Richard Massingham was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 actor

Acting

Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....

 who is principally noted for starring in public information film

Public information film

Public Information Films are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement .-Subjects:...

s made in the 1940s and early 1950s.

Life

After working in medicine and making amateur films, Massingham set up Public Relationship Films Ltd in 1938 when he noticed that there was no specialist agency making short educational films for the public. In the films he typically played a bumbling character who was slightly stupider than average, and often explained the message of the film through demonstrating the risks if it was ignored. Films' topics included how to cross the road, how to prevent the spread of diseases, how to swim and how to drive without causing the road to be unsafe for other users.

Family

Massingham was from a talented family. His father was H. W. Massingham (1860-1924) the journalist, and his siblings included writer Harold John Massingham (1888-1952), writer Hugh Massingham (b 1905) and playwright and actress Dorothy Massingham (1889-1933). He was the son of Emma Jane née Snowdon, the daughter of Henry Snowdon of St. Leonards Priory, Norwich.

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