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Wikipedia / Peter Bull

Peter Cecil Bull (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British actor who appeared on the stage and in supporting roles in such films as The African Queen, Tom Jones and Dr. Strangelove; he wrote twelve books.

Biography

Pre-war

He was the fourth and youngest son of William Bull, later Sir William Bull, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for Hammersmith. Bull was educated at Winchester College. His first professional stage appearance was in If I Were You at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1933.

War service

He was a friend of Alec Guinness, whom he first met at during training in the Second World War, and later . He served as an officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, later commanding Landing Craft (Flak) 16 in the Mediterranean. He achieved the rank of lieutenant commander and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Post-war

Returning to acting after the war, he narrated and had a small role in Scrooge (1951) and portrayed the captain of the ship that Katharine Hepburn's and Humphrey Bogart's characters set out to destroy, whom they persuade to marry them just before they are to be executed, in The African Queen (1951). Bull was the first actor to portray Pozzo in the English-language version of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot when it opened on 3 August 1955.

Bull's performance as the Soviet Ambassador, Alexi de Sadesky, in Dr. Strangelove (1964) is probably the best known of his many film and TV appearances. He was cast as Thwackum, one of Blifil's two tutors, in the 1963 film Tom Jones. In the 1970s, he ran a small shop just off Notting Hill Gate, selling zodiac-related items.

Bull was an avid collector of teddy bears. He published a number of books about them, including Bear With Me and The Teddy Bear Book, as well as a book on his adventures on the Greek islands of Corfu and Paxos, where he owned a house, It isn't all Greek to me, illustrated by Roger Furse. He was also the author of a non-fiction book about his experiences during the Second World War as commander of a Tank Landing Craft (LCT), To Sea in a Sieve (1956), the best-selling I Say, Look Here!: The Rather Random Reminiscences of a Round Actor in the Square (1965) and several memoirs and collections of his letters. Peter Bull died of a heart attack in London on 20 May 1984 at 72 years of age.

Partial filmography

Theatrical appearances

Data from Peter Bull and Sheridan Morley (ed.) [1985]

  • If I were You (début), As You Desire Me, Escape Me Never, London 1933

  • Escape Me Never, New York (1935)

  • Founder and manager of Perranporth Summer Theatre, 1936–1939

  • The Boy David, London, 1936

  • Judgement Day, London, 1939

  • The Lady's Not for Burning, London, 1948

  • Pericles, London, The Lady's Not for Burning, New York, 1950

  • Figure of Fun, London, 1951

  • Under the Sycamore Tree, London, 1952

  • Second Best Bed, The Man with Expensive Tastes, London, 1953

  • The Dark is Light Enough, London, 1954

  • Waiting for Godot, London, 1955

  • The Restless Heart, Man of Distinction, London, 1957

  • Luther, London, Paris, 1961

  • Pickwick, London, Luther, New York, 1963

  • Pickwick, New York, 1965

  • Black Comedy, New York, 1967

Published works

  • To Sea in a Sieve (1956)

  • Bulls in the Meadow (1957)

  • I Know the Face But... (1959)

  • Not on Your Telly (1961)

  • I Say Look Here (1965)

  • It Isn't All Greek to Me (1967)

  • Bear with me (1969)

  • The Teddy Bear Book (1970)

  • Life Is a Cucumber (1973)

  • Peter Bull's Book of Teddy Bears (1977a)

  • A Hug of Teddy Bears (1984)

  • Bull's Eyes: The Selected Memoirs of Peter Bull (1986)

Footnotes

Bibliography