Derek Robert Nimmo was born in the Mossley Hill area of Liverpool on the 19th of September 1930 and lived at at 20 Craigmore Road, Mossley Hill. He was educated at Booker Avenue Infants and Junior School as well as Quarry Bank High School, years before John Lennon attended it. On leaving school he followed his father into the insurance business. "You just have to prove yourself to your father," he said later. "So I went into his business and passed all my exams. Then I was free to be myself." As a result, after doing National Service in Intelligence in Cyprus, he worked as a salesman for a paint company at 12 pounds a week. Derek sang in St Barnabus church choir, as did Paul McCartney, and while running a Saturday-night dance in St Barnabus church hall in Penny Lane, Derek met his wife-to-be, Patricia Brown, when she tried to sell him tickets for an amateur play. "We had our first date in the shelter mentioned in the song ('Penny Lane')," he recalled. He had excelled at Drama in school and Patricia introduced him to a local theatre group, where he was spotted by a repertory company.
In 1952, he left his day job and turned professional as an actor, making his debut as Ensign Blades in 'Quality Street' at the Hippodrome Theatre in Bolton, Lancashire for just 4 pounds a week, Work in repertory theatre followed, with companies in Nottingham, Oldham, Crewe, Worcester, Clacton-on-Sea, Rotherham and New Brighton. On moving to London, he filled the time between occasional acting jobs by working at the Grade Organisation as assistant to Lew Grade, who was then simply a show-business agent, becoming road manager for the American singer Al Martino and working as a publicist for pop groups and pantomime producers. He also formed an agency that ran jazz concerts across the country, performed in a rollerskating act with his wife, and worked with the ventriloquist Peter Brough (of 'Educating Archie' fame) and as straight man to the comedian Arthur Haynes. During this time, Derek, his wife and their first child, Timothy, lived and moved around in a caravan pulled by an old Buick.
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| Derek with his sister Valerie at home |
Stage success finally came when he made his West End debut by taking over the role of Gaston in 'Waltz of the Toreadors', at the Criterion Theatre in 1957. This began a long run on the London stage, including appearances in 'Duel of Angels' (Apollo, 1958), 'How Say You?' (Aldwych, 1959), 'The Amorous Prawn' (Saville, 1959), 'The Irregular Verb to Love' (Criterion, 1961), 'See How They Run' (Vaudeville, 1964, and Shaftesbury, 1984), 'Charlie Girl' (Adelphi, 1965-71). In its entire run of more than 2,000 performances it brought him to the public's attention, during which time he made a cameo appearance in 'The Beatles' first film ' A Hard Day's Night' (in which he appeared as 'Leslie Jackson', a magician with doves). Further work followed with 'Babes in the Wood' (Palladium, 1972), 'Why Not Stay for Breakfast?' (Apollo, 1973-55), 'Same Time, Next Year' (Prince of Wales, 1978), 'A Friend Indeed' (Shaftesbury, 1984) and 'The Cabinet Minister ' (Albery, 1991-92).
Derek was an unlikely star, with a stutter endured since childhood, and an upper class air. Yet it was these very factors which made him one of the great comic character actors and a natural for early television sitcoms. It was obvious early on that he had a talent for comedy. He exaggerated his gangly physique and his stammer, to play comic authority figures. Although he acted in more than 20 films, most notably 'The Amorous Prawn' (1962, based on the stage farce), the Peter Sellers comedy 'Heavens Above!' (1963), made by the Boulting Brothers, and the James Bond spoof 'Casino Royale' (1967), his talents were never appreciated on the big screen.
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| In All Gas and Gaiters |
It was on TV that he made his name in the 1960's television adaptation of P G Wodehouse's
Bertie Wooster and Blandings Castle novels and was particularly
successful in his role as the Rev Mervyn Noote in the television comedy
series 'All Gas and Gaiters' (1966-71). He also played a monk in 'Oh
Brother!' (1968-70), a Roman Catholic priest in 'Oh Father!' (1973) and
an Anglican dean in 'Hell's Bells' (1986). His natural monkish air
almost landed him in trouble while filming at the Vatican for the BBC
series 'Oh Brother!' in 1969. Dressed as Father Dominic, he was arrested
on the steps of St Peter's Basilica by Vatican police after being seen
with his arm around a mini-skirted girl by a shocked nun whilst posing
for a picture request with an English tourist's daughter. Actress
June Whitfield said of him: "He was always the first one with a friendly
wave and a joke. He was also a very good actor and a very funny man." He eventually became disillusioned with the changing tastes of
television audiences and instead became an impresario, taking his own
productions all over the world with a troupe of star performers. He also
wrote many books about his two passions: theatre and wine and was in
high demand as an excellent after-dinner speaker, winning in 1990, the
Benedictine After Dinner Speaker Of The Year Award.
Checking an external alarm
at home he lost his footing and fell down a stone staircase into the
basement. Suffering head injuries he was taken to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where he remained in a coma until the end of December. While still
recovering in hospital however, he contracted pneumonia and
died on the 24th of February 1999 aged 68.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/09/a-histroy-of-liverpool-thespians-david.html
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