADA he took his first professional role, playing a robot in Karel Čapek's R.U.R. at the People's Palace theatre in Mile End, East London. He subsequently appeared as Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream at RADA's Vanbrugh Theatre, a production that opened on 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland, and closed after its second performance when RADA shut down in anticipation of war. Carmichael returned home and completed forms to join the Officer Cadet Reserve. After RADA reopened during the early months of the conflict, he returned to London and shared lodgings with fellow students Geoffrey Hibbert and Patrick Macnee, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. Between June and August 1940 he toured in Nine Sharp, a revue developed by Herbert Farjeon.

Carmichael reported for military training on 12 September 1940 at Catterick Garrison and subsequently attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, passing out in March 1941 as a second lieutenant in the 22nd Dragoons, part of the Royal Armoured Corps. During training manoeuvres near Whitby in November 1941, a tank hatch severed the top of a finger on his left hand, requiring two surgical procedures. He landed in France on 16 June 1944, ten days after D-Day, and fought through to Germany with his regiment. By Victory in Europe Day in May 1945 he had been promoted to captain and mentioned in despatches. During the post-war occupation he auditioned for a repertory company assembled under orders from Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks of XXX Corps, where he recognized the auditioning officer as Richard Stone, a former RADA contemporary. Carmichael joined the company and assisted Stone in auditioning other performers, including Frankie Howerd, whom Carmichael assessed as undisciplined and amateurish, though Stone disagreed and signed Howerd to perform with a Royal Army Service Corps concert party.

After demobilisation Carmichael returned to acting, finding early success in revue and sketch productions. He developed his understanding of comic technique while appearing alongside the comic actor Leo Franklyn. In 1955 film producers John and Roy Boulting noticed him and cast him in five of their productions. The first, Private's Progress in 1956, was a satire on the British Army that earned him critical and popular praise in both Britain and the United States. Across many of his film roles he portrayed likeable, accident-prone innocents, a characterization that, while it eventually led to typecasting he found frustrating, consistently retained audience affection. In the mid-1960s he played Bertie Wooster in the BBC Television series The World of Wooster, adaptations of the works of P. G. Wodehouse, receiving largely positive reviews that included approval from Wodehouse himself. In the early 1970s he took on the role of Lord Peter Wimsey, the amateur investigator created by Dorothy L. Sayers, in another series of television adaptations.

Carmichael's Broadway career brought him to New York in 1965, when he appeared in Boeing-Boeing.