Harry Fowler


Henry James Fowler was an English character actor in film and television. Over a career lasting more than six decades, he made nearly 200 appearances on screen.

Personal life

Fowler was born in Lambeth, south London, on 10 December 1926. As a "near illiterate newspaper boy" making eight shillings a week, he told film historian Brian McFarlane, he was invited on to radio to speak about his life in wartime London.
In 1951, Fowler married actress Joan Dowling, who died by suicide in 1954. In 1960, he married Catherine Palmer.
Fowler died on 4 January 2012. He was survived by his wife and had no children.

Career

Fowler's radio interview about his experiences in wartime London led to an invitation to a screen test at Elstree Studios and a film debut as Ern in the 1942 film Those Kids from Town, a propaganda piece about wartime evacuee children from London . His fee was 2 guineas a day - a fortune compared to the 8 shillings a week he had been earning as a newspaper boy up to his audition.
His early juvenile roles included Hue and Cry, usually considered the first of the Ealing comedies. Fowler later married Joan Dowling, one of his co-stars in the Ealing film. Dowling committed suicide in 1954, aged 26.
During the Second World War, he served as an aircraftman in the Royal Air Force and played a cheerful cockney character with the same job in the films Angels One Five, and Conflict of Wings, a portrayal he used in other contexts, often with a humorous slant, especially during his year in The Army Game TV series.
He played Harry Danvers in the clerical comedy Our Man at St. Mark's opposite Donald Sinden and made several appearances on children's television during the 1970s, reading on Jackanory and hosting the series Get This and Going a Bundle with Kenny Lynch. Fowler also made several appearances in the consumer affairs sections of the Eamonn Andrews Show on ABC TV in the late 1960s. He is also noted for having narrated Bob Godfrey Films' Great: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the first British cartoon to win an Academy Award. His familiar voice was regularly used for TV commercials.
In 1975, Fowler took the part of Eric Lee Fung, described as "a Chinese cockney spiv", in The Melting Pot, a sitcom written by Spike Milligan and Neil Shand. The series was cancelled by the BBC after the first episode had been broadcast.
He was awarded an MBE in 1970, as part of Harold Wilson's Resignation Honours.
In his book British Film Character Actors, Terence Pettigrew wrote that Fowler "was as English as suet pudding ... his characters were neither honest nor irretrievably delinquent, merely wise in the ways of the streets, surviving through a combination of wit and stealth. He had a certain arrogance, but there was an appealing vulnerability, too."

Selected filmography

Those Kids from Town – ErnSalute John Citizen – Office Boy Went the Day Well? – Young GeorgeGet Cracking – The Demi-Paradise – Small Boy Bell-Bottom George – Boy on Bicycle Champagne Charlie – 'OraceGive Us the Moon – Bellboy Don't Take It to Heart – Telegraph BoyPainted Boats – His Brother AlfHue and Cry – Joe KirbyTrouble in the Air – A Piece of Cake – Head SpivFor Them That Trespass – Dave, Rosie's friendNow Barabbas – SmithLandfall – RAF Corporal Orderly Dance Hall – Amorous Youth Once a Sinner – Bill JamesTrio – Undetermined Secondary Role She Shall Have Murder – Albert OatesThe Dark Man – 1st ReporterMister Drake's Duck – CorporalScarlet Thread – SamThere Is Another Sun – Young RiderMadame Louise – Trout's ClerkHigh Treason – Street Photographer The Promise The Last Page – Joe13 East Street – I Believe in You – HookerAngels One Five – AirmanThe Pickwick Papers – Sam WellerTop of the Form – AlbertA Day to Remember – Stan HarveyDon't Blame the Stork – Harry FennConflict of Wings – Leading Aircraftman 'Buster'Up to His Neck – SmudgeStock Car – Monty AlbrightThe Blue Peter – Charlie BartonFire Maidens from Outer Space – Sydney StanhopeBehind the Headlines – AlfieHome and Away – Syd JarvisTown on Trial – Leslie West of Suez – TommyBooby Trap – SammyLucky Jim – Cab Driver The Birthday Present – CharlieThe Supreme Secret – BlueySoapbox Derby – Barrow BoyThe Diplomatic Corpse – Knocker ParsonsI Was Monty's Double – Civilian Idol on Parade – RonThe Heart of a Man – RazorThe Dawn Killer – Bert IronDon't Panic Chaps! – AckroydCrooks Anonymous – WoodsFlight from Singapore – Sgt. BrooksThe Longest Day – British Paratrooper Lawrence of Arabia – William Potter Tomorrow at Ten – SmileyLadies Who Do – Drill OperatorSeventy Deadly Pills – Covent Garden porterFather Came Too! Clash by Night – Doug RobertsThe Nanny – MilkmanLife at the Top – Magic Beans ManDoctor in Clover – GraftonSecrets of a Windmill Girl – HarryStart the Revolution Without Me – MarcelCrossed Swords – NipperHigh Rise Donkey – CrookSir Henry at Rawlinson End – Buller BulletheadGeorge and Mildred – FisherFanny Hill – Beggar Body Contact – HerbertChicago Joe and the Showgirl – Morry

Selected TV appearances