Derek Royle

Derek Stanley Royle (2 September 1928 – 23 January 1990) was a British actor. His face was probably better known than his name to British viewers, but he acted in films and TV from the early 1960s until his death.^[1] He had a supporting role in the Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour in 1967, as well as a minor one with Cilla Black in the film Work Is a Four-Letter Word a year later.^[2]

Derek Royle
Born	(1928-09-02)2 September 1928 Reddish, Stockport, England
Died	23 January 1990(1990-01-23) (aged 61) London, England
Years active	1959–1989
Spouse	Jane Short ​ (m. 1953)​
Children	Amanda Royle Carol Royle

Most of his film appearances were in comedy films such as Tiffany Jones (1973), Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! (1974) and Confessions of a Sex Maniac (1974).^[1]

Stage and television roles

He appeared in a children's TV comedy series, Hogg's Back (1975) as Doctor Hogg, an eccentric general practitioner (GP); in 2016, this series appeared on Talking Pictures TV.^[3] Royle acted with Wendy Richard and Pat Coombs over two series.^[4] Hog's Back is a ridge of hills in Surrey.^[5] Royle played the hotel guest who dies in his room in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Kipper and the Corpse".^[6] He also was the first actor to portray Monsieur Ernest Leclerc in the sixth series of 'Allo 'Allo! (replacing Jack Haig, who had portrayed Ernest's brother Roger),^[7] and had a supporting role in a remake of Indiscreet (1988) and a new BBC version of a Lord Peter Wimsey story.^[8][9] As a stage actor he was a mainstay of Brian Rix's Whitehall farces company.^[10] He specialised in absent minded characters and used his acrobatic skills to fall down stairs and immediately get up again as if nothing had happened.^[11] Theatre critic Michael Coveney called him "simply one of the funniest men on the English stage".^[12]

Personal life and death

Derek Stanley Royle was born in Reddish on 7 September 1928, and graduated from RADA in 1950.^[13][14][15] He was married to make-up artist Jane Royle (née Short) and their daughters Amanda and Carol Royle became actresses.^[12]

Royle died from cancer at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London on 23 January 1990, aged 61.^[16]