Leonard Rossiter

Leonard Rossiter - Born 21st October 1926 in Liverpool. He joined Preston Repertory Company in 1953 and made his professional stage debut in The Gay Dog. In 1962 he made his first big screen appearance in 'A Kind of Loving', followed by 'Billy Liar', 'King Rat' and '2001: A Space Odyssey'. His roles as Rigsby in Rising Damp and the title role in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin made him a household name. His Cinzano commercials with Joan Collins were comic masterpieces. Leonard died on October 5th 1984 during a performance of Joe Orton's play Loot at the 'Lyric Theatre' in London.

I loved him in Rising damp and never knew he was from Liverpool :D

He was brilliant. The world of comedy is a poorer place without him.

Leonard Rossiter lived at one time on Greyhound Farm Rd in Speke Liverpool, he lived opposite me, and was a friend of my older brother, he started his acting career in the All Saints Church hall in Speke, this was in the late Forties, he was the person who came over to our house and told us that Tommy Handley the comedian had passed away.

Leonard was raised in the family home above his father's barber shop in Cretan Road, Wavertree, a suburb of the city of Liverpool. After primary school in Granby St., Toxteth, he attended the city's Collegiate Grammar School from 1939 to 1945.

A biography can be found at http://www.leonardrossiter.com/Biography.html

he was a legend :)

And a blue of course, mentioning the great Tommy Lawton in one of the Rising Damp episodes.:)

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Originally Posted by Kev

I loved him in Rising damp and never knew he was from Liverpool :D

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Ditto.

Great actor. I saw him onstage in London in "The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted by George Tabori, an excellent take on the rise of Adolf Hitler.

Chris

One of my grandmothers claim to fame was she was friends with his mother who lived in Speke, and she met him a number of times when he visited his mother.

I was researching a book on Rising Damp a few years back, and got in touch with Christopher Strauli who plays John in the film of the series.

He took Richard Beckinsdale's part pretty much, and Chris told me that Leonard was indeed a comedy genius, but never made any attempt to make him welcome on set.
One day Leonard exclaimed..."It worked before, so if it doesn't work now, we all know who to blame"...

A fantastic actor though all the same!

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Originally Posted by MissInformed

I was researching a book on Rising Damp a few years back, and got in touch with Christopher Strauli who plays John in the film of the series.

He took Richard Beckinsdale's part pretty much, and Chris told me that Leonard was indeed a comedy genius, but never made any attempt to make him welcome on set.
One day Leonard exclaimed..."It worked before, so if it doesn't work now, we all know who to blame"...

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If that was his attitude, then that is totally unprofessional.