Paul Eddington
Paul Eddington
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Paul Clark Eddington, CBE (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor who appeared in the television sitcoms The Good Life and Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister.
Eddington was born in St John's Wood in London to Albert Clark Eddington and Frances Mary (née Roberts).[1] The family were Quakers, and Eddington was brought up by his parents with strict family values. He attended Sibford School, Sibford Ferris, Oxfordshire. In 1952, he married Patricia (née Scott).
Paul Eddington
| |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 18 June 1927
St John's Wood, London, England
|
| Died | 4 November 1995 (aged 68) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1940s–1995 |
| Spouse(s) |
Patricia Scott
(m. 1952, his death) |
| Children | 4 |
Contents
Early life
Career
Having registered as a conscientious objector, Eddington began his acting career as a teenager with Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) during the Second World War.[2] He worked for a repertory theatre company in Sheffield and made his first TV appearance in 1956 as a regular cast member of The Adventures of Robin Hood. Initially he played minor characters, but in the fourth season (1959–60), he played Will Scarlet. He had roles in episodes of The Avengers (1963), The Prisoner (1967) and the final episode of The Champions (1969). He also had a supporting role in Hammer Films' The Devil Rides Out (1968), an episode of Van der Valk in 1972, and appeared as a "straight man" (substituting for regular stooge Henry McGee) in a 1976 episode of The Benny Hill Show. He also appeared in most episodes of the ATV/ITC series Hine in 1971. In this he played Astor Harris, a member of an arms-dealing firm named Pendles. Eddington appeared as civil servant Strand in the later series of Special Branch (Euston Films, 1973).Rise to fame
Although he was an actor all his adult life, it was not until Eddington was in his late forties that he became a household name. He appeared in a single episode of Get Some In which was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey who also wrote The Good Life, first screened by the BBC in 1975[2] which shot Eddington to fame. The sitcom focuses on a suburban couple who decide to give up work and become self-sufficient in their suburban garden. Eddington was cast as Jerry Leadbetter, a neighbour of the main characters, and Penelope Keith played his wife, Margo. Originally intended as bit parts, the Leadbetters quickly became essential foils for the two stars.Eddington's fame grew further when he played the title role of Jim Hacker in the comedy series Yes Minister (first screened in 1980) and Yes, Prime Minister (1986–88) – said to have been Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's favourite TV programme. He was shortlisted four times for the BAFTA award for Best Light Entertainment Performance for the series, but he lost out to his co-star Nigel Hawthorne on each occasion.
During 1987 Eddington appeared as Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore in Australia.[3] His last roles included Guy Wheeler, a corrupt property developer in the Minder episode The Wrong Goodbye (1989); as Richard Cuthbertson alongside Good Life co-star Felicity Kendal in the TV dramatisation of The Camomile Lawn (1992); the voice of Badger in The Adventures of Mole and Justice Shallow in Henry IV (1995); a BBC adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2.[4] He was reunited with another Good Life co-star Richard Briers in a run of the play Home in 1994.[5]
Eddington read extracts from Sir Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples for the award-winning BBC Radio series This Sceptred Isle, however he died midway through the production and was succeeded by Peter Jeffrey.
Awards and honours
Eddington was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1987 New Year Honours.[2][6]Final years and death
Eddington's autobiography, So Far, So Good, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1995. On 30 October 1995, five days before Eddington's death, the BBC aired an edition of Face to Face in which he discussed his life, career and battle with lymphoma.[7] On that show he was asked how he would like to be remembered:A journalist once asked me what I would like my epitaph to be and I said I think I would like it to be, 'He did very little harm'. And that's not easy. Most people seem to me to do a great deal of harm. If I could be remembered as having done very little, that would suit me.Eddington had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, known as mycosis fungoides, when he was 28. The ailment was to cause his death eventually, but in the intervening four decades, Eddington and his immediate family kept his condition private. It only became public knowledge in 1994, when Eddington responded to press speculation about his darkening skin and hair loss.[5]
— Paul Eddington, Face to Face
Eddington died in Southwark, London, on 4 November 1995.[8] He and Patricia, his wife of 43 years, had three sons and one daughter.[9]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Secret of the Forest | Museum tour leader | |
| 1956 | Sailor Beware! | Bearded Sailor | Uncredited |
| 1959 | Jet Storm | Victor Tracer | |
| 1959 | Desert Mice | Army Officer | Uncredited |
| 1960 | The Man Who Was Nobody | Franz Reuter | |
| 1964 | Ring of Spies | Johnnie | Uncredited |
| 1968 | The Devil Rides Out | Richard Eaton | |
| 1972 | The Amazing Mr Blunden | Vicar | |
| 1973 | Baxter! | Mr. Rawling | |
| 1974 | Fall of Eagles | George Plekhanov | TV Mini-Series, 1 episode |
References
Further reading
- Eddington, Paul (March 1996). So Far, So Good: The Autobiography. Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 978-0-340-63837-8.
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