Allan Cuthbertson
Born Allan Darling Cuthbertson
7 April 1920
Perth, Australia
Died 8 February 1988 (aged 67)
London, England
Allan Cuthbertson (7 April 1920 – 8 February 1988) was a naturalised Anglo-Australian actor. He was best known for playing stern-faced military officers in British films of the 1950s and 1960s.
Born Allan Darling Cuthbertson in Perth, Western Australia, son of Ernest and Isobel Ferguson (Darling) Cuthbertson, he performed on stage and radio from an early age.
During World War II, he served as a flight lieutenant with the RAAF from 6 December 1941 to 1 July 1947, based with 111 Squadron Air Sea Rescue Flight.
Career[edit]
Cuthbertson arrived in England in 1947, and appeared shortly thereafter as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at the Boltons. In London’s West End, he appeared as Laertes in Hamlet, Aimwell in The Beaux Stratagem, and Octavius Robinson in Man and Superman, among many other roles.
He was often cast in military roles, which was quite common in actors of his generation, especially those with a military air about them. He was Captain Eric Simpson in Tunes of Glory (1960) as well as being cast as more stuffy regimental types in such films as The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Carrington V.C. (1955), which also starred David Niven. He also made a brief appearance as a harassed staff officer, who then gets blown up, at the beginning of Ice Cold in Alex (1958). In 1962 he played a school teacher in Term of Trial with Laurence Olivier. He appeared four times in the television series The Avengers.
Perhaps surprisingly Cuthbertson also had a talent for playing comedy, which led to his best known role, although again playing a mustachioed military character, as Colonel Hall in the “Gourmet Night” episode of the hit sitcom Fawlty Towers in 1975.[6] He appeared in many roles on British television, including with Tommy Cooper, Dick Emery and Frankie Howerd, and in All Gas and Gaiters, Danger Man and Terry and June, where he played annoying neighbour Tarquin Spry. He was a regular guest on The Morecambe & Wise Show from 1973 to 1976. One of his last TV appearances was in Michael Palin’s East of Ipswich in 1987.
One of his last stage roles was in The Corn Is Green by Emlyn Williams at The Old Vic in 1985.
At the time of his death, Cuthbertson was living in Surbiton, Surrey.
Filmography
Carrington V.C. (1954) – Lt. Col. Henniker
Portrait of Alison (1955) – Henry Carmichael
On Such a Night (1956) – 1st Gentleman
Doublecross (1956) – Clifford
Cloak Without Dagger (1956) – Colonel Packham
The Man Who Never Was (1956) – Vice-Admiral
Eyewitness (1956) – Det Insp (uncredited)
Anastasia (1956) – Blond Man (uncredited)
The Passionate Stranger (1957) – Dr. Stevenson
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst (1957) – Captain Donaldson RN
Barnacle Bill (1957) – Chailey
Law and Disorder (1958) – Police Inspector
Ice Cold in Alex (1958) – Brigadier’s Staff Officer
I Was Monty’s Double (1958) – Guards Officer
Room at the Top (1959) – George Aisgill
The Crowning Touch (1959) – Philip
Shake Hands with the Devil (1959) – Captain
The Devil’s Disciple (1959) – British Captain
Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959) – Sexton
North West Frontier (1959) – Monocled Officer (uncredited)
The Stranglers of Bombay (1960) – Capt. Christopher Connaught-Smith
Tunes of Glory (1960) – Capt. Eric Simpson
The Man at the Carlton Tower (1961) – Det. Supt. Cowley
The Guns of Navarone (1961) – Maj. Baker
On the Double (1961) – Captain Patterson
Solo for Sparrow (1962) – Supt. Symington
Term of Trial (1962) – Sylvan-Jones
The Boys (1962) – Randolph St. John
The Brain (1962) – Da Silva (uncredited)
The Fast Lady (1962) – Bodley
Freud: The Secret Passion (1962) – Wilkie
Nine Hours to Rama (1963) – Capt. Goff
The Running Man (1963) – Jenkins
The Mouse on the Moon (1963) – Member of Whitehall Conference
Tamahine (1963) – Housemaster
Bitter Harvest (1963) – Mr. Eccles
The Informers (1963) – Smythe
The 7th Dawn (1964) – Cavendish
Game for Three Losers (1965) – Garsden
Operation Crossbow (1965) – German Technical Examiner
Life at the Top (1965) – George Aisgill
Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) – Immigration Officer
Press for Time (1966) – Mr. Ballard
The Trygon Factor (1966) – Det. Thompson
Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon (1967) – Scuttling
Half a Sixpence (1967) – Wilkins
Sinful Davey (1969) – Captain Douglas
The Body Stealers (1969) – Hindesmith
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969) – Lomax
The Adventurers (1970) – Hugh
One More Time (1970) – Belton
Performance (1970) – The Lawyer
The Firechasers (1971) – Jarvis
Assault (1971) – Coroner
Diamonds on Wheels (1974) – Gus Ashley
The Outsider (1979) – Stanley
The Sea Wolves (1980) – Melborne
Hopscotch (1980) – Chartermain
The Mirror Crack’d (1980) – Peter Montrose (‘Murder at Midnight’)
Invitation to the Wedding (1983) – General Barrington
Thirteen at Dinner (1985) – Sir Montague Corner
Personal life
Cuthbertson was long married to Dr Gertrude Willner, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, who had been a lawyer originally, but became a teacher in England. They had an adopted son.