David Tomlinson
Encyclopedia
David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 film actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. He is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (film)
Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...

, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 musical film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company which combines live action and animation and was released in North America on December 13, 1971...

and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug
The Love Bug
The Love Bug is the first in a series of comedy films made by Walt Disney Productions that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie...

.

Early life

Born in Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...

, Oxfordshire, England on 7 May 1917, Tomlinson attended the Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School is a British boys' independent school for both boarding and day pupils in Tonbridge, Kent, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judd . It is a member of the Eton Group, and has close links with the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the oldest London livery companies...

, but left to join the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...

. His introduction to the working world was as a clerk for London's Shell Mex House
Shell Mex House
Shell Mex House is situated at number 80, Strand, London, UK. The current building was built in 1930-31 on the site of the Hotel Cecil and stands behind the original facade of the Hotel and between the Adelphi and the Savoy Hotel. Broadly Art Deco in style, it was designed by the architectural...

. His stage career grew from amateur stage productions to his 1940 film debut in Quiet Wedding. His career was interrupted when he entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 service as a Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...

 in the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

. His flying days continued after the war and he crashed a Tiger Moth
De Havilland Tiger Moth
The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and was operated by the Royal Air Force and others as a primary trainer. The Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until replaced by the de Havilland Chipmunk in 1952, when many of the surplus aircraft...

 plane near his backyard much to the chagrin of his neighbours. His father Clarence, a prominent London lawyer, defended him at his subsequent trial (for flying too low).

Film career

David Tomlinson was known to generations of children for his role as George Banks, head of the Banks family, in the 1964 Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

 film Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (film)
Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...

.


Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (film)
Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...

brought Tomlinson continued work with Disney, asking him to appear in The Love Bug
The Love Bug
The Love Bug is the first in a series of comedy films made by Walt Disney Productions that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie...

(1968) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 musical film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company which combines live action and animation and was released in North America on December 13, 1971...

(1971). Throughout the rest of Tomlinson's film career, he never steered far from comedies. He retired from acting in 1979 to spend more time with his family; however, the enduring popularity of Mary Poppins ensured that he remained well-known.

As a testament to Tomlinson's decency and popularity with other entertainers, when Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

 was recuperating in a London hospital following a heart attack he apparently said: "I only want to see David."

Personal life

Tomlinson was married for 47 years to actress Audrey Freeman and they had four sons, David Jr., William, Henry and James. He died peacefully in his sleep at King Edward VII Hospital, Westminster at 4:00am on 24 June 2000 after suffering a series of stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

s. He was 83 years old.

He was interred at his Estate Ground in Mursley
Mursley
Mursley is a small village in and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about three miles east of Winslow and four miles south west of Fenny Stratford....

. His epitaph reads (in part)
"David Tomlinson Irresistible to Women".

Filmography

  • Garrison Follies (1940)
  • Name Rank and Number (1941)
  • Pimpernel Smith (1941)
  • Quiet Wedding
    Quiet Wedding
    Quiet Wedding is a 1941 British comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Margaret Lockwood, Derek Farr and Marjorie Fielding. The screenplay was written by Terence Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald based on the play Quiet Wedding by Esther McCracken which was later remade as Happy is the...

    (1941)
  • My Wife's Family
    My Wife's Family (1941 film)
    My Wife's Family is a 1941 British comedy film directed by Walter C. Mycroft and starring Charles Clapham, John Warwick and David Thomlinson.It was based on the 1933 Finnish film Voi meitä! Anoppi tulee. A remake was made in 1956....

    (1941)
  • The Way to the Stars
    The Way to the Stars
    The Way to the Stars, also known as Johnny in the Clouds, is a 1945 British war drama film made by Two Cities Films and released by United Artists. It was produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith...

    (1945)
  • Journey Together (1946)
  • I See a Dark Stranger
    I See a Dark Stranger
    I See a Dark Stranger is a British 1946 World War II spy film with touches of light comedy, by the team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Deborah Kerr and Trevor Howard.-Plot:...

    (1946)
  • School for Secrets
    School for Secrets
    School for Secrets is a 1946 British film written and directed by Peter Ustinov and starring David Tomlinson, Ralph Richardson, Raymond Huntley, Richard Attenborough, John Laurie and Michael Hordern...

    (1946)
  • Master of Bankdam
    Master of Bankdam
    The Master of Bankdam is a 1947 British historical film directed by Walter Forde from the novel, The Crowthers of Bankdam, by Thomas Armstrong. It starred Anne Crawford, Dennis Price, Tom Walls, Stephen Murray, Linden Travers and David Tomlinson...

    (1947)
  • Fame is the Spur
    Fame is the Spur (film)
    Fame is the Spur is a 1947 British drama film directed by Roy Boulting. It stars Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Bernard Miles, David Tomlinson, Maurice Denham and Kenneth Griffith. A British politician rises to power, abandoning on the way his radical views for more conservative ones...

    (1947)
  • Warning to Wantons
    Warning to Wantons
    Warning to Wantons is a 1949 British romantic comedy film directed by Donald B. Wilson and starring Harold Warrender, Anne Vernon and David Tomlinson. A young woman escapes her strict convent school and enters high society, where she has the time of her life.-Cast:* Harold Warrender ... Count...

    (1948)
  • Easy Money
    Easy Money (1948 film)
    Easy Money, a satirical 1948 British film about one of the most beloved traditions of the English middle class, the football pool, is composed of four tales about the effect a major win has on four different groups in the postwar period...

    (1948)
  • Miranda
    Miranda (1948 film)
    Miranda is a 1948 British comedy film, directed by Ken Annakin and written by Peter Blackmore, who also wrote the play of the same name from which the film was adapted. Denis Waldock provided additional dialogue. A light comedy, the film is about a beautiful and playful mermaid played by Glynis...

    (1948)
  • Broken Journey
    Broken Journey
    Broken Journey is a 1948 British drama film directed by Ken Annakin and featuring Phyllis Calvert, James Donald, Margot Grahame, Raymond Huntley and Guy Rolfe.-Cast:* Phyllis Calvert as Mary Johnstone* James Donald as Bill Haverton...

    (1948)
  • Sleeping Car to Trieste
    Sleeping Car to Trieste
    Sleeping Car to Trieste is a 1948 is a British film directed by John Paddy Carstairs. The film is a remake of the 1932 film Rome Express, with essentially the same characters and many of the same actors.-Plot:...

    (1948)
  • My Brother's Keeper
    My Brother's Keeper (1948 film)
    My Brother's Keeper is a 1948 British crime film in the form of a convicts-on-the-run chase thriller, directed by Alfred Roome for Gainsborough Pictures. It was the first of only two films directed by Roome during a long career as a film editor...

    (1948)
  • Love in Waiting
    Love in Waiting
    Love in Waiting is a 1948 British comedy film film directed by Douglas Pierce, and starring David Tomlinson.-Plot:In a busy restaurant during the food rationing period in the wake of WWII three waitresses fall in love with the manager , the garbage man and the downstairs neighbour, while trying to...

    (1948)
  • Here Come the Huggetts
    Here Come the Huggetts
    Here Come the Huggetts is a 1948 British film, the first of the Huggetts Trilogy about a working class English family. All three films were directed by Ken Annakin and released by Gainsborough Pictures....

    (1948)
  • Vote for Huggett
    Vote for Huggett
    Vote for Huggett is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison and Diana Dors. Warner reprises his role as the head of a London family, in the post-war years. It was the second in the Huggetts Trilogy, after 1948's Here Come the Huggetts. In it,...

    (1949)
  • Marry Me (1949)
  • Helter Skelter
    Helter Skelter (1949 film)
    Helter Skelter is a 1949 British romantic comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Carol Marsh, David Tomlinson and Mervyn Johns. A police detective becomes involved with a wealthy socialite....

    (1949)
  • The Chiltern Hundreds
    The Chiltern Hundreds (film)
    The Chiltern Hundreds is a 1949 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs, adapting the 1947 play of the same name and starring Lana Morris, David Tomlinson and Cecil Parker.-Synopsis:...

    (1949)
  • Landfall
    Landfall (1949 film)
    Landfall is a 1949 British war film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Michael Denison, Patricia Plunkett and Kathleen Harrison. It is based on the 1940 novel, Landfall: A Channel Story, written by author Nevil Shute.-Cast:* Michael Denison as Rick...

    (1949)
  • So Long at the Fair
    So Long at the Fair
    So Long at the Fair is a 1950 British thriller film directed by Terence Fisher and Anthony Darnborough, and starring Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde. It was adapted from the 1947 novel of the same name by Anthony Thorne...

    (1950)
  • The Wooden Horse
    The Wooden Horse
    The Wooden Horse is a 1950 British Second World War war film starring Leo Genn, Anthony Steel and David Tomlinson and directed by Jack Lee. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams, who also wrote the screenplay....

    (1950)
  • Calling Bulldog Drummond
    Calling Bulldog Drummond
    Calling Bulldog Drummond is a 1951 British crime film directed by Victor Saville and featuring Walter Pidgeon, Margaret Leighton, Robert Beatty, David Tomlinson, and Bernard Lee. It featured the character Bulldog Drummond created by the novelist Herman Cyril McNeile, which had seen a number of...

    (1951)
  • Hotel Sahara
    Hotel Sahara
    Hotel Sahara is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Yvonne De Carlo, Peter Ustinov and David Tomlinson.-Cast:* Yvonne De Carlo as Yasmin Pallas* Peter Ustinov as Emad* David Tomlinson as Captain Puffin Cheyne...

    (1951)
  • The Magic Box
    The Magic Box
    The Magic Box is a fictional magic shop in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon. It is located in Sunnydale and was last owned and operated by Rupert Giles, and served as the primary headquarters of the Scooby Gang for seasons five and six.-Ownership history:The shop went...

    (1951)
  • Made in Heaven
    Made in Heaven (1952 film)
    Made in Heaven is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs which stars David Tomlinson, Petula Clark and Sonja Ziemann.A happy household is thrown into chaos when an attractive new housemaid arrives. The screenplay was based on a story by William Douglas-Home.-Cast:* David...

    (1952)
  • Castle in the Air
    Castle in the Air (film)
    Castle in the Air is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Henry Cass and starring David Tomlinson, Helen Cherry, Margaret Rutherford and Gordon Jackson.-Plot:...

    (1952)
  • Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?
    Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?
    Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey. The film was based on Vivian Tidmarsh's play by the same name.-Plot:...

    (1953)
  • All for Mary
    All for Mary
    All for Mary is a 1955 UK Comedy Film brought to the screen by Paul Soskin Productions for The Rank Organisation. It was based on a play written by the English husband and wife team of Kay Bannerman and Harold Brooke. It was directed by Wendy Toye, produced by Paul Soskin with the screenplay by...

    (1955)
  • Three Men in a Boat
    Three Men in a Boat (1956 film)
    Three Men in a Boat is a 1956 British CinemaScope colour comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, Shirley Eaton and David Thomlinson. It is based on the 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome...

    (1956)
  • Carry on Admiral
    Carry on Admiral
    Carry on Admiral is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Val Guest and featuring David Tomlinson, Ronald Shiner and Joan Sims. It was not part of the Carry On series, which it predates, though it is similar in tone and style to the earliest films in the series...

    (1957) [note: not a Carry On
    Carry On films
    The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....

     film]
  • Up the Creek
    Up the Creek (1958 film)
    Up the Creek is a 1958 British comedy film written and directed by Val Guest which starred David Tomlinson, Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, David Lodge and Lionel Jeffries.-Plot synopsis:...

    (1958)
  • Further up the Creek
    Further Up the Creek
    Further Up the Creek is a 1958 British comedy film written and directed by Val Guest and starring David Tomlinson, Frankie Howerd, Shirley Eaton, Thora Hird, Desmond Llewelyn and Lionel Jeffries...

    (1959)
  • Follow That Horse!
    Follow That Horse!
    Follow That Horse! is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Alan Bromly from a screenplay by William Douglas-Home. It starred David Tomlinson, Cecil Parker, Richard Wattis, Mary Peach and Dora Bryan.-Cast:* David Tomlinson as Dick Lanchester...

    (1960)
  • Tom Jones
    Tom Jones (film)
    Tom Jones is a 1963 British adventure comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling , starring Albert Finney as the titular hero. It was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time, winning four Academy Awards...

    (1963)
  • The Truth About Spring
    The Truth About Spring
    The Truth about Spring is a 1965 film released by Universal. It stars Hayley Mills, her father Sir John Mills and James MacArthur It is a romantic comedy adventure.-Plot:...

    (1964)
  • Mary Poppins
    Mary Poppins (film)
    Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...

    (1964)
  • The City Under the Sea (1965)
  • The Liquidator
    The Liquidator (film)
    The Liquidator is a 1965 MGM film starring Rod Taylor as Brian "Boysie" Oakes, Trevor Howard as his Intelligence Chief Mostyn and Jill St. John as Mostyn's secretary Iris MacIntosh. It was based on the first of a series of Boysie Oakes novels by John Gardner, The Liquidator.-Plot:The film follows...

    (1965)
  • The Love Bug
    The Love Bug
    The Love Bug is the first in a series of comedy films made by Walt Disney Productions that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie...

    (1968)
  • Bedknobs and Broomsticks
    Bedknobs and Broomsticks
    Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 musical film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company which combines live action and animation and was released in North America on December 13, 1971...

    (1971)
  • Bons baisers de Hong Kong
    Bons baisers de Hong Kong
    Bons baisers de Hong Kong is a 1975 French film directed by Yvan Chiffre. It is a parody of James Bond movies featuring Les Charlots with scenes shot in Hong Kong...

    (From Hong Kong with Love) (1975)
  • Wombling Free
    Wombling Free
    Wombling Free was a 1977 film adaption of the children's television series The Wombles.-Humans:*David Tomlinson: Roland Frogmorton*Frances de la Tour: Julia Frogmorton*Bonnie Langford: Felicity 'Kim' Frogmorton*Bernard Spear: Arnold Takahashi...

    (1977)
  • The Water Babies
    The Water Babies (film)
    The Water Babies is a 1978 animated feature film based on the book The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley.-Plot:When a 12-year-old chimney sweep is wrongfully blamed for being a thief, he makes a run for it, he jumps into a violent river. There he encounters a wondrous civilization of anthropomorphic...

    (1978)
  • Dominique
    Dominique (film)
    Dominique is a 1980 British film directed by Michael Anderson.The film is also known as Dominique Is Dead .-Plot:...

    (1978)
  • The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
    The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
    ‎The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu is a 1980 comedy film, notable as the final film of Peter Sellers, David Tomlinson and John Le Mesurier. Pre-production began with Richard Quine as director. By the time the film entered production, Piers Haggard had replaced him. Peter Sellers handled the...

    (1980)

External links

  • Mary Poppins Star Dies - BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

     News obituary from 2000
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