Hugh Lloyd

Published Tuesday 5 August 2008 at 12:00 by Patrick Newley

Lugubrious comic actor Hugh Lloyd, once described as looking like a melancholic mole, gained national TV fame when he appeared with Tony Hancock in Hancock’s Half Hour and Terry Scott in the long-running sitcoms Hugh and I and The Gnomes of Dulwich. He also partnered Peggy Mount in the comedy series Lollipop Loves Mrs Mole and more recently he starred in You Rang M’Lord.

On the West End stage he appeared in When We Were Married and No Sex Please, We’re British and at the National Theatre he played leading roles in The Critic, The Cherry Orchard and The Duchess of Malfi.

Hugh Lewis Lloyd was born in Chester on April 22, 1923, the son of a tobacco factory manager. He was educated at Kings School Chester and on leaving, worked as a reporter on a local newspaper. With a keen interest in theatre - his idol was Stan Laurel - he acted in amateur productions, where he excelled in comedy.

During the Second World War he was deemed unfit for military service - he suffered from hay fever - and instead joined ENSA touring throughout Britain and Europe in troop shows.

At the end of the war, he went into repertory and then tried his hand at stand-up comedy, appearing in variety shows and pantomime.

He went on to become a spot comic at the Windmill Theatre in London - “My early performances were disastrous,” he recalled - before appearing in small roles in the radio version of Hancock’s Half Hour in 1954.

He appeared in 25 episodes of the TV version of Hancock’s Half Hour, including the classic The Blood Donor, The Librarian, The Lift and The Reunion. He also co-starred with Hancock and John Le Mesurier in the 1963 film The Punch and Judy Man.

In 1962 he teamed up with fellow comedy actor Terry Scott for the series Hugh and I. The series, written by John Chapman, ran for four years. This was followed in 1969 with The Gnomes of Dulwich, which featured Scott and Lloyd as a pair of garden gnomes.

Lloyd played many straight roles on television and received critical acclaim for his performances in Alan Bennett’s A Visit from Miss Protheroe (a Play of the Week on BBC2 with Patricia Routledge), Say Something Happened (with Julie Walters and Thora Hird) and Me! I’m Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Other TV credits included Doctor Who (Delta and the Bannerman), The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and more recently, Foyle’s War.

He was a noted pantomime dame and also an ugly sister (often with Scott) and regularly toured the country in light comedies and farces, such as Boeing Boeing, Birds of Paradise, Sailor Beware and A Bit Between the Teeth.

He was a fixture in British films during the sixties and seventies, starring in comedies such as Go to Blazes, Father Came Too and The Mouse on the Moon and he also played roles in the cult classic rock film Quadrophenia. His most recent film was August.

Four times married, he lived for many years in a 16th-century cottage in Surrey. He was a past president of the Club for Acts and Actors and in 2006 was awarded the MBE for his services to drama and charity. He died on July 14, aged 85, and is survived by his widow Sha and his second wife, the musician Jose Stewart.