Clive Dunn

Clive Dunn
OBE
Dunn in Surprise Attack (1951)
Born
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn

(1920-01-09)9 January 1920
Brixton,[1] London, England
Died6 November 2012(2012-11-06) (aged 92)
Faro, Portugal
Alma materItalia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
OccupationActor
Years active1935–1984
Known forLance Corporal Jones
Spouses
  • Patricia Kenyon
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1951; div. 1958)​
  • ​
    (m. 1959)​
Children2
RelativesGretchen Franklin (cousin)
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchRoyal Armoured Corps, British Army
RankTrooper
Unit4th Queen's Own Hussars
Battles/warsBattle of Greece

Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE (9 January 1920 – 6 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army, which ran for nine series and 80 episodes between 1968 and 1977.[2]

Dunn started his acting career in 1935, but this was interrupted by the Second World War, in which he served as a trooper in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars.[3] In 1941, the regiment was forced to surrender after it was overrun during the Greek campaign, and Dunn was held as a POW in Austria for the next four years.

After the war, Dunn resumed his acting career in repertory theatre. He made his first television appearance in 1951 as the man in the pub in Surprise Attack, a short film commissioned by the Ministry of Health.[4] Dunn appeared in both series of The Tony Hancock Show and made many appearances with Tony Hancock, Michael Bentine, Dora Bryan and Dick Emery, among others, before winning the role of Jones in Dad's Army in 1968.

After Dad's Army ended, Dunn capitalised on his reputation for playing elderly character roles by playing the lead character Charlie Quick, in the slapstick children's TV series Grandad, from 1979 to 1984.

  1. ^ Dennis Barker (7 November 2012). "Clive Dunn obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  2. ^ Clive Dunn. Telegraph (7 November 2012). Retrieved on 4 February 2013.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference BFI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).