Maurice Browning

Maurice Browning
Born
Maurice Allen Albert Browning

(1919-05-11)11 May 1919
West Ham, London, England
Died4 December 1983(1983-12-04) (aged 64)
Denville Hall, Northwood, London, England
OccupationActor
Years active1949–1974

Maurice Browning (11 May 1919 – 4 December 1983) was a British television actor.

Early life

He studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, obtaining his teaching diploma.[1] Working in repertory from 1937,[2][3] he produced for amateurs[1] before taking up the stage professionally, beginning acting the following year.[4]

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[5] (spending some time in an iron lung[6]). Despite making a recovery, it left him with a limp.[2][3][4][7]

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.[1][2][3][8]

In 1946, Browning joined the Leicester Repertory Company,[9] drawing cartoons of himself and his colleagues every week in articles for the Leicester Chronicle.[1] After that, he was designing sets at the Guildford Theatre[10] before becoming producer of Huddersfield Repertory Company in 1952.[2][3] Around 1955, he became a resident chairman of the Players' Theatre.[4]

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 (1949), The Party's Over (1965), Where the Bullets Fly (1966) and The Assassination Bureau (1969).

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[11] 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 unable to walk 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.[6][12]

Filmography

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Actor Cartoonist". Leicester Chronicle. 29 June 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d "Guest Artists To Be Feature Of New Season". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 24 January 1952. p. 4. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d "New Producer for Theatre". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 26 January 1952. p. 8. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  4. ^ a b c "The Eighth Wonder". Liverpool Echo. 5 February 1965. p. 2. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  5. ^ "Off the Cuff". Sunday Mirror. 3 October 1948. p. 9. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  6. ^ a b Copp, Bruce (2015). Out Of The Firing Line... Into The Foyer (hardcover). Stroud: History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-6134-9.
  7. ^ Cryer, Barry (2011). The Chronicles of Hernia. Random House. p. 81. ISBN 9780753547519.
  8. ^ "The Theatre". The Tatler and Bystander. 26 December 1945. p. 6. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  9. ^ "The Leicester Repertory Company". Leicester Chronicle. 9 March 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  10. ^ "Entertainment Review: Arms and the Men". Surrey Advertiser. 3 August 1955. p. 3. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  11. ^ "The Prophets Say She's Booked For Stardom". Liverpool Echo. 8 August 1955. p. 6. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  12. ^ Merriman, Andy (2011). Hattie: The Authorised Biography of Hattie Jacques. Aurum. ISBN 9781845138172.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.