Naunton Wayne(1901-1970)
- Actor
Linked inextricably with actor Basil Radford, Welsh-born character actor
Naunton Wayne, together with Radford, struck such a major chord with
film audiences as an inept, uppercrust pair of cricket-obsessed British
gents, that the two were invariably teamed up time and time again in a
host of "veddy" popular film comedies. The perennial partners would
prove equally popular on radio.
Next to the hearty, mustachioed Radford, the dapper-looking Wayne paled
in size and appeared much tweedier in appearance. Born on June 22,
1901, he was educated at Clifton College in Bristol. A comic
entertainer in Wales for the first eight years of his career, he
arrived in London in 1928 and was utilized as an emcee and quipster in
a number of West End stage productions, concert parties, vaudeville
shows, cabarets and such night clubs as the Ritz, the Dorchester and
Cafe de Paris. He didn't even consider straight acting roles until
1937. The legendary Alfred Hitchcock ignited the team spark after casting both
in his classic mystery The Lady Vanishes (1938). As the characters Charters and
Caldicott traveling by train through Europe, they nearly stole the show
as a pair of cricket twits completely oblivious to the murder and
mayhem happening on board, with victims piling up on the corridor
floors, nefarious Nazis on the prowl and missing passengers nowhere to
be found. Totally irrelevant to the plot, Wayne and Radford provided
marvelously droll relief and their instant rapport, expertly written by
screenwriters Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, did not go unnoticed.
The duo showed up again, courtesy of Gilliat and Launder, in director
Carol Reed's Night Train to Munich (1940) -- same characters, same setting, same Hitchcockian
suspense, same laughs. Radio was a natural diversion as well with
Launder and Gilliat writing a serial for their Charters and Caldicott
characters which they called "Crooks' Tour" in 1940. A same-titled film
with them as the centerpiece was released the following year. They also
popped up together in wartime shorts and co-starred in a second radio
serial, "Secret Mission 609," with their usual bungling somehow foiling
another sinsiter Nazi plot. The film Millions Like Us (1943) also utilized their
popular deadpan characters, and they appeared in cameos together in
The Next of Kin (1942) and the "Golfing Story" segment of the classic thriller
Dead of Night (1945). Launder and Gilliat claimed a copyright on the character names
so when Wayne and Radford turned down roles in the writers' I See a Dark Stranger (1946) due
to their undernourished parts, Wayne and Radford bid adieu to the
characters and returned to radio--together.
Their first appearance in "Double Bedlam" spawned a series of
comedy-thrillers including "Traveller's Joy," "Crime Gentlemen Please,"
"That's My Baby," "Having a Wonderful Crime" and "May I Have the
Treasure." This led back to their co-starring in films. In the vehicle
It's Not Cricket (1949), in which they appeared as the characters Bright and Early,
they played private eyes dogged by yet another Nazi. The climax was
set, of course, during a cricket match. They made cameo appearances in
two other late 1940s comedies Helter Skelter (1949) and Stop Press Girl (1949). While appearing on
their 1952 radio adventure "Rogues' Gallery," Radford, age 55, suffer a
fatal heart attack. Wayne continued the storyline alone.
Wayne appeared rather sparingly thereafter, usually in officious
"perfect Englishman" roles. He filmed his final picture playing Lord
Whitebait in Nothing Barred (1961). His last role was on the TV series John Browne's Body (1969). He
passed away on November 17, 1970 in Surbiton, Surrey,
England.
Naunton Wayne, together with Radford, struck such a major chord with
film audiences as an inept, uppercrust pair of cricket-obsessed British
gents, that the two were invariably teamed up time and time again in a
host of "veddy" popular film comedies. The perennial partners would
prove equally popular on radio.
Next to the hearty, mustachioed Radford, the dapper-looking Wayne paled
in size and appeared much tweedier in appearance. Born on June 22,
1901, he was educated at Clifton College in Bristol. A comic
entertainer in Wales for the first eight years of his career, he
arrived in London in 1928 and was utilized as an emcee and quipster in
a number of West End stage productions, concert parties, vaudeville
shows, cabarets and such night clubs as the Ritz, the Dorchester and
Cafe de Paris. He didn't even consider straight acting roles until
1937. The legendary Alfred Hitchcock ignited the team spark after casting both
in his classic mystery The Lady Vanishes (1938). As the characters Charters and
Caldicott traveling by train through Europe, they nearly stole the show
as a pair of cricket twits completely oblivious to the murder and
mayhem happening on board, with victims piling up on the corridor
floors, nefarious Nazis on the prowl and missing passengers nowhere to
be found. Totally irrelevant to the plot, Wayne and Radford provided
marvelously droll relief and their instant rapport, expertly written by
screenwriters Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, did not go unnoticed.
The duo showed up again, courtesy of Gilliat and Launder, in director
Carol Reed's Night Train to Munich (1940) -- same characters, same setting, same Hitchcockian
suspense, same laughs. Radio was a natural diversion as well with
Launder and Gilliat writing a serial for their Charters and Caldicott
characters which they called "Crooks' Tour" in 1940. A same-titled film
with them as the centerpiece was released the following year. They also
popped up together in wartime shorts and co-starred in a second radio
serial, "Secret Mission 609," with their usual bungling somehow foiling
another sinsiter Nazi plot. The film Millions Like Us (1943) also utilized their
popular deadpan characters, and they appeared in cameos together in
The Next of Kin (1942) and the "Golfing Story" segment of the classic thriller
Dead of Night (1945). Launder and Gilliat claimed a copyright on the character names
so when Wayne and Radford turned down roles in the writers' I See a Dark Stranger (1946) due
to their undernourished parts, Wayne and Radford bid adieu to the
characters and returned to radio--together.
Their first appearance in "Double Bedlam" spawned a series of
comedy-thrillers including "Traveller's Joy," "Crime Gentlemen Please,"
"That's My Baby," "Having a Wonderful Crime" and "May I Have the
Treasure." This led back to their co-starring in films. In the vehicle
It's Not Cricket (1949), in which they appeared as the characters Bright and Early,
they played private eyes dogged by yet another Nazi. The climax was
set, of course, during a cricket match. They made cameo appearances in
two other late 1940s comedies Helter Skelter (1949) and Stop Press Girl (1949). While appearing on
their 1952 radio adventure "Rogues' Gallery," Radford, age 55, suffer a
fatal heart attack. Wayne continued the storyline alone.
Wayne appeared rather sparingly thereafter, usually in officious
"perfect Englishman" roles. He filmed his final picture playing Lord
Whitebait in Nothing Barred (1961). His last role was on the TV series John Browne's Body (1969). He
passed away on November 17, 1970 in Surbiton, Surrey,
England.