Camilla rossiter

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On Leonard's early life: "Len was a hero at school. He was certainly my hero He was a born sportsman, moving about the pitch with all-conquering, loping ease. He once mentioned that he started in the insurance business, behind a desk - which he hated, sort of dead-end. By then he'd already done Rising Damp, which is something I'd watched religiously.

Camilla rossiter

When I was very young I assumed everyone's father must be on television. It was only as I got older that I began to understand mine was different. I realised that, to other people, he was such a familiar face that they felt they knew him. When we were out, strangers would often just walk up to him and start chatting. He wasn't simply my dad - he was public property. I can't remember a time in my childhood when he wasn't famous. In the days of just three TV channels, he was on one side as Rigsby and on the other as Reggie Perrin for most of the s. Even now, 24 years after his death, the chances are that one of them will be showing Rising Damp. Dad had a supply of glossy black-and-white photos that he would dutifully sign for me to distribute the following day. The picture was of Dad looking rather jovial in a cravat. If my schoolmates were puzzled that they didn't get one of Rigsby in his moth-eaten cardigan, they never showed it. I am often asked whether Dad was funny at home. Well, he wasn't a comedian like Tommy Cooper or Eric Morecambe - both of whom, in one of those odd quirks of fate, died in the same year as Dad. Rather, he was an actor who is chiefly remembered for two comedy performances. He wasn't exactly cracking jokes over the breakfast table.

But I don't think he considered himself a 'star' or a camilla rossiter. He was very professional, could be tough but I found him a joy.

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He was the ultra-competitive perfectionist who would bawl at his fellow actors if they failed to meet his own high standards. But his obsessional character drove him to an early grave at the age of just Despite his modest beginnings, Rossiter was a man determined to reach the top. That meant plans to go to university had to be shelved and after military service, Leonard got job working as an insurance clerk in the claims and accidents department. His fi erce competitive nature was noted by colleagues even then. We used to play football for the office team. Once, he passed me the ball by an open goal. I missed it.

Camilla rossiter

When I was very young I assumed everyone's father must be on television. It was only as I got older that I began to understand mine was different. I realised that, to other people, he was such a familiar face that they felt they knew him.

Woomochichi

I don't see the point in remaking Rising Damp or Reggie Perrin. He wasn't simply my dad - he was public property. The picture was of Dad looking rather jovial in a cravat. I am glad to have shared with him the ups and downs of life, to have known his family and friends, to have watched his performances and to have been his friend. In short breaks He was able to polish himself and get ready for the big break, and when it came, he grabbed it with both hands. He was terribly serious, I'm sure, about his career. Everybody's got to. Cookies on Companies House services We use cookies to make our services work and collect analytics information. It was fantastic, but that was the way he was, and we were like the people holding him to the ground. He had worked relentlessly for 20 years before he achieved public recognition. I miss the conversations, laughter and arguments that we never got to share. He didn't get the recognition he felt he deserved He loved all of that.

Leonard Rossiter was one of Britain's greatest sitcom stars, turning the seedily lascivious Rigsby of Rising Damp and the wistfully eccentric Reggie of The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin into a couple of richly iconic comedy characters.

Why not have the imagination to create something new? He made such a fool of me on the court. Every week you would learn your lines for one play, while rehearsing another play in the afternoon and performing a third play in the evening. Privacy Policy Feedback. There is, and was, nobody else who could play parts the way Len used to. It would be like a spring. He would decant it carefully, label it and put it on the table. He could also play knockabout farce as well if not better than any comic I have ever worked with or seen. Well, he wasn't a comedian like Tommy Cooper or Eric Morecambe - both of whom, in one of those odd quirks of fate, died in the same year as Dad. View PDF Secretary's particulars changed - link opens in a new window - 1 page 1 page.