Edward Chapman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Edward Chapman (13 October 1901 - 9 August 1977) was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. Wilfred Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s. Chapman was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. On leaving school he became a bank clerk but later began his stage career with Ben Greet's Company in June 1924 at the Repertory Theatre, Nottingham, playing Gecko in George du Maurier's Trilby. He made his first London stage appearance at the Court Theatre in August 1925 playing the Rev Septimus Tudor in The Farmer's Wife. Among dozens of stage roles that followed, he played Bonaparte to Margaret Rawlings's Josephine in Napoleon at the Embassy Theatre in September 1934. In 1928 he attracted the attention of Alfred Hitchcock, who gave him the role of "The Paycock" in the 1930 film, Juno and the Paycock. In the same year he also made an appearance in Caste (of which no prints are known to exist). He had a role in The Citadel in 1938 and appeared alongside George Formby in the Ealing Studios comedy Turned Out Nice Again in 1941. During the Second World War he took a break from acting and joined the Royal Air Force. After training he was posted to 129 (Mysore) Squadron as an intelligence officer. This Spitfire squadron was based at Westhampnett and Debden. The squadron was heavily engaged in combat during this period and many of Chapman's fellow squadron mates were killed in action. Chapman first starred alongside Wisdom in 1957's Just My Luck in the role of Mr. Stoneway, but the next year in The Square Peg he appeared as Mr. Grimsdale for the first time opposite Wisdom's character of Norman Pitkin. In 1960 he and Wisdom acted together again in The Bulldog Breed, playing the roles of Mr. Philpots and Norman Puckle - Mr. Grimsdale and Pitkin in all but name. Wisdom appeared alone as Norman Pitkin in On the Beat in 1962, while Chapman branched out, starring in the Danish folktale Venus fra Vestø, but Grimsdale and Pitkin were reunited for 1963's A Stitch in Time. Their final performance together was in The Early Bird in 1965, Wisdom's first film in colour. In all, he appeared alongside Norman Wisdom in five films. After Sir John Gielgud was arrested for "persistently importuning male persons for immoral purposes", Chapman started a petition to force him to resign from Equity. Sir Laurence Olivier reportedly threw Chapman out of his dressing room when he solicited his signature for the petition. From 1965 Chapman played mostly characters roles on television. His final role was as Mr. Callon for nine episodes of the BBC's seafaring melodrama The Onedin Line between 1971 and 1972. Chapman died of a heart attack in Brighton, East Sussex, England at the age of 75. Description above from the Wikipedia article Edward Chapman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For: Acting

Born: Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, UK, 1901-10-13

Died: 1977-08-09

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1930	Juno and the Paycock	Captain Boyle	47
2	1930	Murder!	Ted Markham	60
3	1930	Caste	Sam Gerridge	0
4	1931	The Skin Game	Dawker	53
5	1931	Tilly of Bloomsbury	Percy Welwyn	0
6	1932	The Flying Squad	Sedeman	0
7	1932	Happy Ever After	Colonel	0
8	1934	The Queen's Affair	Guard	0
9	1934	Blossom Time	Meyerhoffer	48
10	1934	Girls Will Be Boys	Grey	43
11	1934	The Church Mouse	Wormwood	47
12	1935	Mister Cinders	Mr. Gaunt	0
13	1935	The Divine Spark	Saverio Mercadante	0
14	1936	Things to Come	Pippa Passworthy / Raymond Passworthy	65
15	1936	The Man Who Could Work Miracles	Major Grigsby	57
16	1936	Someone at the Door	Price	0
17	1936	Rembrandt	Fabrizius	68
18	1938	Premiere	Lohrmann	50
19	1938	Who Killed John Savage?	Inspector Chortley	0
20	1938	The Citadel	Joe Morgan	63
21	1938	Marigold	Mordan	0
22	1939	The Nursemaid Who Disappeared		0
23	1939	The Four Just Men	B.J. Burrell	62
24	1939	There Ain't No Justice	Sammy Sanders	60
25	1939	Poison Pen	Len Griffin	65
26	1939	Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday	Captain Edwin Fraser	74
27	1940	Now You're Talking	Alf Small	0
28	1940	The Proud Valley	Dick Parry	62
29	1940	Law and Disorder	Detective Inspector Bray	55
30	1940	The Briggs Family	Charley Briggs	0
31	1940	Convoy	Captain Eckersley	54
32	1941	Eating Out with Tommy Trinder	Mr. Jones	60
33	1941	Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It	Mr. Blenkinsop	69
34	1941	Turned Out Nice Again	Uncle Arnold	65
35	1941	Jeannie	Mr. Jansen	65
36	1941	Ships with Wings	Papadopoulos	40
37	1942	They Flew Alone	Mr. Johnson	60
38	1947	The October Man	Mr. Peachy	62
39	1947	It Always Rains on Sunday	George Sandigate	66
40	1948	Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill	Birkland	77
41	1949	The History of Mr. Polly	Mr. Johnson	74
42	1949	Man on the Run	Chief Inspector Mitchell	66
43	1949	The Spider and the Fly	Minister for War	68
44	1950	Night and the City	Hoskins (uncredited)	75
45	1950	Gone to Earth	Mr. James	62
46	1952	The Magic Box	Father in Family Group	63
47	1952	The Cocktail Party		0
48	1952	His Excellency	The Admiral	60
49	1952	The Card	Mr. Duncalf	69
50	1952	Mandy	Ackland	69
51	1952	The Ringer	Stranger	58
52	1952	Folly to Be Wise	Joseph Byres M.P.	67
53	1953	The Intruder	Lowden	72
54	1953	A Day to Remember	Mr. Robinson	71
55	1954	The End of the Road	Works Manager	60
56	1954	The Crowded Day	Mr. Bunting	54
57	1955	A Yank in Ermine	Duke of Fontenham	40
58	1955	The Love Match	Mr Longworth	78
59	1956	Bhowani Junction	Thomas Jones	58
60	1956	Lisbon	Edgar Selwyn	64
61	1956	X: The Unknown	John Elliott	61
62	1957	Doctor at Large	Wilkins	56
63	1957	Just My Luck	Mr. Stoneway	60
64	1958	The Young and the Guilty	George Connor	55
65	1958	Innocent Sinners	Manley	70
66	1958	The Square Peg	Mr Grimsdale	64
67	1960	School for Scoundrels	Gloatbridge	69
68	1960	Oscar Wilde	Marquis of Queensberry	53
69	1960	The Bulldog Breed	Mr. Philpots	57
70	1961	The Big Deal	Sir Pierson Cale	0
71	1962	Venus fra Vestø		56
72	1963	A Stitch in Time	Mr Grimsdale	74
73	1964	Hide and Seek	McPherson	60
74	1965	Joey Boy	Tom Hobson	58
75	1965	The Early Bird	Mr. Thomas Grimsdale	76
76	1970	The Man Who Haunted Himself	Barton	61

No.

Year

Title

Role

Vote Average

1930