Jack Douglas

Published on Sunday 21 December 2008 20:47

Comic actor

Born: 26 April, 1927, in Newcastle.

Died: 18 December, 2008, on the Isle of Wight, aged 81.

JACK Douglas combined the best qualities of the old music hall comedian with that of the deadpan "straight man". His career included eight Carry On films through pantomimes and summer shows to acting as a "feed man" for such stars as Bruce Forsythe, Tommy Cooper, and, for 12 years, Des O'Connor.

A particularly endearing creation by Douglas was the madcap character called Alf Ippititimus. Alf came into being at Butlins holiday camp at Clacton, when Douglas was on stage and expecting his partner, Joe Baker, to come on dressed as a little boy. When he did not appear Douglas started to improvise by imitating a band leader he knew who had a twitch. So was born Alf, an accident-prone character straight from the music halls, who knocked over everything in sight and gleefully screamed "phwaay" as yet another fruit salad hit the deck.

Douglas developed the character into a loveable clown who made popular cameo appearances in various stage and television shows. The twitching got more manic over the years and every move resulted in some fresh disaster: Douglas, innocent of all the pandemonium, dressed in flat cap, wire-rimmed spectacles and workman's overalls, would then repeat his catchphrase with renewed vigour.

Jack Douglas (born Jack Robertson) was the son of an impresario who produced shows in the north of England. During the war, he served first as a Bevin boy, working in the coal mines, but he also trained as a stage manager and director. At the end of the war, Douglas entertained the forces in Germany. As a lad his father instructed Douglas – aged 15 – to direct a pantomime at the Empire Theatre in Sunderland which he did with apparent ease. By the early Fifties, Douglas had built a good career as a stand up comedian in the clubs and pubs and had formed a popular double act with Baker, getting bookings at all the number one dates. Douglas played the straight man and the two went on to play the first nine months on BBC's hugely successful children's afternoon show Crackerjack, hosted by Eamon Andrews. Douglas and Baker then toured with Howard Keel before joining Cliff Richard for a Palladium pantomime.

When Baker left for Hollywood, Douglas was booked to act as the stooge for Forsythe and Benny Hill and then with Des O'Connor. O'Connor and Douglas were top-of-the-bill artists at pantomimes, summer seasons and numerous television shows before doing impressive performances on the Royal Command Variety Show in 1969 and an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in the Unites States.

In the early Seventies, their partnership was slowly dissolving and, in 1972, Douglas met the producers of the Carry On films. They offered him cameo roles in various films (Carry On Matron was Douglas's first) and he often played his Alf character, causing the usual chaos.

Other films (Carry On England, Carry On Girls) followed but the less than successful Carry On Emmanuelle (1978) put a halt to the annual Carry On conveyor belt. But Douglas was, by then, an integral part of the team and he appeared in the stage version (Carry On Laughing) which toured in the late Seventies.

In parallel to this but he was being offered other television work such as The Goodies and was a regular on the quick-fire comedy show Joker's Wild.

Douglas was cast in the final Carry On (also less than successful) Carry On Columbus in 1992.

Douglas played a dour and rather sad villager called Jake in The Shillingbury Blowers and in the spin-off series Cluffy which introduced Bernard Cribbins as a loveable but irascible tinker. In 1983, he appeared in the film The Boys in Blue which starred the comedy duo Cannon and Ball as policemen.

He did accept some stage work – the tour of Alan Bennett's Habeas Corpus, for example, and then Sir Cameron Mackintosh asked him first to play Long John Silver in a musical version of Treasure Island and then Fagin in Oliver!.

Both of Douglas's marriages ended in divorce. He leaves his partner, Vivien Howell, an actress with whom he regularly appeared in pantomime, as well as a son and daughter from his first marriage.

ALASDAIR STEVEN