Derek Royle


Derek Royle was a British actor born in London, England. He graduated from RADA in 1950. 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. 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.
Most of his film appearances were in comedy films such as Tiffany Jones, Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! and Confessions of a Sex Maniac.

Stage and television roles

He appeared in a children's TV comedy series, Hogg's Back as Doctor Hogg, an eccentric general practitioner ; in 2016 this series has appeared on Talking Pictures TV. Royle acted with Wendy Richard and Pat Coombs over two series. Royle played an unfortunate hotel guest in a Fawlty Towers episode, "The Kipper and the Corpse", wherein he played the eponymous corpse.
He also was the second actor to portray Monsieur Ernest Leclerc in the sixth series of 'Allo 'Allo! following the death of Jack Haig in 1989, and had a supporting role in a remake of Indiscreet and a new BBC version of a Lord Peter Wimsey story.
As a stage actor he was a mainstay of Brian Rix's Whitehall farces company. 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. Theatre critic Michael Coveney called him "simply one of the funniest men on the English stage."

Personal life and death

He was married to make-up artist Jane Royle and their daughters Amanda and Carol Royle became actresses. He died from cancer aged 61.