Frank Atkinson (actor)

Frank Atkinson (19 March 1893 – 23 February 1963) was an English actor and writer.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Atkinson was born in Blackpool, Lancashire. He appeared in at least 130 films between 1930 and 1963. A stalwart of British films, often in small or uncredited roles, and also in Hollywood in the 1930s, notably in the Raoul Walsh directed Me and My Gal and Sailor's Luck. Allmovie described him as "tall and slender, and with gaunt facial features that lent themselves to looks of eccentricity, and with a highly cultured speaking voice, he could melt unobtrusively into a scene, as an anonymous bit-player, or could, with the utterance of a few words or a look, transform himself into a wryly comedic presence -- he played everything from jailers, guards, garage attendants, and soldiers to upper class twits."^[2]^[4]

He was the first person to play the scarecrow Worzel Gummidge on television in the original series, broadcast by the BBC on 10 February 1953.^[5] He died in Pinner, Middlesex, aged 69

Selected filmography

Actor

Along Came Youth (1930) - Bit Role (uncredited)
Ladies' Man (1931) - Valet
Always Goodbye (1931) - Servant (uncredited)
Ambassador Bill (1931) - American Embassy Valet (uncredited)
The Menace (1932) - Man from Cartier's (uncredited)
The Wet Parade (1932) - Barman At New Year Party (uncredited)
Devil's Lottery (1932) - Summers the Butler (uncredited)
The Woman in Room 13 (1932)
The Man from Yesterday (1932) - British Soldier (uncredited)
Skyscraper Souls (1932) - Waiter At Party (uncredited)
The Man Called Back (1932) - Lower Level Court Clerk (uncredited)
False Faces (1932) - Butler (uncredited)
Sherlock Holmes (1932) - Man in Pub
Call Her Savage (1932) - Stevens - Crosby's Valet (uncredited)
For Me and My Gal (1932) - Ashley's Chum (uncredited)
The Right to Live (1933) - Harry Woods
Cavalcade (1933) - Uncle Dick (uncredited)
Smoke Lightning (1933) - Alf Bailey
Sailor's Luck (1933) - Swimming pool attendant (uncredited)
Pleasure Cruise (1933) - Alf
Life in the Raw (1933) - Picayune Cafe Patron (uncredited)
Paddy the Next Best Thing (1933) - Chemist (uncredited)
My Lips Betray (1933) - Baptiste, Royal Valet (uncredited)
Rolling in Money (1934) - Wiggins
The Outcast (1934) - Bit Part (uncredited)
The Path of Glory (1934) - Karl
Freedom of the Seas (1934) - O'Hara
The Great Defender (1934) - Pope
The Third Clue (1934) - Lefty
Road House (1934) - Magician
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) - Policeman Shot Behind Mattress (uncredited)
Barnacle Bill (1935) - Arthur Neal
Death Drives Through (1935) - John 'Nigger' Larson
Night Mail (1935) - (uncredited)
Be Careful, Mr. Smith (1935)
Look Up and Laugh (1935) - Debt Collector (uncredited)
Me and Marlborough (1935) - Soldier (uncredited)
No Monkey Business (1935) - Chauffeur (uncredited)
Play Up the Band (1935) - Alf Ramsbottom
The Morals of Marcus (1935) - Ship Steward
A Woman Alone (1936) - Porter
The Limping Man (1936) - Insp. Cable
Skylarks (1936)
Shipmates o' Mine (1936) - Oliver Bright
The High Command (1937) - Corporal
The Show Goes On (1937) - Actor at OHara's Agency (uncredited)
Knights for a Day (1937) - Timothy Trout
Oh, Mr Porter! (1937) - Irate Irishman in Barney's Bar (uncredited)
Young and Innocent (1937) - Petrol Pump Attendant (uncredited)
The Green Cockatoo (1937) - Protheroe - the Butler
The Schooner Gang (1937) - Ben Worton
A Romance in Flanders (1937) - Joe Stuggins
Kicking the Moon Around (1938) - (uncredited)
Pygmalion (1938) - Taxi-Driver
I've Got a Horse (1938) - Bunker
Over the Moon (1939) - Reporter (uncredited)
Discoveries (1939) - Photographer
The Body Vanished (1939) - Hobbleberry
Where's That Fire? (1940) - Town Clerk (uncredited)
The Stars Look Down (1940) - Miner
Ten Days in Paris (1940) - Pierre
Penn of Pennsylvania (1942) - (uncredited)
Hard Steel (1942) - Dick Sefton
Mrs. Miniver (1942) - Man in Tavern (uncredited)
The Avengers (1942) - Drunk at Oslo Quayside (uncredited)
They Flew Alone (1942) - Reporter in the Johnson's House (uncredited)
Let the People Sing (1942) - Bit Role (uncredited)
Asking for Trouble (1942) - Policeman (uncredited)
Much Too Shy (1942) - Village Policeman (uncredited)
The Great Mr. Handel (1942) - Permobble
The Gentle Sex (1943) - Restaurant Customer (uncredited)
Get Cracking (1943) - Station Master (uncredited)
Bell-Bottom George (1944) - Harry (uncredited)
On Approval (1944) - Hansom Cab Driver (uncredited)
Give Us the Moon (1944) - (uncredited)
He Snoops to Conquer (1945) - Joe (uncredited)
Kiss the Bride Goodbye (1945) - (uncredited)
Waterloo Road (1945) - George - Pub Barman (uncredited)
Great Day (1945) - Man at gate (uncredited)
The Voice Within (1946) - Farmer
Wanted for Murder (1946) - Chip Shop Customer (uncredited)
I See a Dark Stranger (1946) - Soldier in Pub (uncredited)
Great Expectations (1946) - Mike
The Last Load (1948) - Jenkins
The Man in the White Suit (1951) - The Baker
Time Bomb (1953) - Guard
The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953) - Station Sergeant
The Broken Horseshoe (1953) - Railway Ticket Clerk
The Fake (1953) - Tate Gallery Attendant (uncredited)
Stryker of the Yard (1953)
Lease of Life (1954) - Verger
The Green Carnation (1954) - Lift operator
The Black Rider (1954) - Landlord
The Love Match (1955) - Worktaker At Milford (uncredited)
Before I Wake (1955) - Taxi driver
Track the Man Down (1955) - George (uncredited)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) - Edgar, Taxidermist (uncredited)
Wicked as They Come (1956) - Hotel Porter (uncredited)
Reach for the Sky (1956) - Tullin (uncredited)
Sailor Beware! (1956) - Chauffeur (uncredited)
Circus Friends (1956) - Horace
Three Men in a Boat (1956) - Lockkeeper (uncredited)
Hour of Decision (1957) - Caretaker
At the Stroke of Nine (1957) - Festival Hall Porter
Cat Girl (1957) - Guard (uncredited)
High Flight (1957) - Parker
Just My Luck (1957) - Green (uncredited)
Stormy Crossing (1958) - Night Porter
Beyond This Place (1959) - Night Doorman
Left Right and Centre (1959) - Railway Porter (uncredited)
Trouble with Eve (1960) - Cabdriver
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) - Groom (uncredited)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) - Tommy (uncredited)
The Night We Got the Bird (1961) - Bald headed man
The Kitchen (1961) - Alfred
Murder at the Gallop (1963) - Hotel Night Porter (uncredited) (final film role)