A History Of Liverpool Thespians - Norman Rossington

 

 

Norman Rossington was born in Liverpool on the 24th of December 1928, the son of Arthur, a publican. His home was The Railway Inn at 78 Wellington Road L15 and he was educated at Sefton Park Elementary School and Liverpool Technical College but left education at the age of 14. Working as a messenger and office boy at Liverpool docks he became an apprentice carpenter. Following his National Service in the RAF he went to night school at technical college and studied industrial design to become a draughtsman. It wasn't until he was 19 that he went with a friend, Kenneth Cope, to a church social and took part in a sketch, for a joke. He recalled however taking to it like a duck to water and was invited to join a local drama group. His interest in acting led him to the David Lewis Theatre, a local theatre group where he began his acting career. He then trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and appeared at the Theatre Royal, Bristol, the home of the Bristol Old Vic, where he joined in productions varying from Shakespeare classics to 'Salad Days', his first musical. In 1954, he was appearing as Snout in 'A Midsumer Night's Dream' on an Old Vic American tour, which also took in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Norman's greatest impression would lie in musical theatre, especially in his later career with such spirited roles as Alfred Doolittle in 'My Fair Lady' (1983), as Nathan Detroit in 'Guys and Dolls' (1984), as Charlie Davenport in 'Annie Get Your Gun' (1992), and lastly as Beauty's father in 'Beauty and the Beast' (1997), which made him an endearing favourite in the West End. He enjoyed several lengthy stage runs, and beat his own record of 540 consecutive performances as Nathan Detroit in 'Guys And Dolls' at the National Theatre.

Norman first appeared on screen in a weak adaptation of 'Three Men In A Boat' (1956) and two years later featured in the first Carry On film, 'Carry On Sergeant' (1958). That part was an early example of his small-screen crossover, since he was by then established as Private Cupcake in commercial television's 'The Army Game' (1957-58), the comedy series that was ITV's first comedy smash in the era of two channel television. He left after three series in 1959, but in the meantime had appeared in its big screen spin-off, 'I Only Arsked!' (1958), again as 'Cupcake'. His next major TV role was in 13 episodes of the series 'Our House' (1960) alongside Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey. His TV career saw him in many productions including 3 episodes of the 'BBC Sunday-Night Play' (1963), 6 episodes of the series 'The Big Noise' (1964) and 2 episodes of 'Not Only...But Also' (1965). After appearing in the full series of Johnny Speight's 'Curry & Chips' (1969) alongside Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes and Kenny Lynch, from the 1970s onwards he mainly appeared on television, including roles in 4 episodes of 'The Roads To Freedom' (1970), 6 episodes of 'Armchair Theatre' (1971), 6 episodes of 'Casanova' (1971), 4 episodes of 'Crown Court' (1973-74), 6 episodes of 'Follow That Dog' (1974), 4 episodes of 'Z-cars' ( 1963-1977), 6 episodes of 'Spooner's Patch' (1979), the title role of Big Jim in 'Big Jim and the Figaro Club' (1979-81) and in 4 episodes of 'The Beat Goes On' (1996). He also told the stories from 'The Adventures of Portland Bill' (1983-86). Incidentally, Norman was a huge admirer of John Lennon's work and was so inspired by his music that he often said that it changed his life.

Filming 'Not Only...But Also' on Wimbledon Common 20th of November 1964

 

Though he never attained outright stardom, he became a reliable, familiar face on the big screen also, with minor roles in epic British and U.S. films. Following his appearance in 'Carry on Sergeant', he appeared in 'Carry On Nurse (1959) and 'Carry On Regardless' (1961). He also played notable serious roles in 'Saint Joan' (1957) and the classic 1960 British 'New Wave' film, 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' (1960), playing alongside Albert Finney in his first starring role. In 1958 he acted in the first of two Titanic films, 'A Night to Remember', as a steward unable to communicate with non-English speaking passengers and then in 1979 as the Sergeant-at-Arms in 'S.O.S. Titanic'.

In the 1960 classic Saturday Night and Sunday Morning playing alongside Albert Finney

Other noteable big screen appearances were as the uncredited role of Corporal Jenkins in 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962), as Private Clough in 'The Longest Day' (1962), the Beatles' manager Norm in 'A Hard day's Night' (1964) and later in 'Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines' (1965) as Assistant Fire Chief. Then he played Private Alfie Braithwaite in 'Tobruk' (1967), S.M. Corbett in 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' (1968) and two films in 1972, the cult horror film 'Death Line' with Donald Pleasence and as Dewsnap in 'Young Winston', not to mention the equally epic TV mini-series, 'I Claudius' (1976) and 'Masada' (1981). When he appeared in the Elvis presley film 'Double Trouble' (1967) as Arthur Babcock he became the only performer to work in both a Beatles film and an Elvis film. He remembered Presley during filming as a 'quiet man who sat by himself in a corner and who would often borrow my newspaper'.

Norman died from cancer in Manchester on the 29th of May 1999, aged 70 with his last screen appearances having been in Heartbeat (1996), then as Sergeant Horatio Havercamp in 'Sharpe’s Regiment' (1996) and in 'What's a Carry On' (1998), a documentary exploring the popularity and success of the Carry On series.

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