Peter Sallis
Encyclopedia
Peter Sallis, OBE
(born 1 February 1921) is an English
actor and entertainer, well-known for his work on British television
. Although he was born and brought up in London, his two most notable roles require him to adopt the accents and mannerisms of a Northerner.
Sallis is best known for his role as the main character Norman Clegg in the long-running British TV comedy Last of the Summer Wine
, set in a Yorkshire
town. He was the longest serving cast member, appearing in all 295 episodes, and by the end of the show's run was the only one surviving from the programme's first episode in 1973. He also appeared in all 13 of the episodes of the prequel series First of the Summer Wine
as Norman Clegg's father. He is also famous for providing the voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit
films, again using a northern accent.
(then Middlesex
, now Greater London
), England, the only child of Dorothy Amea (née Barnard) and Harry Sallis. After attending Minchenden Grammar School
in North London
, Sallis went to work in a bank. After the outbreak of World War II
he joined the RAF
. He failed to get into aircrew because he had a serum albumin
disorder and he was told he might black out at high altitudes. He became a wireless mechanic instead and went on to teach radio procedures at RAF Cranwell
.
Sallis started as an amateur actor during his four years with the RAF when one of his students offered him the lead in an amateur production. His success in the role caused him to resolve to become an actor after the war, and so he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, making his first professional appearance on the London stage in 1946.
, John Gielgud
, Ralph Richardson
, Orson Welles
, Judi Dench
and Patrick McGoohan
. He also appeared in character parts in British films of the time, including a few Hammer Films. In 1968, he was cast as the well intentioned Coker in a BBC Radio production of John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids
.
His first notable television role was as Samuel Pepys
in the BBC serial of the same name in 1958. In 1961, he appeared as Gordon in the "Find and Destroy" episode of Danger Man
. He appeared in the Doctor Who
story "The Ice Warriors
" in 1967, playing renegade scientist Elric Penley; and in 1983 was due to play the role of Striker in another Doctor Who story, "Enlightenment
", but had to withdraw.
He was Doctor Watson to Fritz Weaver
's Sherlock Holmes
in the Broadway musical Baker Street
in 1967. He introduced what the critics considered the show's best musical number: A Married Man .
In 1970, he was cast in the BBC
comedy series The Culture Vultures, which saw him play stuffy Professor George Hobbs to Leslie Phillips
's laid-back rogue Dr Michael Cunningham. During the production, Phillips was rushed to hospital with an internal haemorrhage and as a result, only five episodes were made.
1971 saw Sallis acting alongside Sir Roger Moore and Tony Curtis in an episode of "The Persuaders!" entitled "The Long Goodbye". He appeared late in the episode as David Piper, a former clerk in a company who was elevated to a substantially higher position and salary as his reward for installing an explosive device in an aeroplane that killed its pilot. The pilot was a noted scientist whose research would have been detrimental to the company that employed Piper.
Sallis was cast in a one-off pilot for Comedy Playhouse
entitled "Of Funerals and Fish" (1973), which became Last of the Summer Wine
, as the unobtrusive lover of a quiet life, Norman Clegg. Sallis had already worked with Michael Bates
, who played unofficial ring-leader Blamire in the first two series, on stage. The pilot was successful and the BBC commissioned a series. Sallis played the role of Clegg from 1973 to 2010, and was the only cast member to appear in every episode. In 1988 he appeared as Clegg's father in First of the Summer Wine
, a prequel to Last Of The Summer Wine
set in 1939.
In 1974 he played Mr Bonteen in the BBC period drama The Pallisers
. Between 1976 and 1978 he appeared in the children's series The Ghosts of Motley Hall
, in which he played Mr Gudgin, an estate agent who did not want to see the Hall fall into the wrong hands. In 1977 he played Rodney Gloss in the BBC series Murder Most English.
In 1978, he starred alongside Northern comic actor David Roper
in the ITV
sitcom Leave it to Charlie as Charlie's pessimistic boss. The programme ran for four series, ending in 1980. Also in 1978, he played the part of the ghost hunter Milton Guest in the children's paranormal drama series The Clifton House Mystery
.
In 1983, he was the narrator on Rocky Hollow
a show produced by Bumper Films
for S4C
. Between 1984 and 1990, he alternated with Ian Carmichael
as the voice of Rat in the British television series The Wind in the Willows, based on the book by Kenneth Grahame
. Alongside him were Michael Hordern
as Badger, David Jason
as Toad and Richard Pearson
as Mole. The series was animated in stop motion
, prefiguring his work with Aardman Animations
. He appeared in the last episode of Rumpole of the Bailey
in 1992 and he later starred alongside Brenda Blethyn
, Kevin Whately
and Anna Massey
in the 2004 one-off ITV1 drama 'Belonging'.
Sallis achieved great success when, in 1989 he voiced Wallace, the eccentric inventor in Aardman Animations' Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out
. This film won a BAFTA award and was followed by the Oscar
-winning films The Wrong Trousers
in 1993 and A Close Shave
in 1995. Though the characters were temporarily retired in 1996, Sallis has returned to voice Wallace in several short films and in the Oscar-winning 2005 motion picture Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
, for which he won an Annie Award
for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production. Most recently Sallis starred in a new Wallace and Gromit adventure, A Matter of Loaf and Death
, in 2008. In 2010 he provided the voice for Wallace in the TV show Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention.
Sallis was awarded the OBE
in the Queen's Birthday Honours
List in 2007 for services to Drama. On 17 May 2009 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs
.
stated "Though Sallis is seemingly submissive, he has a sly wit and sharp intelligence that make this book a total delight."
Sallis starred with Orson Welles
in Welles' stage play, Moby Dick Rehearsed
and tells of a later meeting with him where he received a mysterious telephone call summoning him to the deserted and spooky Gare d'Orsay
in Paris
where Welles announced he wanted him to dub Hungarian
bit-players in his cinema adaptation of Kafka
's The Trial
. As Sallis says "the episode was Kafka-esque, to coin a phrase."
Despite his nearly 37 years in Last Of The Summer Wine
, this is far from the main focus of the book, in which Sallis also recounts the early era of his relationship with Wallace and Gromit
creator Nick Park
when it took six years for A Grand Day Out to be completed. He says that his work as Wallace has "raised his standing a few notches in the public eye".
and in 2005 recorded an appeal on BBC Radio 4
on behalf of the Macular Disease Society. He recorded a television appeal on behalf of the society which was broadcast on BBC One
on 8 March 2009.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 1 February 1921) is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actor and entertainer, well-known for his work on British television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Although he was born and brought up in London, his two most notable roles require him to adopt the accents and mannerisms of a Northerner.
Sallis is best known for his role as the main character Norman Clegg in the long-running British TV comedy Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
, set in a Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
town. He was the longest serving cast member, appearing in all 295 episodes, and by the end of the show's run was the only one surviving from the programme's first episode in 1973. He also appeared in all 13 of the episodes of the prequel series First of the Summer Wine
First of the Summer Wine
First of the Summer Wine is a sitcom written by Roy Clarke that aired on BBC1. The pilot originally aired on 3 January 1988, and the first series of episodes followed on 4 September 1988. The show ran for two series of six episodes each, with the final episode airing on 8 October 1989. The pilot...
as Norman Clegg's father. He is also famous for providing the voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
films, again using a northern accent.
Early life
Sallis was born on 1 February 1921 in TwickenhamTwickenham
Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
(then Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, now Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
), England, the only child of Dorothy Amea (née Barnard) and Harry Sallis. After attending Minchenden Grammar School
Minchenden Grammar School
Minchenden School was a mixed secondary school situated in Southgate, North London, established in 1919 with 90 pupils.-History:The school was established in 1919 in Tottenhall Road as a mixed secondary school. In 1924, it moved to Southgate House, where it remained until 1987, and was renamed...
in North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, Sallis went to work in a bank. After the outbreak of 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...
he joined 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...
. He failed to get into aircrew because he had a serum albumin
Serum albumin
Serum albumin, often referred to simply as albumin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ALB gene.Serum albumin is the most abundant plasma protein in mammals. Albumin is essential for maintaining the osmotic pressure needed for proper distribution of body fluids between intravascular...
disorder and he was told he might black out at high altitudes. He became a wireless mechanic instead and went on to teach radio procedures at RAF Cranwell
RAF Cranwell
RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. It is currently commanded by Group Captain Dave Waddington...
.
Sallis started as an amateur actor during his four years with the RAF when one of his students offered him the lead in an amateur production. His success in the role caused him to resolve to become an actor after the war, and so he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, making his first professional appearance on the London stage in 1946.
Career
Sallis became a notable character actor on the London stage in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing alongside theatrical legends such as Laurence OlivierLaurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
. He also appeared in character parts in British films of the time, including a few Hammer Films. In 1968, he was cast as the well intentioned Coker in a BBC Radio production of John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids
The Day of the Triffids
The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic novel published in 1951 by the English science fiction author John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, under the pen-name John Wyndham. Although Wyndham had already published other novels using other pen-name combinations drawn from his lengthy real...
.
His first notable television role was as Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
in the BBC serial of the same name in 1958. In 1961, he appeared as Gordon in the "Find and Destroy" episode of Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
. He appeared in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
story "The Ice Warriors
The Ice Warriors
The Ice Warriors is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from November 11 to December 16, 1967...
" in 1967, playing renegade scientist Elric Penley; and in 1983 was due to play the role of Striker in another Doctor Who story, "Enlightenment
Enlightenment (Doctor Who)
Enlightenment is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from March 1 to March 9, 1983...
", but had to withdraw.
He was Doctor Watson to Fritz Weaver
Fritz Weaver
Fritz William Weaver is an American actor and voice actor.-Life and career:Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Elsa W. and John Carson Weaver. His mother was of Italian descent and his father was a social worker from Pittsburgh. Weaver attended Peabody High School...
's Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
in the Broadway musical Baker Street
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
in 1967. He introduced what the critics considered the show's best musical number: A Married Man .
In 1970, he was cast in the BBC
British Broadcasting Company
The British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom and licensed by the British General Post Office...
comedy series The Culture Vultures, which saw him play stuffy Professor George Hobbs to Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
's laid-back rogue Dr Michael Cunningham. During the production, Phillips was rushed to hospital with an internal haemorrhage and as a result, only five episodes were made.
1971 saw Sallis acting alongside Sir Roger Moore and Tony Curtis in an episode of "The Persuaders!" entitled "The Long Goodbye". He appeared late in the episode as David Piper, a former clerk in a company who was elevated to a substantially higher position and salary as his reward for installing an explosive device in an aeroplane that killed its pilot. The pilot was a noted scientist whose research would have been detrimental to the company that employed Piper.
Sallis was cast in a one-off pilot for Comedy Playhouse
Comedy Playhouse
Comedy Playhouse was a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served?...
entitled "Of Funerals and Fish" (1973), which became Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
, as the unobtrusive lover of a quiet life, Norman Clegg. Sallis had already worked with Michael Bates
Michael Bates (actor)
Michael Bates was a British actor born in Jhansi, United Provinces, India.-Biography:Bates served as a Major serving with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Burma before his discharge at the end of World War II...
, who played unofficial ring-leader Blamire in the first two series, on stage. The pilot was successful and the BBC commissioned a series. Sallis played the role of Clegg from 1973 to 2010, and was the only cast member to appear in every episode. In 1988 he appeared as Clegg's father in First of the Summer Wine
First of the Summer Wine
First of the Summer Wine is a sitcom written by Roy Clarke that aired on BBC1. The pilot originally aired on 3 January 1988, and the first series of episodes followed on 4 September 1988. The show ran for two series of six episodes each, with the final episode airing on 8 October 1989. The pilot...
, a prequel to Last Of The Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
set in 1939.
In 1974 he played Mr Bonteen in the BBC period drama The Pallisers
The Pallisers
The Pallisers is a 1974 BBC television adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels.-Cast :*Anthony Ainley: Rev. Emilius*Terence Alexander: Lord George*Anthony Andrews: Lord Silverbridge*Sarah Badel: Lizzie Eustace...
. Between 1976 and 1978 he appeared in the children's series The Ghosts of Motley Hall
The Ghosts of Motley Hall
The Ghosts of Motley Hall was a British children's television series written by Richard Carpenter, produced and directed by Quentin Lawrence, and shown in 1976 by Granada Television.The series relates the adventures of 5 ghosts who haunt Motley Hall...
, in which he played Mr Gudgin, an estate agent who did not want to see the Hall fall into the wrong hands. In 1977 he played Rodney Gloss in the BBC series Murder Most English.
In 1978, he starred alongside Northern comic actor David Roper
David Roper
David Roper is a British actor, best known for his roles in the sitcoms The Cuckoo Waltz and Leave it to Charlie....
in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
sitcom Leave it to Charlie as Charlie's pessimistic boss. The programme ran for four series, ending in 1980. Also in 1978, he played the part of the ghost hunter Milton Guest in the children's paranormal drama series The Clifton House Mystery
The Clifton House Mystery
The Clifton House Mystery was a British children's television paranormal drama series written by Daniel Farson and Harry Moore, produced by Patrick Dromgoole and directed by Hugh David, and shown in 1978 by HTV....
.
In 1983, he was the narrator on Rocky Hollow
Rocky Hollow
Rocky Hollow was a stop-motion animation children's television series made in Wales.The show is narrated by Peter Sallis, who became the voice of Wallace in Wallace and Gromit....
a show produced by Bumper Films
Bumper Films
Bumper Films was a children's stop-motion production company founded by John Walker and Ian Frampton in 1982. It is best known for creating Fireman Sam in 1987-1994. It also created Joshua Jones in 1991-1992, Starhill Ponies in 1998-2001 and Rocky Hollow in 1983. The company was also used for S4C...
for S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
. Between 1984 and 1990, he alternated with Ian Carmichael
Ian Carmichael
Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...
as the voice of Rat in the British television series The Wind in the Willows, based on the book by Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films....
. Alongside him were Michael Hordern
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...
as Badger, David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
as Toad and Richard Pearson
Richard Pearson (actor)
Richard de Pearsall Pearson was a Welsh actor. Notable films of his career included Brian Desmond Hurst's Scrooge as well as a brief appearance in John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday and cameo roles in three films by Roman Polanski: Macbeth , Tess and Pirates...
as Mole. The series was animated in stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
, prefiguring his work with Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations, Ltd., also known as Aardman Studios, or simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit...
. He appeared in the last episode of Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients...
in 1992 and he later starred alongside Brenda Blethyn
Brenda Blethyn
Brenda Anne Blethyn, OBE is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
, Kevin Whately
Kevin Whately
Kevin Whately is an English actor.Whately is known for his starring role as Neville Hope in the British television comedy Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, his role as Dr Jack Kerruish in the drama series Peak Practice, and as Robert "Robbie" Lewis in the crime dramas Inspector Morse and...
and Anna Massey
Anna Massey
Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...
in the 2004 one-off ITV1 drama 'Belonging'.
Sallis achieved great success when, in 1989 he voiced Wallace, the eccentric inventor in Aardman Animations' Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out
A Grand Day Out
A Grand Day Out is an award-nominated 1989 animated film directed and animated by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol. This was the first adventure featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but smart dog Gromit...
. This film won a BAFTA award and was followed by the Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-winning films The Wrong Trousers
The Wrong Trousers
The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 animated film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit...
in 1993 and A Close Shave
A Close Shave
A Close Shave is a 1995 British animated film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit. It was his third half-hour short featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but intelligent dog Gromit, following 1989's A Grand Day Out,...
in 1995. Though the characters were temporarily retired in 1996, Sallis has returned to voice Wallace in several short films and in the Oscar-winning 2005 motion picture Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a 2005 British clay-mation animated comedy horror film, the first feature-length Wallace and Gromit film. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Animations, and released by DreamWorksPictures...
, for which he won an Annie Award
Annie Award
The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...
for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production. Most recently Sallis starred in a new Wallace and Gromit adventure, A Matter of Loaf and Death
A Matter of Loaf and Death
A Matter of Loaf and Death is an animated television short created by Nick Park, and the fourth of his shorts to star his characters Wallace and Gromit...
, in 2008. In 2010 he provided the voice for Wallace in the TV show Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention.
Sallis was awarded the OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in the Queen's Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
List in 2007 for services to Drama. On 17 May 2009 he appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
.
Autobiography
In 2006, Sallis published a well-received autobiography entitled, with typical self-deprecation, Fading Into the Limelight. Roger Lewis in The Mail on SundayThe Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
stated "Though Sallis is seemingly submissive, he has a sly wit and sharp intelligence that make this book a total delight."
Sallis starred with Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
in Welles' stage play, Moby Dick Rehearsed
Moby Dick Rehearsed
Moby Dick Rehearsed is the title of a play written and directed by Orson Welles. It was performed in London in 1955. A lost film of the play, directed by Welles, starred the original stage cast....
and tells of a later meeting with him where he received a mysterious telephone call summoning him to the deserted and spooky Gare d'Orsay
Gare d'Orsay
Gare d'Orsay is a former Paris railway station and hotel, built in 1900 to designs by Victor Laloux, Lucien Magne and Émile Bénard; it served as a terminus for the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans . It was the first electrified urban rail terminal in the world, opened 28 May 1900, in time for the...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where Welles announced he wanted him to dub Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
bit-players in his cinema adaptation of Kafka
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
's The Trial
The Trial (1962 film)
The Trial is a 1962 film directed by Orson Welles, who also wrote the screenplay based on the novel of the same name by Franz Kafka...
. As Sallis says "the episode was Kafka-esque, to coin a phrase."
Despite his nearly 37 years in Last Of The Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
, this is far from the main focus of the book, in which Sallis also recounts the early era of his relationship with Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
creator Nick Park
Nick Park
Nicholas Wulstan "Nick" Park, CBE is an English filmmaker of stop motion animation best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep....
when it took six years for A Grand Day Out to be completed. He says that his work as Wallace has "raised his standing a few notches in the public eye".
Personal life
Sallis suffers from macular degenerationMacular degeneration
Age-related macular degeneration is a medical condition which usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field because of damage to the retina. It occurs in “dry” and “wet” forms. It is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment in older adults...
and in 2005 recorded an appeal on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
on behalf of the Macular Disease Society. He recorded a television appeal on behalf of the society which was broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 8 March 2009.
Television roles
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior... : The Ice Warriors The Ice Warriors The Ice Warriors is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from November 11 to December 16, 1967... |
Penley |
| 1971 | The Persuaders! The Persuaders! The Persuaders! is a 1971 action/adventure series, produced by ITC Entertainment for initial broadcast on ITV and ABC. It has been called "the last major entry in the cycle of adventure series that had begun eleven years earlier with Danger Man in 1960", as well as "the most ambitious and most... |
David Piper |
| 1973 to 2010 | Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and... |
Norman Clegg |
| 1974 | The Pallisers The Pallisers The Pallisers is a 1974 BBC television adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels.-Cast :*Anthony Ainley: Rev. Emilius*Terence Alexander: Lord George*Anthony Andrews: Lord Silverbridge*Sarah Badel: Lizzie Eustace... |
Mr. Bonteen |
| 1976 to 1978 | The Ghosts of Motley Hall The Ghosts of Motley Hall The Ghosts of Motley Hall was a British children's television series written by Richard Carpenter, produced and directed by Quentin Lawrence, and shown in 1976 by Granada Television.The series relates the adventures of 5 ghosts who haunt Motley Hall... |
Mr Gudgin |
| 1978 to 1980 | Leave It To Charlie | Arthur Simister |
| 1984 to 1990 | The Wind In The Willows The Wind in the Willows (TV series) The Wind in the Willows is a 52-episode TV series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 film The Wind in the Willows. It was made by animation company Cosgrove Hall for Thames... |
Voice of Rat |
| 1987 | The New Statesman The New Statesman The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time... |
Sidney Bliss |
| 1988 to 1989 | First of the Summer Wine First of the Summer Wine First of the Summer Wine is a sitcom written by Roy Clarke that aired on BBC1. The pilot originally aired on 3 January 1988, and the first series of episodes followed on 4 September 1988. The show ran for two series of six episodes each, with the final episode airing on 8 October 1989. The pilot... |
Mr Clegg |
| 1989 to present | Wallace and Gromit Wallace and Gromit Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations... |
Voice of Wallace |
| 2009 | Kingdom Kingdom (TV series) Kingdom is a British television series produced by Parallel Film and Television Productions for the ITV network. It was created by Simon Wheeler and stars Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom, a Norfolk solicitor who is coping with family, colleagues, and the strange locals who come to him for legal... |
Cyril |