Derek Royle

Derek Royle (7 September 1928 – 23 January 1990) was a British actor born in London, England. His face was probably better known than his name to British viewers, but he acted in films and TV from the mid-1960s until his death. He had a supporting role in the Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour in 1967, as well as a minor one with Cilla Black in the film Work Is a Four-Letter Word a year later. Most of his film appearances were in comedy films such as Don't Just Lie There, Say Something! (1973), Tiffany Jones (1973) and Confessions of a Sex Maniac (1974).

He appeared in a children's TV comedy series, Hogg's Back (1975) as Doctor Hogg, an eccentric general practitioner (GP); in 2016 this series has appeared on Talking Pictures TV. Royle acted with Wendy Richard and Pat Coombs over two series. (Hog's Back is an area in Surrey in Britain.) Royle played an unfortunate guest in a Fawlty Towers episode, "The Kipper and the Corpse", wherein he played the eponymous corpse. He also was the first actor to portray Monsieur Ernest LeClerc in the sixth series of 'Allo 'Allo!, and had a supporting role in a remake of Indiscreet (1988) and a new BBC version of a Lord Peter Wimsey story. As a stage actor he was a mainstay of Brian Rix's Whitehall farces company. He specialised in absent minded characters and used his acrobatic skills to fall down stairs and immediately get up again as if nothing had happened.

He died from cancer aged 61. His daughters Amanda and Carol Royle became actresses.