Arthur Lowe

Acting

Arthur Lowe

Born September 22, 1915 · Hayfield, Derbyshire, England

Died April 15, 1982 · aged 66

Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 – 15 April 1982) was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.

Known For

Kind Hearts and CoronetsKind Hearts and Coronets · 1949
Kind Hearts and Coronets
7.61949
MovieComedyCrime
When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.
if....if.... · 1968
if....
7.01968
MovieDrama
In an English boys' boarding school, social hierarchy reigns supreme and power remains in the hands of distanced and ineffectual teachers and callously vicious prefects in the Upper Sixth. Three Lower Sixth students, Wallace, Johnny and leader Mick Travis decide on a shocking course of action to redress the balance of privilege once and for all.
The Lady VanishesThe Lady Vanishes · 1979
The Lady Vanishes
6.01979
MovieMysteryThriller
On the eve of World War II, zany heiress Amanda Kelly travels by train to Switzerland. While passing through Germany, she meets a sweet elderly lady, who suddenly vanishes. Distraught, she questions her fellow passengers who claim that the woman was never there. Unsure if it's all in her mind or if there's a more sinister plot afoot, Amanda teams up with photographer Robert Condon to discover the truth.
Theatre of BloodTheatre of Blood · 1973
Theatre of Blood
6.71973
MovieComedyHorror
A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.
The Ruling ClassThe Ruling Class · 1972
The Ruling Class
6.41972
MovieComedyDrama
When the Earl of Gurney dies in a cross-dressing accident, his schizophrenic son, Jack, inherits the Gurney estate. Jack is not the average nobleman; he sings and dances across the estate and thinks he is Jesus reincarnated. Believing that Jack is mentally unfit to own the estate, the Gurney family plots to steal Jack's inheritance. As their outrageous schemes fail, the family strives to cure Jack of his bizarre behavior, with disastrous results.
Britannia HospitalBritannia Hospital · 1982
Britannia Hospital
6.21982
MovieComedyScience Fiction
Britannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by the Queen Mother herself. But when investigative reporter Mick Travis arrives to cover the celebration, he finds the hospital under siege by striking workers, ruthless unions, violent demonstrators, racist aristocrats, an African cannibal dictator, and sinister human experiments.
O Lucky Man!O Lucky Man! · 1973
O Lucky Man!
6.81973
MovieComedyMusic
An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures seemingly designed to challenge his naive idealism.
This Sporting LifeThis Sporting Life · 1963
This Sporting Life
7.01963
MovieDrama
In early 1960s Northern England, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver.

Filmography

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The Spider and the FlyThe Spider and the Fly · 1949
The Spider and the Fly
6.91949
MovieCrimeThriller
"The Spider and the Fly is set in Paris during the cloud-cuckoo days before WW I. The storyline intertwines the destinies of three people. Guy Rolfe plays Phillipe de Ledocq, a resourceful safecracker who always manages to elude arrest. Eric Portman is cast as police-chief Maubert, who will not rest until Ledocq is behind bars. And Nadia Gray is Madeleine, the woman beloved by both Ledocq and Maubert. Just as Maubert has managed to capture his man, Ledocq is released at the behest of the government, who wants him to steal secrets from the German embassy revealing the whereabouts of the Kaiser's secret agents. And just how does Madeleine figure into all of this? Spider and the Fly is a diverting precursor to the 1960s TV series It Takes a Thief." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Town Clerk

Sunday Night TheatreSunday Night Theatre · 1950
Sunday Night Theatre
3.51950
SeriesDrama
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-Four. The Sunday night drama slot was subsequently renamed The Sunday-Night Play which ran for four seasons between 1960 and 1963. ITV transmitted its own unrelated run of Sunday Night Theatre between 1971 and 1974.

Albert Davies

It's Murder. But Is It Art?It's Murder. But Is It Art? · 1972
It's Murder. But Is It Art?
9.01972
SeriesAction & AdventureMystery
It's Murder. But Is It Art? is a 1976 six-part comedy thriller serial written by David Pursall and Jack Seddon, and produced for BBC One. It stars Arthur Lowe, John Gower, Dudley Foster, Arthur Howard, and Anthony Sagar. Eccentric artist-turned-detective called Phineas Drake investigates when beautiful blonde Tina Kent is discovered murdered in the drawing-room of Brigadier Austin Binghop. Insp. Hook is convinced that Binghop is the culprit and takes him into custody. However, Mr Drake thinks otherwise and places himself in considerable personal jeopardy – with the trail leading him to the house of Chelsea socialite Mrs MacPherson. Barring some low-quality, off-air recorded monochrome trailers from the time, the entire series is believed to be lost.

Phineas Drake

Bless Me FatherBless Me Father · 1978
Bless Me Father
6.31978
SeriesComedy
Bless Me Father is a British sitcom starring Arthur Lowe, Daniel Abineri, Gabrielle Daye, Patrick McAlinney, David Ryall, Derek Francis and Sheila Keith. It was aired on ITV from 1978 until 1981 and described the adventures of an Irish Catholic priest, Father Charles Duddleswell and his young curate in the fictional parish of St. Jude's in suburban London. 21 episodes, written by Peter De Rosa, were aired. De Rosa wrote the books on which the series was based using the pseudonym of Neil Boyd which was also the name of the young curate character; Boyd also served as the narrator in the series of novels upon which the series was based. It was made for the ITV network by London Weekend Television. The series was set in 1950 and 1951 and marked a departure from the middle class 'bank manager' roles associated with Lowe such as that in Dad's Army. The other regular characters included Mrs Pring, the housekeeper, the hard-drinking Dr Daley, the non-religious neighbour Billy Buzzle, and abbess Reverend Mother Stephen.

Father Charles Clement Duddleswell

Turn Out the LightsTurn Out the Lights · 1967
Turn Out the Lights
1967
SeriesComedy
Turn Out the Lights was an ITV sitcom series made by Granada Television, that was first broadcast from Monday 2 January to Monday 6 February 1967 by Associated Rediffusion and Tyne Tees Television,. The series was a spin-off from the sitcom Pardon the Expression, itself a spin-off from the highly popular soap opera Coronation Street. Leonard Swindley was the central character, along with Wally Hunt. Swindley was formerly the manager of the fashion retail store "Gamma Garments" in Coronation Street and the deputy manager of the department store Dobson and Hawks in Pardon the Expression: in this series he becomes a professional speaker on astrology who encounters various supernatural events on his travels around the country, along with his colleague Wally Hunt, after they were both fired from Dobson and Hawks in the last episode of "Pardon the Expression". The series directors were David Boisseau and Michael Cox, production designers were Dennis Parkin and Roy Stonehouse.

Leonard Swindley