Tributes to television’s veteran Captain
of comedy

But it is for his role as the haughty Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? that Frank Thornton will be best remembered.

The 92-year-old actor died in his sleep in the early hours of Saturday, it was confirmed yesterday.

Leading tributes to the star, his agent David Daly said: “I have been Frank’s agent since 1986 and he has been the most wonderful client as well as being a great friend. He will be sorely missed.”

The veteran actor was one of the last surviving cast members of Are You Being Served?, in which he played a pompous department floor supervisor who looked down on more junior staff.

His co-star Nicholas Smith, who played floor manager Cuthbert Rumbold and is now the last principal member of the cast, paid tribute, saying: “He was the best actor in Are You Being Served?”

The series, set in the clothes departments of fictional London department store Grace Brothers, ran from 1972 to 1985 and at its peak attracted huge audiences of more than 20m which are rarely achieved on television today.

He reprised his role in its 12-episode follow-on series, Grace & Favour, in the 1990s.

The original show’s co-creator Jeremy Lloyd said he was very sad to hear the news of his death.

“He was a great friend and consummate performer who was the glue who really held Are You Being Served? together,” said Mr Lloyd.

“He will continue to give people enjoyment.”

Thornton joined the cast of Last of the Summer Wine as retired police officer Truly in the 1997 Christmas special. He became part of the established line-up with actors Bill Owen and Peter Sallis, remaining in the role until the series finished in 2010.

In later years, he also had a role in Yorkshire-set soap Emmerdale as Bert Dingle.

The actor, who was born in Dulwich, London, in 1921, had worked in insurance after leaving school but turned to the stage after enrolling in evening classes, eventually leaving his job to study full-time at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).

On leaving Rada in 1940, he made his professional stage debut aged 19 in an Irish production of Terence Rattigan’s comic play French Without Tears.

The moustachioed star was soon appearing on the West End stage in Shakespeare roles, including turns as Laertes in Hamlet and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as in the 1942 production of Rattigan’s Flare Path.

He went on to serve in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, training as a navigator in Canada and returning in January 1945 to complete his operational training; but the war had ended before he could join a squadron.

After demobilisation in 1947, he went into rep theatre and by 1954 he had picked up his first film credit in the crime movie Radio Cab Murder.

By the 1960s he was becoming a familiar face with roles in movies such as Carry On Screaming – but it was in the 1970s that he became a household name with the huge success of Are You Being Served?

The series, laden with double entendres and innuendos, enjoyed popularity not only in Britain but in the US and in many Commonwealth countries.

He continued to have stage success, with a well-received run as Sir John Tremayne in Me And My Girl in the West End in the 1980s, for which he was nominated for an Olivier award, and parts in many touring productions.

He specialised in comedy and over the years took roles in many popular TV shows including Hancock’s Half-Hour, Sykes and several episodes of Steptoe And Son, making him the most regular recurring actor in the series other than its main stars, as well as movie spin-off Steptoe And Son Ride Again.

He also appeared in a number of saucy British movie romps including No Sex Please, We’re British and Up The Chastity 
Belt.

In 2001, he was among the cast for the Oscar-winning Julian Fellowes-scripted period drama Gosford Park.

His last credit was in the poorly-received British film Run For Your Wife, alongside Richard Briers, who died last month.

Away from his work, he was a passionate conservationist who supported a number of organisations including the World Land Trust and the RSPB.

He was also interested in music and photography.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, the actress Beryl Evans, their daughter Jane and their three grandchildren.