Geoffrey Toone

Born in Dublin, Ireland to English parents, he was educated at Charterhouse School and Christ's College, Cambridge.^[1] He served in the Royal Artillery during World War II, but was invalided out in 1942.^[4]

Toone's notable appearances include:

• As Sir Edward Ramsay in the musical film The King and I (he dances with Deborah Kerr in the banquet sequence, much to the annoyance of the King).^[6]
• As retired boxer and pimp Denny Lipp in "Jeff", a noteworthy 1960 episode of the TV series The Westerner, produced, directed and co-written by Sam Peckinpah. The episode also featured in a small role Warren Oates, who became a Peckinpah stalwart.
• The BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who:
  • As Temmosus in the film of Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)^[7]
  • As Hepesh in the television story The Curse of Peladon in 1972.^[8]
• In Freewheelers as the Nazi officer Karl von Gelb who continually tries to avenge Germany's World War II defeat.^[9]
• As R. A. Crichton in "The Greasy Pole", a 1981 episode of Yes Minister.^[10]
• As Lord Ridgemere, owner of the stately home where Delboy and Rodney dropped a chandelier in the Only Fools and Horses episode, "A Touch of Glass".^[11]
• As Lord Bittlesham, a recurring character in the TV adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster.^[12]

For many years Toone shared a house with his close friend, the actor Frank Middlemass.^[13] "To their general amusement", they were often mistaken to be lovers, but in fact were not.^[14]

Toone died from natural causes, aged 94, at Denville Hall in Northwood, London.^[3] At the time of his death, Toone was one of the last survivors of the Old Vic theatre company of the 1930s, having appeared alongside the likes of John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier in productions of Shakespeare.^[15][13] At the time, he was also the longest-lived actor to have appeared in Doctor Who.^[16]