Graham Stark: 1922 - 2013
Many (if not most) will recognise his face, but we suspect that few will remember his name. However, Graham William Stark, who died yesterday (29th October) was one of those reliable and prolific supporting actors who appeared in dozens of 1960s, 70s and 80s movies.
He usually played a slightly pathetic, inadequate hard done by character desperately trying to be civilised and reasonable in a world that was anything but, in reality he was as sharp as a tack and there was nothing pathetic about him.
▲ Above: Julia Foster and Graham Stark exchanging confidence in the 1966 movie Alfie.
He created madcap voices for the legendary Goon Show (starring Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine). Later, he starred with Peter Sellers in many of the Pink Panther movies, and for a very brief period hosted his own TV show.
His face was often there in the background of (now classic) movie dramas and comedies, notably in Sink the Bismarck (1960), The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963), Mouse on the Moon (1963), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), and Casino Royale (1967).
He was still working throughout the 1980s and into the late 90s, after which he retired from the screen.
Unfortunately for Stark, who was born in The Wirral, Merseyside, he had neither the looks or charisma of a leading man, nor the personal gravitas required to "carry a movie". But he directed a few, and as a supporting actor, he was always right there where he needed to be delivering his lines with style and confidence, never stealing anything from the stars, and therefore always in demand.
Stark was also a photographer and amassed a large collection of pictures of the celebrities and personalities he either worked with, or who crossed his lens. The names read like a Who's Who of post war British comedy with actors such as Tony Hancock, Dick Emery, Eric Sykes, Hattie Jacques, Deryck Guyler, Patricia Hayes and Benny Hill coming into the frame.
But he'll perhaps be best—or at least most fondly remembered—as Humphrey, the shy and lovelorn bus conductor in the movie Alfie (1966) starring Michael Caine (arguably one of the top ten greatest films ever made).
Graham Stark was 91.
— Dexxion
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