Peter Bull

Peter Cecil Bull, born on 21 March 1912 in London, England, was a British actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television across five decades. The youngest of four sons born to William Bull, who later became Sir William Bull, 1st Baronet and Member of Parliament for Hammersmith, Bull was educated at Winchester College. He made his first professional stage appearance in 1933 in If I Were You at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London.

Bull's Broadway career extended from 1935 to 1967 and included appearances in Escape Me Never, Mr. Pickwick, The Lady's Not for Burning, Luther, and White Liars. His stage work also brought him a significant place in theatrical history when he became the first actor to portray Pozzo in the English-language premiere of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, which opened on 3 August 1955.

During the Second World War, Bull served as an officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, eventually commanding Landing Craft (Flak) 16 in the Mediterranean. He rose to the rank of lieutenant commander and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Among the friendships he formed during the war was one with Alec Guinness, whom he first encountered during training at HMS Raleigh and later at HMS King Alfred.

Returning to acting after the war, Bull appeared in Scrooge in 1951, in which he both narrated and took a small role. That same year he appeared in The African Queen, portraying the captain of the vessel that the characters played by Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart attempt to destroy, and who marries them shortly before their scheduled execution. He was cast as Thwackum, one of Blifil's two tutors, in the 1963 film Tom Jones. His portrayal of Soviet Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky in Dr. Strangelove in 1964 became among the most recognized of his many film and television performances.

Beyond acting, Bull authored twelve books. His written works included To Sea in a Sieve, published in 1956, which drew on his wartime experiences commanding a Tank Landing Craft, and I Say, Look Here!: The Rather Random Reminiscences of a Round Actor in the Square, published in 1965. He also wrote several books devoted to his passion for collecting teddy bears, among them Bear With Me and The Teddy Bear Book. Another volume, It Isn't All Greek to Me, illustrated by Roger Furse, chronicled his experiences on the Greek islands of Corfu and Paxos, where he owned a house. During the 1970s, Bull operated a small shop near Notting Hill Gate that sold zodiac-related items. He died of a heart attack in London on 20 May 1984 at the age of 72.