Launching a stage career immediately upon his discharge from the military in 1945, tubby British character player Arthur Lowe appeared in innumerable movie bit roles from 1948 onward. He can be spotted in such films as Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Green Man (1956), This Sporting Life (1963) and A Hard Day's Night (1964). He proved a reliable comic presence in the Spike Milligan projects The Bed Sitting Room (1969) and Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1972). Arthur Lowe gained latter-day stardom as a regular on the British television soap opera Coronation Street, and international recognition in the role of Captain Mainwaring on the TV sitcom Dad's Army.
Arthur Lowe
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- Wanted to join the UK's Merchant Navy, but was not able to due to his poor eyesight.
- Began acting at the Manchester Repertory Theatre in 1945.
- Appeared in the original West End production of Pal Joey in 1954.
- Suffered a stroke in his dressing room before a performance of Home at Seven at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.
- In 2010, a statue of him, as Captain Mainwaring from Dad's Army, was unveiled in Norfolk.