Claude Dampier

Claude Dampier (1879-1955) was an English film actor and popular character comedian in the early 20th century.[2][3]

Claude Dampier
Postcard c. 1910s
Born
Claud Conolly Cowan

1879
Clapham, London, England
Died1 January 1955
Ashford, Middlesex, England
Resting placeGolders Green Crematorium
OccupationActor, Comedian
Spouse(s)Irene Vere
Billie Carlyle[1]
ChildrenDorothy Dampier

Life

He was born in Clapham, South London as Claud Conolly Cowan.[2][3]

He played largely comic roles, first appearing in music hall acts and then moving to both film and radio comedies. Dampier usually appeared as a dim-witted 'silly ass' type, often billed as 'The Professional Idiot'.[4][5] He was best remembered for his post-war Jewel and Warriss radio shows, where he adopted the catch-phrase "it's me-ee".[6]

Dampier toured Australia with Edward Branscombe's Dandies troupes between 1910 and 1917. He revisited the country in 1921, and starred in two Australian films before returning to England.[1]

He married Australian actress Billie Carlyle (c1901-1991), who appeared as a 'straight-woman' in his act.[7] They met whilst acting in the silent film The Adventures of Algy (1925).[8] Carlyle later wrote a book, Claude Dampier, Mrs. Gibson & Me (1978).[9][10] 'Mrs. Gibson' was Dampier's gimmick (apparently developed accidentally), a fictitious member of the audience with whom he spoke throughout his act.[3]

Dampier is the father of actress Dorothy Dampier.[4][11]

He died in 1955 in London of pneumonia.[12]

He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in north London on 4 January 1955. His ashes lie in section 1-L of the Garden of Remembrance.[13]

Filmography
gollark: Alternative idea: devise some awful hack to save all the memory to disk.
gollark: Pickle file?!!??!
gollark: Chat is dead and we have killed it.
gollark: Hope is for people with hope, really.
gollark: Some people are, you see, different to you. Thus, apiohazard.

References
  1. Clay Djubal. "Claude Dampier" at Australian Variety Theatre Archive. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  2. "Claude Dampier". BFI. Archived from the original on 2009-01-15.
  3. "Claude Dampier". vam.ac.uk.
  4. HistoryForSale Autographs: Authentic Autographs & Manuscripts. "HistoryForSale - Autographs and Manuscripts - Claude Dampier - Autograph Sentiment Signed - Document 160864". historyforsale.com.
  5. "' Top of the Bill ' CLAUDE DAMPIER". bbc.co.uk.
  6. Quinlan's Film Character Actors:David Quinlan
  7. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=no;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Person%3A%22%2FPerson%2Fkey%2F48069-1%22;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10
  8. /search/summary/summary.w3p;adv=no;group=;groupequals=;page=0;parentid=;query=Person%3A"%2FPerson%2Fkey%2F48069-1";querytype=;resCount=10
  9. "Claude Dampier, Mrs Gibson and me / by Billie Carlyle. - Version details - Trove". nla.gov.au.
  10. "Claude Dampier". comedy.co.uk.
  11. "Dorothy Dampier". BFI. Archived from the original on 2015-06-14.
  12. "Claude Dampier (1879 - 1955) - Find A Grave Memorial". findagrave.com.
  13. Golders Green Crematorium information guide


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