David Lodge; Independent obit
Hyfler/Rosner
Friend, defender and associate in comedy of Peter Sellers
24 October 2003
David William Frederick Lodge, actor: born Rochester, Kent 19 August
1921; married; died Northwood, Middlesex 18 October 2003.
One of the best-known faces in British films, David Lodge was a burly,
moustachioed actor equally adept at drama or comedy. His tough exterior
initially led to his being cast as aggressive members of the proletariat,
often shifty characters of the underworld or sergeants barking out orders to
hapless recruits in the armed forces, but when his flair for comedy
emerged - due partly to his lifelong friendship with Peter Sellers - he was
to be found in some of the best screen comedies.
Sellers vehicles in which he appeared included I'm All Right, Jack, in which
he etched a memorable cameo as a malingering card-player, Two Way Stretch,
as the hilariously bumbling safe-cracker Jelly Knight, and the "Pink
Panther" films. He was also in several "Carry On" films and made many
television appearances.
Born David William Frederick Lodge in Rochester, Kent, in 1921, he was
educated at St Nicholas School in London. His mother had been a singer, and
his father was a well-known orator. (Later an active worker for charity,
Lodge would become known for his skill as an auctioneer at fund-raising
events.) He started in show business as a comedian and impressionist with
Ralph Reader's Gang Show troupe, and during the Second World War toured
military bases with the show as a member of the Royal Air Force.
He met Peter Sellers in the last days of the war when they were both posted
to Gloucester. He later recounted that he was poking life into an ancient
stove when he heard Sellers arguing fiercely at the far end of the hut with
an airman "considerably larger than himself". Lodge removed the red-hot
poker from the fire, walked down the hut and told the airman to "leave off
or come outside with me". It ended the argument and began a lifelong
friendship. "Pete just looked at me with those lovely sad eyes of his,"
Lodge told Sellers's biographer Peter Evans,
and something just happened. I was a couple of years older than him, no
more, but I became his big brother,
father confessor, favourite uncle, the lot. Pete was the kind of a bloke who
always needed somebody there. There always had to be somebody in his life he
could telephone at three o'clock in the morning and know they'll be a
friendly voice.
Lodge was best man at Sellers's wedding to Britt Ekland in 1964, and after
Sellers's death in 1980 he staunchly defended him when Sellers's son Michael
wrote a scathing memoir. "To see Peter Sellers painted as a total monster,"
he wrote, "is to witness a monumental injustice to his memory."
After the war, Lodge performed a solo act on the music-hall stage and spent
some time with a travelling circus. He also performed a warm-up act for the
Goons (Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine and Sellers) when they appeared on
stage. His first film role was in a Sellers film, Orders are Orders (1954),
a farce notable for the teaming of Tony Hancock and Sidney James prior to
their radio and television partnership. Lodge's part landed on the
cutting-room floor, and he was first seen on screen in José Ferrer's Second
World War adventure Cockleshell Heroes (1955), as one of the group who break
the blockade of Bordeaux by using cockleshell canoes to attach limpet mines.
Other early films included Private's Progress (1956), The Battle of the
River Plate (1956) and The Long Arm (1956), a taut thriller that was the
last Ealing film actually made at Ealing Studios. Lodge was seen on screen
with Sellers for the first time in the amusing black comedy The Naked Truth
(1957, as a policeman), followed by Up the Creek (1958), the satire on
unions I'm All Right Jack (1959), Never Let Go (1960), Two Way Stretch
(1960), The Dock Brief (1962), A Shot in the Dark (1964), Casino Royale
(1967), Hoffman (1969), Return of the Pink Panther (1974) and Revenge of the
Pink Panther (1978).
Lodge appeared in over 100 films in total, other notable titles including I
was Monty's Double (1958), The League of Gentlemen (1959), Oh! What a Lovely
War (1969, as a recruiting sergeant), The Railway Children (1970) and Mutiny
on the Buses (1972). His last film was Edge of Sanity (1989), a bizarre
reworking of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in which Anthony Perkins, as Jekyll,
discovers a formula that turns him into Jack the Ripper.
He was also active on television, and in 1965 he starred in the twice-weekly
drama series United! as the manager of a fictional football team, Brentwich
FC, down on its luck. In his efforts to move the club from the bottom of the
Second Division he has to cope with a tycoon chairman and a snooty wife. The
series attracted six million viewers but proved controversial. Football fans
complained that there was too much chat and not enough of the game, then
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, who were struggling at the time, complained that
the plots were uncomfortably close to their own situation and the BBC had to
reassure them that it was pure coincidence. In 1966 Lodge asked to leave the
series, so his character was portrayed as getting fired and being replaced
by a new manager (played by Ronald Allen). Television shows on which Lodge
made guest appearances included The Saint, The Sweeney, Bless This House,
Minder and Lovejoy.
Lodge's wife Lyn, whom he married in 1963, predeceased him. In 1986 he wrote
his autobiography, Up the Ladder to Obscurity, and in recent years he worked
for show-business charities. In 2000 he was seen in the television biography
The Unknown Peter Sellers.
Tom Vallance