Ballard Berkeley

Ballard Berkeley (born Ballard Blascheck; 6 August 1903 – 16 January 1988) was an English actor of stage and screen. He played Major Gowen in the British television sitcom Fawlty Towers.

Life and career
The son of Joseph and Beatrice Blascheck, he was born in Margate, Kent. He served as a Special Constable with the Metropolitan Police during World War II, witnessing the Blitz at first hand including the bombing of the Café de Paris nightclub. For his service he received the Defence Medal and the Special Constabulary Long Service Medal.

Berkeley played the role of the bumbling Major Gowen in the BBC TV comedy Fawlty Towers. He had played a similar role in 1969 in the legal drama The Main Chance. He portrayed another retired military man (Colonel Freddie Danby) in BBC Radio 4's The Archers, taking over the role from Norman Shelley.

He played a starring role in Fresh Fields as main character Hester's father Guy, was Uncle Greville in To the Manor Born, and played Colonel Culpepper in Terry and June. He had small roles in a 1977 episode of Citizen Smith and the 1980 adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy, and appeared once in The New Avengers as Colonel Foster in the episode "Dirtier by the Dozen". He had a small role in the BBC sitcom Hi de Hi series five episode "Empty Saddles"

During the 1930s, he performed regularly in the so-called "quota quickies". One of his earliest roles was as the heroic lead in the 1937 film The Last Adventurers. He appeared in the 1942 film In Which We Serve – he also appeared in the Hitchcock film Stage Fright. In 1956, he starred as Detective Inspector Berkeley in one episode of Edgar Lustgarten's drama series, Scotland Yard, "Person Unknown". He made a brief appearance in the American film National Lampoon's European Vacation which starred Chevy Chase. In this film, Berkeley played a British man who is involved in a minor road accident with the Griswalds.

Berkeley later performed the role of Winston - a similar character to "The Major" - in the radio comedy Wrinkles by Doug Naylor and Rob Grant. He played Badedas the Blue, a wizard in the radio comedy series Hordes of the Things. His last role was as the Head of the Army in the animated film version of Roald Dahl's The BFG. He died in 1988, and the film was released the following year.

Selected filmography

 * The Chinese Bungalow (1930) - Richard Marquess
 * London Melody (1930) - Jan Moor
 * Trouble (1933) - (uncredited)
 * White Ensign (1934) - Cortez
 * East Meets West (1936) - Nazim
 * The Last Adventurers (1937) - Fred Devlin
 * Jennifer Hale (1937) - Richard Severn
 * The Outsider (1939) - (uncredited)
 * Dead Men are Dangerous (1939) - Franklin's publisher's partner (uncredited)
 * The Gang's All Here (1939) - Detective in Nightclub (uncredited)
 * Black Eyes (1939) - Diner
 * The Saint in London (1939) - Sir Richard Blake
 * The Flying Squad (1940) - Smuggler in Airplane (uncredited)
 * In Which We Serve (1942) - Engineer Commander
 * Quiet Weekend (1946) - Jim Brent
 * They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) - Rockliffe
 * Third Time Lucky (1949) - Bertram
 * Stage Fright (1950) - Sergeant Mellish
 * Blackmailed (1951) - Dr. McCormick
 * The Long Dark Hall (1951) - Police Supt. Maxey
 * Mister Drake's Duck (1951) - Maj. Deans
 * The Frightened Man (1952) - Inspector Bligh
 * The Lost Hours (1952) - Doctor
 * The Night Won't Talk (1952) - Inspector West
 * Circumstantial Evidence (1952) - Det. Insp. Hall
 * Three Steps to the Gallows (1953) - Insp. Haley
 * The Blue Parrot (1953) - Supt. Chester
 * Operation Diplomat (1953) - Inspector Austin
 * The Weak and the Wicked (1954) - Police Detective (uncredited)
 * Dangerous Cargo (1954) - Security Officer Findley
 * Forbidden Cargo (1954) - Cooper (uncredited)
 * Delayed Action (1954) - Insp. Crane
 * Child's Play (1954) - Dr. Nightingale
 * The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954) - Walter
 * See How They Run (1955) - Col. Warrington
 * The Stolen Airliner (1955) - Mr. Head
 * Passport to Treason (1956) - Inspector Thredgold
 * My Teenage Daughter (1956) - Magistrate
 * The Betrayal (1957) - Lawson
 * Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst (1957) - Lt. Col. Dewar-Durie
 * After the Ball (1957) - Andrews
 * Just My Luck (1957) - Starter at Goodwood (uncredited)
 * Night of the Demon (1957) - 1st Reporter (uncredited)
 * The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1958) - Court Clerk (uncredited)
 * Chain of Events (1958)
 * Further Up the Creek (1958) - Whacker Payne
 * Life Is a Circus (1960)
 * Cone of Silence (1960) - Commissioner
 * Impact (1963) - Bill MacKenzie
 * A Matter of Choice (1963) - Charles Grant
 * The Murder Game (1965) - Sir Colin Chalmers
 * Night Caller from Outer Space (1965) - Cmdr. Savage
 * Hostile Witness (1968) - Clerk of Court
 * The Weekend Murders (1970) - Peter, the butler
 * Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976) - Lord Snodley
 * The Playbirds (1978) - Trainer
 * Confessions from the David Galaxy Affair (1979) - Judge
 * Queen of the Blues (1979) - Uncle Fred
 * The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980) - Humphry Wills
 * Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980) - Sir Harry
 * The Little Blue Brontosaurus (1983) - Pterodactyl #17
 * Bullshot (1983) - Hotel Guest
 * National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) - Second English Motorist
 * Olivia Flaversham (1988) - Additional voices
 * The BFG (1989) - Head of the Army (voice)