Richard Cameron Wattis was born in a Wednesbury in Staffordshire in 1912 and moved to Walsall in 1916. Here he became involved in local repertory theatre work, where he acquired his love of acting. In 1934, after writing twice to his acting hero Robert Donat, he was introduced to the Croydon Repertory Theatre to train as a thespian. It was run by the famous theatrical agent and entrepreneur JB Somerville, who soon took Richard under his wing. Coincidentally, John le Mesurier, who also went on to appear in ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’, trained at the same time as Richard at Croydon Rep.
When he had finished his training in 1937, JB Somerville moved Richard around the various theatre reps to gain experience. By 1938, Richard starred in his first film called ‘Yanks at Oxford’, which ironically was first screened at his home cinema, The Gaumont in Walsall, in 1939. The film also starred Vivien Leigh and Jon Pertwee amongst others.
In 1939 Richard joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and remained with them until the war ended. His brother Tony was sadly killed in the conflict, fighting Japanese forces.
After WW2 Richard moved quite quickly into the new theatre, film and TV genre of the day, and his first main role was in Christopher Fry's ‘Ring Round the Moon’ at The Globe Theatre in 1951. In the 1950's, Richard also went on to star in the St Trinian films as the bumbling civil servant called Manson Bassett. He also starred in ‘Hobson’s Choice’ with Sir John Mills and Prunella Scales; the Ealing Comedy ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ with Sir Alec Guinness; appeared in Norman Wisdom films; and following on from his appearance on stage in ‘The Sleeping Princess’ in 1955, was chosen by Laurence Olivier to star in the film version of the play, ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’, in 1956.
Richard became a popular sitcom guest in the 1960's/1970's, starring alongside Eric Sykes, Derek Guiller and Hattie Jacques in ‘Sykes’, where he played the nosey neighbour Charles Brown, and also ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’, for example appearing in ‘The Alpine Holiday’ as the hotel manager.
Richard also appeared in ‘Father Dear Father’; ‘The Dora Bryan Show’; and ‘Call My Bluff’, and was also involved in ‘The Avengers’; ‘Danger Man’ and ‘The Prisoner’, all popular TV series of their day.
Richard used to make regular visits back to the Midlands to see his parents but once they had both died in the 1950's and 1960's his visits to the Midlands eventually ceased. He lived at various addresses in London after he left the army in 1945, but settled in Codogan Square, Pimlico. He was a very social man and was always entertaining somebody or some party in his flat, and his favourite tipple was claret or whisky. He was also a great gourmet and ate out a lot, as well as enjoying to cook in his flat. He sadly died in a Kensington restaurant in 1975 aged 63 years, in the middle of his favourite meal and claret.
The above biography is drawn from material sent in by Ian Payne, who is working on a book about Richard Wattis. If anyone has any memories of Richard, or tributes for him, please contact Ian on: elandimpayne@uwclub.net
Portrait of Richard Wattis courtesy of Gary Morgan [2004] (garymorgan@blueyonder.co.uk).
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