Ballard Berkeley
Birthday: Born in 1904-08-06 in Margate, Kent, England, UK
Deathday: 1988-01-16
Ballard Berkeley made his professional stage debut in 1928, and performed for many years in London's West End and in New York theatres. He is best remembered as Major Gowen in the British television series "Fawlty Towers" (1975).
TV Credits
Are You Being Served?
Character: Angler
This comedy series, which follows the exploits of employees at London's fictional "Grace Brothers" department store, is full of sexual innuendo, slapstick, visual gags, and double entendres. Much of the show's humor parodies Britain's class system, and many of the show's characters are based on stereotypes of the period, including the effeminate Mr. Humphries and the rich, but stingy, store owner....
Fawlty Towers
Character: Major Gowen
Owner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, a chambermaid Polly, and Spanish waiter Manuel attempt to run their hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding guests....
The Goodies
Character:
A British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s, combining surreal sketches and situation comedy....
Fresh Fields
Character: Guy Penrose
Fresh Fields is a British situation comedy written by John T. Chapman and produced by Thames Television for ITV between 7 March 1984 and 23 October 1986. A ratings success at the time, the show is well remembered for its opening titles featuring a silhouette of a person in a rocking chair. It stars Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers as Hester and William Fields, a devoted middle-class couple with an idyllic suburban lifestyle. William works while Hester keeps home. The crux of the show was that s...
That's My Boy
Character:
That's My Boy is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1981 to 1986. Starring Mollie Sugden, it was written by Pam Valentine and Michael Ashton, who later wrote My Husband and I, which also starred Mollie Sugden. It was produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network....
Ivanhoe
Character: Rand the Goldsmith
Ivanhoe is a British television series first shown on ITV in 1958-59. The show features Roger Moore in his first starring role, as Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, in a series of adventures aimed at a children's audience. The characters were drawn loosely from Sir Walter Scott's 1819 novel....
Ghost Squad
Character:
Ghost Squad, known as G.S.5 for its third series, was a crime drama series about an elite division of Scotland Yard that ran between 1961 and 1964. Each episode the Ghost Squad would investigate cases that fell outside the scope of normal police work. Despite the show and characters being fictional, an actual division did exist within the Metropolitan Police Service at the time. Inspiration for the series was taken from a book of the same name, written by John Gosling — a retired police officer...
The Buccaneers
Character: Rafton
The adventures of privateer Captain Dan Tempest and his crew of former pirates as they make their way across the seven seas in The Sultana....
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
Character:
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot is a British television series first broadcast in 1956, produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network. The series starred William Russell as the eponymous Sir Lancelot, a Knight of the Round Table in the time of King Arthur at Camelot....
The New Avengers
Character:
The New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series broadcast during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series The Avengers and was developed by Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production, the show picks up the adventures of John Steed and his team of Avengers fighting evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners:...
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Character: Count de Waldern
The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers....
No Hiding Place
Character:
No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart....
The Main Chance
Character: Major Dibbyn
The Main Chance was a British television series which first aired on ITV between 1969,1970,1972 and 1975. A drama, it depicts the sudden transformation in the life of solicitor David Main who relocates from London to Leeds....
Maigret
Character: Dr. Pardon
BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television....
Dixon of Dock Green
Character: Mr. Noakes
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006....
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Character: Tybalt
The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers....
Mike Yarwood In Persons
Character:
Popular and ratings-winning BBC sketch and impressions series with Mike Yarwood....
Dixon of Dock Green
Character: Mr. Briggs
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006....
Terry and June
Character: Colonel Culpepper
Terry and June Medford are both middle aged and beginning to find the trials of life are more difficult as they try to succeed in their daily lives. The couple have just moved to Purley, south-east London... Aunt Lucy and the mynah bird had disappeared, as had the occasionally visiting daughters. Terry and June now mixed with a friendly next door neighbour, Beattie; Terry's chatty work colleague, Malcolm; and their gruff boss Sir Dennis Hodge. Otherwise, things were much as before, with Terry's ...
Terry and June
Character: Sir Arthur Forster-Carter
Terry and June Medford are both middle aged and beginning to find the trials of life are more difficult as they try to succeed in their daily lives. The couple have just moved to Purley, south-east London... Aunt Lucy and the mynah bird had disappeared, as had the occasionally visiting daughters. Terry and June now mixed with a friendly next door neighbour, Beattie; Terry's chatty work colleague, Malcolm; and their gruff boss Sir Dennis Hodge. Otherwise, things were much as before, with Terry's ...
The Goodies
Character: Chairman of the British Olympic Committee
A British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s, combining surreal sketches and situation comedy....
Hadleigh
Character: Lord Cranford
Hadleigh was a British television series made by Yorkshire Television which originally ran from 1969 to 1976. Developed by Robert Barr, it was a sequel to the writer's earlier Gazette for the same company. The theme music was composed by Alan Moorhouse and, from series 3, Tony Hatch. James Hadleigh played by Gerald Harper, was "the perfect squire, paternalistically careful of his tenantry's welfare, beloved in the village, respected in the council." A "knight in a shining white Aston Martin V8,...
To the Manor Born
Character: Hartley
Sitcom about the love-hate relationship between upper-class Audrey fforbes Hamilton and Richard DeVere, the nouveau rich businessman who buys her manor house when she can no longer afford to keep it....
Sykes
Character: Lord Plunket-Taylor
Classic sitcom starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques as brother and sister twins who have to tackle the trials and tribulations of suburban life....
The Wednesday Play
Character: First Committee Member
The Wednesday Play is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen....
Sherlock Holmes
Character: Sir Charles Baskerville
Sherlock Holmes is a series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company BBC between 1965 and 1968. This was the second screen adaption of Sherlock Holmes for BBC Television....
Bless This House
Character: Group Captain
Bless this house is a British sitcom starring Sid James and Diana Coupland that aired on ITV from the 2nd February 1971 to the 22nd April 1976. It was written by Derek Collyer, David Comming, B.C. Cummins, Harry Driver, George Evans, Dave Freeman, Carla Lane, Brian Platt, Vince Powell, Adele Rose, Mike Sharland, Bernie Sharp, Myra Taylor, Jon Watkins and Lawrie Wyman. It was made for the ITV network by Thames Television. In 2004, Bless this house came 67th in Britain's best sitcom....
Sherlock Holmes
Character: Sir James Damery
Sherlock Holmes is a series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by British television company BBC between 1965 and 1968. This was the second screen adaption of Sherlock Holmes for BBC Television....
Coronation Street
Character: Colonel Cantrill
The residents of Coronation Street are ordinary, working-class people, and the show follows them through regular social and family interactions at home, in the workplace, and in their local pub, the Rovers Return Inn. Britain's longest-running soap....
The Cheaters
Character: Harry Tyler
...
The Cheaters
Character: Jefford
...
The Cheaters
Character: Mansion
...
Dixon of Dock Green
Character: Mac
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006....
Dixon of Dock Green
Character: Charles Devenish
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006....
Dixon of Dock Green
Character: Victor Dowson
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006....
Dixon of Dock Green
Character: Joe Magnus
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006....
Dixon of Dock Green
Character: Harry Bates
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006....
Dixon of Dock Green
Character: Colonel
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006....
Sunday Night Theatre
Character: Bentley
Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty...
Movie Credits
Stage Fright
Character: Sergeant Mellish
A struggling actress tries to help a friend prove his innocence when he's accused of murdering the husband of a high-society entertainer....
The Blue Parrot
Character: Supt. Chester
'Rocks' Owen, the well-off owner of a car-hire business, is found murdered; the last place he was seen alive was the Blue Parrot nightclub. Scotland Yard go in to investigate, with the help of a visiting American detective and a nightclub hostess who may not be all she appears to be....
The Night Caller
Character: Cmdr. Savage
The inhabitants of Ganymede need to find mates from another world or they will become extinct. They soon discover a suitable breeding stock amongst the females of planet Earth....
The Murder Game
Character: Sir Colin Chalmers
A woman abandons her husband, changes her name, and remarries again. Complications ensue....
The Playbirds
Character: Trainer
In order to unmask a pathological killer who is targeting the beautiful centrefolds of Playbirds magazine, a sexy policewoman Lucy Sheridan puts her life and reputation on the line by sleeping with millionaire publisher Harry Dougan. The Chief Superintendant and Police Commissioner are keeping a close eye on her, but time is running out fast....
A Matter of Choice
Character: Charles Grant
A philandering woman finds herself in deep trouble when her diabetic lover is accidentally killed by a gang of youths....
The Saint in London
Character: Richard Blake
Suave soldier of fortune Simon Templer gets mixed up with a gang of counterfeiters who've murdered and robbed an European count of 1,000,000 pounds. He is aided reluctantly by Scotland Yard inspector Teal, who's convinced that Templar himself pulled off the heist, and less reluctantly by light-fingered Dugan and dizzy socialite Penny Parker....
The Men of Sherwood Forest
Character: Walter
Robin Hood is persuaded by two nobles whom he believes to be loyal to King Richard to recover secret plans attaining to the rescue of the king from captivity in Germany. Though disguised as a troubadour, Robin is betrayed and captured. Lady Alys and the merry men help him escape in time to foil an intended ambush on King Richard as he returns from the Crusades....
The Betrayal
Character: Lawson
Fourteen years after he was blinded in a WWII concentration camp, a Canadian perfume executive travels to London on business and recognizes the voice of the traitor who betrayed him and his fellow prisoners to the Germans....
Operation Diplomat
Character: Inspector Austin
A physician is forced to operate on a mystery figure under shady circumstances....
Dangerous Cargo
Character: Findley
Inspired by the real events of the attempted heist at Heathrow Airport in 1952, a criminal tricks an old friend into giving away the location of a shipment of gold bullion so he and his gang can steal it....
Cone of Silence
Character: Commissioner
A seasoned pilot is condemned for an error which causes a crash. The pilot later dies in a crash with similar circumstances and an examiner looks for scientific reasons for the crashes....
In Which We Serve
Character: Engineer Commander
The story of the HMS Torrin, from its construction to its sinking in the Mediterranean during action in World War II. The ship's first and only commanding officer is Captain E.V. Kinross, who trains his men not only to be loyal to him and the country, but—most importantly—to themselves....
The Gang's All Here
Character: Detective in Nightclub
John Forrest is anticipating a quiet retirement spent penning detective fiction when he learns that a priceless collection of jewels belonging to a foreign potentate, Prince Homouska, has just vanished from the safekeeping of the Stamford Assurance Company. Aided by his butler, his Cockney assistant and his (initially) unwilling wife, Forrest sets out on the trail of the thieves....
Further Up the Creek
Character: Whacker Payne
The sequel to 'Up The Creek' sees David Tomlinson return as bumbling navy boffin Lieutenant Humphrey Fairweather. This time he is skipper of the ship Aristotle and, together with his second-in-command, Fairweather wreaks havoc when he is ordered to deliver the Aristotle to its new owners in a mythical Middle-Eastern country....
Night of the Demon
Character:
American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell. Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science....
After the Ball
Character: Andrews
The life and loves of Music hall singer Vesta Tilley, who married into the nobility...
My Teenage Daughter
Character: Magistrate
Magazine editor Valerie Carr lives in London with her two daughters Jan, aged seventeen, and Poppet, thirteen. When Jan is invited to a party at the Savoy, she meets dashing young Tony Ward Black mad about jive, owner of a Bentley, and supposedly running through a legacy. Attracted to the daring young man, she rejects Mark, a young farmer who is in love with her. But it soon becomes apparent to everyone but Jan that neither Tony's fortune nor even his name may be his own, and her association wit...
The Flying Squad
Character: Smuggler in Airplane
Inspector Bradley of Scotland Yard is on the trail of the murderous ringleader of a smuggling organization in London....
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Character: Harry Lorradaile
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir....
3 Steps to the Gallows
Character: Insp. Haley
A U.S. sailor (Scott Brady) docks in London and in three days tries to save his brother from the gallows....
Black Eyes
Character: Diner
Ivan Petrov has one weakness in his life, and one love: his little black-eyed daughter, Tania. In fact, his entire career is devoted to her future happiness, though Tania remains ignorant as to his vocation. Done with cool deliberation, Petrov's all-consuming fear is that one day his lovely daughter will discover his true profession, and despise him for it......
The Wildcats of St. Trinian's
Character: Humphry Wills
The girls of St. Trinian's decide they are being asked to do too much work so they go on strike....
Impact
Character: Bill MacKenzie
Crime reporter Jack Moir is framed by crooked nightclub owner, 'The Duke'. In prison, Moir plans his revenge....
Quiet Weekend
Character: Jim Brent
Comedy of a family trying to spend a country weekend which is disrupted by an unpleasant friend of the son....
London Melody
Character: Jan Moor
A film musical directed by Geoffrey Malins....
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst
Character: Lieutenant Colonel Dewar-Curie
While sailing lawfully up the Yangste in 1949, the British warship Amethyst found its return to the open sea blocked by Communist Chinese shore batteries that unexpectedly opened fire. In charge, Lietenant Commander Kerans was not however prepared for his crew and his ship to remain as a hostage for the Chinese to use as an international pawn....
East Meets West
Character: Nazim
The story of an Eastern sultan who is inordinately proud of his son. The young man bids fair to break his father's heart by conducting an affair with the wife of a notorious criminal....
National Lampoon's European Vacation
Character: 2nd Motorist
The Griswolds win a vacation to Europe on a game show, and so pack their bags for the continent. They do their best to catch the flavor of Europe, but they just don't know how to be be good tourists. Besides, they have trouble taking holidays in countries where they CAN speak the language....
They Made Me a Fugitive
Character: Rockliffe
After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge....
The Long Dark Hall
Character: Supt. Maxey
A devoted family man tries to help a beautiful alcoholic showgirl with her life, and becomes the the only suspect when someone else murders her....
The Weak and the Wicked
Character: Police Detective
Jean Raymond an upper class woman with a gambling addiction, is given a twelve-month prison sentence resulting from her inability to pay her debts. At first she is overwhelmingly depressed by life in the women's prison; gradually, however, her misery is relieved by the many close friends she makes there. This sympathetic drama traces the contrasting lives and often faltering progress of the inmates of a women's prison....
The Big Frame
Character: Doctor
An ex-GI wakes up with blood on his clothes in a strange hotel room. He can't remember the night before but he later finds out that a man he got into a fight with earlier in the night was murdered....
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
Character: Court Clerk (uncredited)
American scientist Dr. Frank Smith is brought to Britain to help the C.I.A. There is a defecting East block scientist they want him to debrief. The commies are less than amused and set Dr. Smith up for a murder....
Chain of Events
Character: Stockman
When a clerk tries to dodge paying a bus fare, it sparks a series of unforseen consequences...
Forbidden Cargo
Character: Cooper
Kenyon is a narcotics agent who, with the aid of a titled bird-watcher attempts to trap a brother and sister drug smuggling team....
The Frightened Man
Character: Inspector Bligh
Kicked out of Oxford, a junk dealer's son joins a gang of thieves fenced by his father....
The Weekend Murders
Character: Peter, the butler
An aristocratic English family gather for the reading of their father's will. The family are dismayed to find that everything has been left to Barbara, the deceased's favourite daughter. The butler is soon found stabbed to death and Sergeant Thorpe, the local bobby, telephones Scotland Yard for assistance. Inspector Grey arrives and he and Barbara narrowly escape being shot. Cousin Ted and his wife Pauline are both killed. Sergeant Thorpe recalls some photos which Ted asked to have develope...
Queen of the Blues
Character: Uncle Fred (as Ballard Barclay)
A seedy striptease club in London's West End becomes the target for unpleasant crooks....
Confessions of a Driving Instructor
Character: Lord Snodley
Timothy Lea and his brother-in-law Sidney decide upon opening a driving school as their latest get-rich-quick scheme. Though he sincerely wants to teach, young Timmy finds that his female students are far more interested in keeping their eyes on him than on the road....
Hostile Witness
Character: Clerk of Court
Simon Crawford is a barrister whose daughter is killed in a hit-and-run accident. When his neighbor is also killed, evidence points to the barrister as the murderer....
The BFG
Character: Head of the Army (voice)
Sophie is snatched from her orphanage early one morning by the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), whom she witnesses engaged in mysterious activities. She is soon put at ease, as she learns that BFG's job is to collect, catalog and deliver pleasant dreams to children. She joins him that night, but a mean giants follow them, planning to eat the children of the world....
Circumstantial Evidence
Character: Det. Insp. Hall
Long after being deserted by her husband, Linda Harrison will soon be free to marry her lover, Michael Carteret. But when her husband suddenly reappears, he attempts to blackmail the couple with a threat of ruining Michael's career. When her husband is murdered, Michael appears to be the only obvious suspect - but will the circumstantial evidence be enough to sentence him to death?...
Delayed Action
Character: Insp. Crane
Robert Ayres plays a moody author with a suicide complex. Ayres' melancholia plays right into the hands of a gang of thieves. For a lofty fee, they convince the author to confess to their crimes and then kill himself. Yes, you're way ahead of us: Ayres has a change of heart and decides that he loves life. Delayed Action was produced by Robert Baker and Monty Berman, the men behind the popular 1960s TV adventure series The Saint....
Blackmailed
Character: Dr. McCormick
A blackmailer is murdered, and those who witnessed the scene agree to keep quiet; the complication is that the scene is also witnessed by a young artist, a victim of blackmail as well. (BFI Website)...