Arthur Lowe(1915-1982)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Lowe, rotund and professionally indefatigable, rightly gained acclaim
as an accomplished comedy character actor; fondly remembered as the
irascible "Captain Mainwaring" in the Home Guard comedy series Dad's Army (1968-1977), and as
Coronation Street (1960)'s
"Leonard Swindley". The only child of a Derbyshire railworker, Lowe gained
valuable experience by organising shows for a British army field
entertainment unit, in the Middle East, during World War Two, before
commencing his professional acting career, at the age of 30, in 1945,
upon joining the "Manchester Repertory Theatre Company".
In between endless tours for repertory and in major stage performances,
Lowe utilised his character actor status - which writers identify as
being aided by his bald head - in bit-parts for films including: the
inspired "Ealing" black comedy
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
and The Green Man (1956). Later,
whilst gathering fame - with the reputedly observational realist soap
opera
Coronation Street (1960) -
he cemented a professional relationship with maverick film director
Lindsay Anderson; using
left-wing sensibilities for some of his films: including
If.... (1968) and several characters in
the avant-garde O Lucky Man! (1973)
(the latter earning Lowe an SFTA Award, for best supporting
performance).
As his son, and biographer,
Stephen Lowe, intimated, finances
governed and perpetuated his career, in the final stages of his life,
in the 1970s; appearing in over 100, and possibly very lucrative,
television advertisements and, not surprisingly, a surfeit of comedies including the sit-com Potter (1979)
(1979-1983), the ribald film
No Sex Please - We're British (1973)
and to rave reviews for his stage performance as "Stephano", in "The
Tempest" (1974), at the "National Theatre". Although Lowe received
excellent notices for straight roles and appearances in plays such as
John Osborne's "Inadmissible
Evidence" (1963) at the "Royal Court",
Dad's Army (1968) assured Lowe
enduring appeal, as his character acting skills seamlessly compliment
the show's comfortable sit-com structure.
as an accomplished comedy character actor; fondly remembered as the
irascible "Captain Mainwaring" in the Home Guard comedy series Dad's Army (1968-1977), and as
Coronation Street (1960)'s
"Leonard Swindley". The only child of a Derbyshire railworker, Lowe gained
valuable experience by organising shows for a British army field
entertainment unit, in the Middle East, during World War Two, before
commencing his professional acting career, at the age of 30, in 1945,
upon joining the "Manchester Repertory Theatre Company".
In between endless tours for repertory and in major stage performances,
Lowe utilised his character actor status - which writers identify as
being aided by his bald head - in bit-parts for films including: the
inspired "Ealing" black comedy
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
and The Green Man (1956). Later,
whilst gathering fame - with the reputedly observational realist soap
opera
Coronation Street (1960) -
he cemented a professional relationship with maverick film director
Lindsay Anderson; using
left-wing sensibilities for some of his films: including
If.... (1968) and several characters in
the avant-garde O Lucky Man! (1973)
(the latter earning Lowe an SFTA Award, for best supporting
performance).
As his son, and biographer,
Stephen Lowe, intimated, finances
governed and perpetuated his career, in the final stages of his life,
in the 1970s; appearing in over 100, and possibly very lucrative,
television advertisements and, not surprisingly, a surfeit of comedies including the sit-com Potter (1979)
(1979-1983), the ribald film
No Sex Please - We're British (1973)
and to rave reviews for his stage performance as "Stephano", in "The
Tempest" (1974), at the "National Theatre". Although Lowe received
excellent notices for straight roles and appearances in plays such as
John Osborne's "Inadmissible
Evidence" (1963) at the "Royal Court",
Dad's Army (1968) assured Lowe
enduring appeal, as his character acting skills seamlessly compliment
the show's comfortable sit-com structure.