Julian Orchard

Julian Dean Chavasse Orchard was an English comedy actor born on 3 March 1930 in Wheatley, Oxfordshire. He trained at Shrewsbury School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before building a career across theatre, television, and film. He died on 21 June 1979 in Westminster, London, following a short illness.

Orchard made his Broadway appearance in 1965, playing Mr. Pickwick. His stage work extended to opera as well, with a notable turn as the chamberlain Count Oscar in the Sadler's Wells Opera production of Offenbach's Barbe-bleue in 1966. In 1974 he joined the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, where he appeared in Peter Hall's debut production of The Tempest, playing Trinculo alongside Arthur Lowe as Stephano and John Gielgud as Prospero. His pantomime work included starring as an Ugly Sister in the London Palladium's 1971 Christmas production of Cinderella, with Terry Scott, and returning to the Palladium the following year to play the Dame in Babes in the Wood.

On television, Orchard was a regular presence across British comedy programming. He appeared on Spike Milligan's The World of Beachcomber as the poet Roland Milk, and played the deputy headmaster Mr. Oliver Pettigrew in the 1971–72 run of Whack-O!, a role originally created by Arthur Howard. He portrayed Snodgrass in the BBC television musical Pickwick in 1969 and played Cornelius Button, an eccentric grasshopper expert, in the 1971 London Weekend Television children's serial Grasshopper Island. Additional television credits include the role of the Minister for the Arts in The Goodies episode "Culture for the Masses" and an appearance as one of the mechanicals in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also appeared as the Duke of Montague in the 1976 Cinderella film The Slipper and the Rose.

Orchard appeared in four entries in the Carry On film series: Don't Lose Your Head and Follow That Camel, both in 1966 and 1967 respectively, Carry On Doctor in 1967, and Carry On Henry in 1971. He also had a role in the 1977 sex comedy Adventures of a Private Eye. Throughout his career he was frequently cast in the role of a gangling, effete dandy.