Maurice Browning


Maurice Browning was a British television actor.

Early life

He studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, obtaining his teaching diploma. Working in repertory from 1937, he produced for amateurs before taking up the stage professionally, beginning acting the following year.
While serving as a rifleman in the army during the Second World War in Egypt, Browning awoke one morning to discover that he was completely paralysed by polio. As a result, he spent two years in hospital, stricken with infantile paralysis. Despite making a recovery, it left him with a limp.

Career

On being invalidated out of the army, Browning worked as a commercial artist before returning to his stage career. He was "discovered" by Emlyn Williams, who cast him in a role in his production of Spring 1600, in turn becoming his protégé.
In 1946, Browning joined the Leicester Repertory Company, drawing cartoons of himself and his colleagues every week in articles for the Leicester Chronicle. After that, he was designing sets at the Guildford Theatre before becoming producer of Huddersfield Repertory Company in 1952. Around 1955, he became a resident chairman of the Players' Theatre.
He appeared in many series, including The Avengers, The Saint, The Champions and Doctor Who. His film credits included roles in The Last Days of Dolwyn, The Party's Over, Where the Bullets Fly and The Assassination Bureau.
Browning also made an adaptation of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado that was filmed in 1963 as The Cool Mikado, and supplied the libretto for Twenty Minutes South and The Bright Arcade.

Personal life

While based at the Players' Theatre in the mid-1950s, Browning also worked as a waiter for caterer Bruce Copp and personal secretary to actress Hattie Jacques. During this time, he was confined to a wheelchair but was supported by the pair: the actress continuing to pay and find accommodation for him and the latter taking him on holiday to Corfu.

Filmography