Graham Stark


Graham William Stark was an English comedian, actor, writer and director, known for his close, personal friendship with Peter Sellers, appearance in several of The Pink Panther films and Victor/Victoria.

Early life

The son of a purser on transatlantic liners, Stark was born in New Brighton in Wirral, Cheshire, England. He attended Wallasey Grammar School and made his professional stage debut aged 13 in pantomime at the Lyceum Theatre in London.
During the Second World War he served in the RAF entertaining troops in North Africa, Burma, Italy and Germany. While there he first met Dick Emery, Tony Hancock and Peter Sellers, the latter two as fellow members of Ralph Reader's Gang Shows. Sellers would become a long-lasting close friend. With the Gang Shows, Stark toured the locations where military personnel were seeing active service. After the war he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and joined the regulars at Grafton's, a pub in Victoria run by Jimmy Grafton, a venue at which soon-to-be-prominent entertainers of the next few decades regularly gathered.

Career

Stark began to work on BBC Radio in the postwar years, helped by Tony Hancock's connections, making his debut in Happy Go Lucky and going on to Ray's a Laugh, thanks to the intervention of Sellers. For a time, Stark was a regular in Educating Archie, and substituted for Spike Milligan on The Goon Show when the comedian was ill. Stark was a regular supporting player on TV with Sellers in A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred, and with Benny Hill. Stark's profile was sufficient for him to gain his own, albeit short-lived, sketch series, The Graham Stark Show. Now entirely lost, it was scripted by Johnny Speight with each episode featuring a different group of supporting actors, including Deryck Guyler, Arthur Mullard, Derek Nimmo, Patricia Hayes and Warren Mitchell. An episode of Till Death Us Do Part, called "In Sickness and in Health", 1967, where Stark plays decrepit Dr. Kelly, survives. In 1970 Stark was given his own radio sketch show, entitled Stark Raving. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and consisted of a single series of six episodes.
Adept at comic French accents, Stark stole scenes as a hapless gendarme in Hammer's 1961 comedy A Weekend with Lulu. He became a regular performer in the Pink Panther film series. His first role in the series was as Hercule Lajoy, Inspector Clouseau's stonefaced assistant, in A Shot in the Dark. Along with Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk, he appeared in more Pink Panther films than any other actor, playing a variety of characters, including reprising Lajoy in Trail of the Pink Panther and twice playing Dr Auguste Balls. He was cast as the hotel clerk in the "Does your dog bite" scene in The Pink Panther Strikes Again. Stark, as well as Lom and Kwouk, each appeared in seven titles from the series.
In the film Alfie, Stark was Humphrey, a timid bus conductor who takes on a woman and her child when the title character refuses commitment. He also played the role of Lord Fortnum's physician, Captain Pontius Kak, in the original stage play of The Bedsitting Room, which opened at the Mermaid Theatre on 31 January 1963.
Following the sudden death of James Beck in 1973, Stark took over the role of Private Joe Walker for the remainder of episodes in the first series of the radio adaptation of Dad's Army.
In 1982, Stark appeared in a cameo role as a butler, alongside Dandy Nichols, in the music video for Adam Ant's UK No. 1 hit "Goody Two Shoes". He played the character of Mr Nadget in the 1994 BBC adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit.

Personal life

In 1959 he married Audrey Nicholson, who survived him with their two sons and a daughter. Peter Sellers was their godfather. Christiane Kubrick is their godmother. Stark was also an accomplished stills photographer. He was the last known performer to have appeared on The Goon Show during its original run. In 2003 he published an autobiography, Stark Naked. He associated with people such as Blake Edwards, Julie Andrews, Yul Brynner, Julie Christie, Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Poitier, Jack Palance, Kim Basinger, Sean Connery, Tony Curtis, and Ringo Starr.
He died in London on 29 October 2013 at age 91, after suffering a stroke.

Filmography as actor

  • The Spy in Black as Bell Boy
  • Ça c'est du cinéma
  • Emergency Call as Posh Charlie
  • Down Among the Z Men as Spider
  • Forces' Sweetheart as Simmonds
  • Flannelfoot as Ginger
  • The Super Secret Service as Carstairs
  • Johnny on the Spot as Stevie
  • The Sea Shall Not Have Them as Corporal
  • One Good Turn as Boxing Competitor
  • They Never Learn as Plum
  • The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film
  • Inn for Trouble as Charlie
  • Sink the Bismarck! as Petty Officer Williams
  • The Millionairess as Butler
  • A Weekend with Lulu as Chiron
  • Double Bunk as Flowerman
  • Dentist on the Job as Sourfaced Man
  • Watch It, Sailor! as Carnoustie Bligh
  • On the Fiddle as Sgt. Ellis
  • Only Two Can Play as Hyman
  • Operation Snatch as Soldier
  • A Pair of Briefs as Police Witness
  • Village of Daughters as Postman
  • She'll Have to Go as Arnold
  • The Wrong Arm of the Law as Sid Cooper
  • The Mouse on the Moon as Standard Bearer
  • Lancelot and Guinevere as Rian
  • Strictly for the Birds as Hartley
  • Ladies Who Do as Foreman
  • Becket as Pope's Secretary
  • A Shot in the Dark as Hercule Lajoy
  • Guns at Batasi as Sgt. 'Dodger' Brown
  • Go Kart Go as Policeman
  • Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines as Fireman
  • San Ferry Ann as Gendarme
  • You Must Be Joking! as McGregor's friend
  • Runaway Railway as Grample
  • Alfie as Humphrey
  • The Wrong Box as Ian Scott Fife
  • Finders Keepers as Burke
  • Casino Royale as Cashier
  • Rocket to the Moon as Grundle
  • The Plank as Amorous Van Driver
  • A Ghost of a Chance as Thomas Dogood
  • Salt and Pepper as Sgt. Walters
  • The Picasso Summer as Postman
  • The Magic Christian as Waiter
  • Rhubarb as Golf Pro. Rhubarb
  • Start the Revolution Without Me as Andre Coupe
  • Doctor in Trouble as Satterjee
  • Scramble
  • Simon, Simon as 1st Workman
  • The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins as Guest Appearance
  • Hide and Seek as Milkman
  • A Day at the Beach as Pipi
  • Not Now, Darling as Painter
  • Secrets of a Door-to-Door Salesman as Charlie Vincent
  • Where's Johnny? as Professor Graham
  • The Return of the Pink Panther as Pepi
  • I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight as Hotel M.C.
  • Pure as a Lily as Detective Mike
  • The Pink Panther Strikes Again as Hotel Clerk
  • Gulliver's Travels
  • Hardcore as Inspector Flaubert
  • The Prince and the Pauper as Jester
  • Let's Get Laid as Inspector Nugent
  • What's Up Nurse! as Carthew
  • Revenge of the Pink Panther as Professor Auguste Balls
  • The Prisoner of Zenda as Erik
  • Le Pétomane as Defence Counsel
  • There Goes the Bride as Bernardo Rossi, Headwaiter
  • The Sea Wolves as Manners
  • Hawk the Slayer as Sparrow
  • Victor/Victoria as Waiter
  • Trail of the Pink Panther as Hercule Lajoy
  • Superman III as Blind Man
  • Curse of the Pink Panther as Bored Waiter
  • Bloodbath at the House of Death as Blind Man
  • Blind Date as Jordan the Butler
  • Jane and the Lost City as Tombs
  • Son of the Pink Panther as Professor Auguste Balls
  • The Incredible Adventures of Marco Polo as Old King