Julian Orchard Explained

Julian Orchard
Birth Name:Julian Dean Chavasse Orchard
Birth Date:1930 3, df=yes
Birth Place:Wheatley, Oxfordshire, England
Death Place:Westminster, London, England
Education:Shrewsbury School
Alma Mater:Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Occupation:Comedy actor
Spouse:Susan B. Cartwright

Julian Dean Chavasse Orchard (3 March 1930, in Wheatley, Oxfordshire[1] – 21 June 1979, in Westminster, London)[2] was an English comedy actor. He appeared in four Carry On films: Don't Lose Your Head (1966), Follow That Camel (1967), Carry On Doctor (1967), and Carry On Henry (1971).

Career

Orchard was educated at Shrewsbury School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He appeared as the flamboyant Duke of Montague, a cousin of Prince Edward, in the Cinderella film, The Slipper and the Rose (1976). He had a regular slot on Spike Milligan's The World of Beachcomber, a TV version of the "Beachcomber" pieces by J. B. Morton, appearing as the poet Roland Milk. His customary role was that of a gangling and effete – and sometimes effeminate – dandy.

He played Snodgrass in the TV musical Pickwick for the BBC in 1969, and appeared in several of the comedy Carry On films and the sex comedy Adventures of a Private Eye (1977).[3]

He appeared on BBC television as the "Minister for the Arts" in the episode of The Goodies entitled "Culture for the Masses"; and as one of the "mechanicals" in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

He played teacher Mr Oliver Pettigrew in the TV series Whack-O! in 1971 (the role having been created by Arthur Howard in 1956–60).

He played Cornelius Button in the 1971 London Weekend Television children's serial Grasshopper Island as an eccentric grasshopper expert who had lived on Grasshopper Island for many years.

Theatre

He played the chamberlain Count Oscar "comically eloquent in every inch of his towering, supple figure" in the Sadler's Wells Opera production of Offenbach's Barbe-bleue (Blue-beard) in 1966.[4] For the 1971 Christmas season Orchard starred, with Terry Scott, as an Ugly Sister, in the London Palladium's production of Cinderella; and the following year he again played the Dame, the nurse, in the London Palladium's pantomime, Babes in the Wood.

In 1974 he became a member of the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, appearing in Peter Hall's debut production, The Tempest where he and Arthur Lowe played the comedy duo of Stephano and Trinculo to John Gielgud's Prospero.

Death

Orchard died in hospital in Westminster, London, on 21 June 1979, following a short illness.[5] [6]

Filmography

Notes and References

  1. GRO Register of Births: JUN 1930 3a 1825 HEADINGTON – Julian D. C. Orchard, mmn = Chavasse
  2. GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 1979 15 1935 WESTMINSTER – Julian Dean C. Orchard, DoB = 3 March 1930
  3. Web site: Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute.
  4. [Arthur Jacobs|Jacobs, Arthur]
  5. Web site: in the 70s, Obituaries of the Seventies, 1979. www.inthe70s.com.
  6. Web site: Julian Orchard | Actor, Soundtrack. IMDb.