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Lance Percival is a Actor British born on 26 july 1933 at Sevenoaks (United-kingdom)

Lance Percival

Lance Percival
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Birth name John Lancelot Blades Percival
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 26 july 1933 at Sevenoaks (United-kingdom)
Death 6 january 2015 (at 81 years)

John Lancelot Blades Percival, known as Lance Percival (26 July 1933 – 6 January 2015), was an English actor, comedian and singer, best known for his appearances in satirical comedy shows of the early 1960s and his ability to improvise comic calypsos about current news stories. He later became successful as an after-dinner speaker.

Biography

He was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, and was educated at Sherborne School in Sherborne, Dorset, where he learnt to play the guitar. He then did national service with the Seaforth Highlanders as a lieutenant and was posted to Egypt. In 1955 he emigrated to Canada where he worked as an advertising copywriter, writing jingles for radio. He also formed a calypso group as "Lord Lance" which toured the US and Canada.

Percival first became well known in the early 1960s for performing topical calypsos on television shows such as That Was The Week That Was, after having been discovered by Ned Sherrin, performing at the Blue Angel Club in Mayfair. A tall thin man with a distinctive crooked nose and prominent ears, he also appeared in several British comedy films including the Carry On film Carry On Cruising (1962). Percival had a cameo role in The V.I.P.s (1963) and another in The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964). He also appeared in his own BBC TV comedy series Lance at Large (also 1964), with writers Peter Tinniswood and David Nobbs.

Working, like many British comics of the era, with George Martin at Parlophone, Percival had one UK Singles Chart hit, his cover version of a calypso-style song entitled "Shame and Scandal in the Family" which reached number 37 in October 1965, and recorded several other comedy songs, including "The Beetroot Song" ("If You Like Beetroot I'll Be True To You", 1963), written by Mitch Murray, and "The Maharajah of Brum" (1967), written with Martin.

Later he provided the voice of both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr for the cartoon series The Beatles (1965), leading to his voicing the central character "Old Fred" in the Beatles' animated film Yellow Submarine. He also appeared as an "upper class tramp" in the Herman's Hermits film vehicle Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968).

He starred alongside Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson and Jeremy Kemp in the musical film Darling Lili (1970) and also appeared in There's a Girl in My Soup. However, on 14 December 1970, he was involved in a fatal car crash near Farningham, Kent, apparently while racing another driver at high speed in his Jaguar XJ on a dangerous stretch of road near Brands Hatch. Percival almost lost the sight of one eye and was summoned to court where he agreed to pay substantial damages following the death of a third, uninvolved driver, Paul Young.

Percival returned to film work in the Frankie Howerd vehicles Up Pompeii (1971), Up the Chastity Belt (1971), and Up the Front (1972), sustaining a film career until 1978. Between 1972 and 1978 the Thames Television game show Whodunnit! was written by Percival and Jeremy Lloyd, who died two weeks before Percival and who also had a Beatles movie connection, appearing in A Hard Day's Night (1964).

Percival appeared on BBC Radio light entertainment programmes such as Just a Minute throughout the 1980s and is also the author of two books of verse, Well-Versed Cats and Well-Versed Dogs, both illustrated by Lalla Ward. Subsequently he gained a reputation as a writer and later as an after-dinner speaker.

Percival died in January 2015, aged 81. His son Jamie said: "When he spoke about his showbiz life, he spoke fondly of his time on That Was the Week That Was, and he always loved Ned Sherrin, who discovered him performing at the Blue Angel Club". He was cremated at Putney Vale Cemetery on 20 January 2015.

Usually with

Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser
(5 films)
Peter Rogers
Peter Rogers
(4 films)
Bill Fraser
Bill Fraser
(4 films)
Alan Hume
Alan Hume
(4 films)
Sid James
Sid James
(4 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Lance Percival (26 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

The Water Babies, 1h45
Directed by Lionel Jeffries
Origin Pologne
Genres Fantasy, Adventure, Musical, Animation
Themes Children's films
Actors James Mason, Bernard Cribbins, Billie Whitelaw, Joan Greenwood, Jon Pertwee, David Tomlinson
Rating60% 3.0004153.0004153.0004153.0004153.000415
When a 12-year-old chimney sweep is wrongfully blamed for being a thief, he makes a run for it and ends up jumping into a violent river. There he encounters a civilization of anthropomorphic underwater creatures. Before he can return to the surface and clear his name, however, he must help rescue his new friends, the Water Babies, from their nemesis. Featured voices include those of James Mason, Bernard Cribbins and Tommy Pender. The film starts and ends similarly to the book, though in the book Tom actually dies, and is only allowed above the sea on a temporary basis. The movie also adds a whole new subplot, involving a Killer Shark, an Electric Eel and the mythical Kraken, who decides whether or not Tom can return to the surface. There are also several invented characters, which Tom befriends on his quest: Jock, a Scottish lobster, Terence, an effeminate starstruck Seahorse, and Claude, a foppish French swordfish.
Confessions from a Holiday Camp, 1h28
Directed by Norman Cohen
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, Erotic films
Actors Robin Askwith, Anthony Booth, Liz Fraser, Lance Percival, Doris Hare, Bill Maynard
Roles Lionel
Rating42% 2.1177552.1177552.1177552.1177552.117755
Timmy Lea and his brother-in-law Sidney Noggett are working as entertainment officers at Funfrall, a typical British holiday camp. The staff are lazy and inefficient, preferring to laze by the pool rather than organise activities for the holiday campers. A new owner, Mr. Whitemonk, an ex-prison officer, takes over the camp and is determined to install discipline into the staff. He is on the verge of dismissing Timmy and Sidney; however, Sidney's suggestion of organising a beauty contest changes his mind.
Up the Chastity Belt, 1h34
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Frankie Howerd, Graham Crowden, Bill Fraser, Norman Beaton, David Prowse, Roy Hudd
Roles Reporter
Rating51% 2.598192.598192.598192.598192.59819
Howerd played dual roles as King Richard the Lionheart and cowardly peasant Lurkalot (his character in Up Pompeii was the slave Lurcio). The plot served as an excuse to serve up the usual collection of puns and double entendres that characterised most British film comedy in the 1970s, but did feature Eartha Kitt singing "A Knight for My Nights" and Hugh Paddick (of Julian and Sandy fame in the Round the Horne BBC radio series) as a notable Robin Hood, leader of a band of men who were camp homosexual rather than merry.
Our Miss Fred, 1h36
Origin United-kingdom
Genres War, Comedy
Themes Films about sexuality, Transgender in film, Political films, Histoire de France, L'Occupation allemande en France, LGBT-related film
Actors Alfred Marks, Lance Percival, Lally Bowers, Frances de la Tour, Walter Gotell, Noel Coleman
Roles Smallpiece
Rating54% 2.7341452.7341452.7341452.7341452.734145
Shakespearean actor Fred Wimbush is called up during WWII, and is performing in drag, entertaining the troops in France, when the Nazis advance. Unless he continues his disguise in women's clothes, Fred fears he will be shot as a spy. The double entendres and bullets fly as he attempts his escape in the company of the pupils from an English girls' finishing school.
Up the Front, 1h29
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Political films
Actors Frankie Howerd, Bill Fraser, William Mervyn, Hermione Baddeley, Jonathan Cecil, Madeline Smith
Roles Von Gutz
Rating45% 2.279412.279412.279412.279412.27941
Set during World War I, Lurk, a lowly servant in the household of Lord and Lady Twithampton (William Mervyn & Linda Gray), is hypnotised by The Great Vincento (Stanley Holloway) and travels to the Western Front to 'save England'. Lurk is inspired to bravery, and upon receiving the German master plan for the entire war, which has through an unlikely series of events been tattooed onto his posterior, is pursued across France by German intelligence. After breaking into the British military headquarters to deliver the plans into the hands of General Burke (Robert Coote), he is confronted by the sensuous German spy Mata Hari (Zsa Zsa Gabor). After foiling Mata Hari's scheme to relieve him of the plan, a hilarious scene develops in which he is pursued by the nefarious Von Gutz (Lance Percival) and his henchmen Donner and Blitzen (Gertan Klauber and Stanley Lebor). Accompanied by the Can-Can, performed by the Famous Buttercup Girls, Lurk is pursued around the Allied headquarters.
Up Pompeii
Up Pompeii (1971)
, 1h30
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Films set in Africa
Actors Frankie Howerd, Michael Hordern, Barbara Murray, Patrick Cargill, Lance Percival, Julie Ege
Roles Bilius
Rating59% 2.9522452.9522452.9522452.9522452.952245
Lurcio (Frankie Howerd) becomes the inadvertent possessor of a scroll bearing all the names of the proposed assassins of Nero (Patrick Cargill). The conspirators need to recover the scroll fast, but it has fallen into the hands of Lurcio's master, Ludicrus Sextus (Michael Hordern) who mistakenly reads the contents of the scroll to the Senate. Farcical attempts are made to retrieve the scroll before Pompeii is eventually consumed by the erupting Vesuvius.
Too Late the Hero, 2h13
Directed by Robert Aldrich, Oscar Rudolph
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Action
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films
Actors Michael Caine, Cliff Robertson, Henry Fonda, Ken Takakura, Denholm Elliott, Ian Bannen
Roles Cpl. McLean
Rating65% 3.297723.297723.297723.297723.29772
In the 1942 Pacific War theater of World War II, Lieutenant Sam Lawson, USN (Robertson), is a Japanese language interpreter who — so far — has avoided combat. His commanding officer (Henry Fonda in a cameo role) unexpectedly cancels his leave and informs Lawson that he is to be assigned to a British infantry commando unit in the New Hebrides Islands for a combat mission.
There's a Girl in My Soup, 1h35
Directed by John Boulting, Roy Boulting
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Romance
Themes Cooking films
Actors Peter Sellers, Goldie Hawn, Diana Dors, Tony Britton, Gabrielle Drake, Nicky Henson
Roles Willie the Bridegroom (uncredited)
Rating57% 2.8505452.8505452.8505452.8505452.850545
Sellers appears as Robert Danvers, a vain, womanizing and wealthy host of a high-profile cooking show. He meets Hawn's character, a no-nonsense American hippie living with an English rock musician in London, and, to everyone's surprise, falls for her.
Darling Lili, 1h47
Directed by Blake Edwards
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War, Thriller, Comedy, Musical, Romance
Themes Spy films, Films about music and musicians, Transport films, Aviation films, Musical films, Political films
Actors Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, Gloria Paul, Jeremy Kemp, Vernon Dobtcheff, Lance Percival
Roles T.C. Carstairs
Rating60% 3.047463.047463.047463.047463.04746
Set during World War I, the film centers on Lili Smith (Julie Andrews), a popular British music hall performer who is regarded as a femme fatale. She is actually a German spy, and the uncle she dotes upon is really Colonel Kurt Von Ruger (Jeremy Kemp), a fellow spy and her contact with the German military.
Yellow Submarine, 1h30
Directed by Al Brodax, George Dunning
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Science fiction, Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure, Musical, Animation
Themes Seafaring films, Monde imaginaire, Films about music and musicians, Transport films, Submarine films, Musical films, Les Beatles
Actors Paul Angelis, The Beatles, John Clive, John Lennon, Dick Emery, Paul McCartney
Roles Old Fred (voice)
Rating73% 3.6971353.6971353.6971353.6971353.697135
At the beginning of the story, Pepperland is introduced by a narrator as a cheerful, music-loving paradise under the sea, protected by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The titular Yellow Submarine rests on an Aztec-like pyramid on a hill. At the edge of the land is a range of high blue mountains.
Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter, 1h35
Directed by Saul Swimmer
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Musical theatre, Musical
Themes Musical films
Actors Peter Noone, Stanley Holloway, Mona Washbourne, Pamela Cundell, Marjorie Rhodes, Lance Percival
Roles Percy Sutton
Rating47% 2.3655152.3655152.3655152.3655152.365515
Herman inherits a prize greyhound called Mrs. Brown and aims to race the dog and win the derby. Herman and his group, The Hermits play gigs to raise money for the race entry fees. The Hermits travel from Manchester to London for more concerts, and at the London dog race, Herman falls for Judy, who is also Mrs. Brown's daughter.
The Big Job, 1h25
Directed by Gerald Thomas
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy, Action, Crime
Actors Sid James, Dick Emery, Joan Sims, Sylvia Syms, Jim Dale, Lance Percival
Roles Timothy 'Dipper' Day
Rating63% 3.199413.199413.199413.199413.19941
England, 1950. A gang of robbers led by the self-proclaimed George 'The Great' Brain (Sid James) rob a bank, stealing £50,000. However, due to a mix-up, they are pursued and caught by the police. He manages to stash away the money in the trunk of a hollow tree, before he is collared. The gang are then sentenced to serve fifteen years in Wormwood Scrubs prison.