George Layton

Layton was born George Michael William Rafael Löwy in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England^[2] to Fritz and Edith Löwy (née Hecht), the second of three children (an older brother, Peter and a younger sister, Viv).^[3] Both of Layton's parents were Austrian Jews who fled their native Vienna to England just before the outbreak of the Second World War. His grandfather, Victor Hecht fled to England with his wife and sent the letter to George's parents that led them to moving to the UK.^[3] When they arrived, they couldn't speak a word of English, and worked as a butler and maid.^[3]

The family moved to Surrey before settling in Bradford where Layton was born in Bradford Royal Infirmary.^[4] They lived in a house in Manningham, Bradford, where they shared a house with another family of refugees Layton's father had met (in total four adults and six children).^[3] Layton attended Lilly Croft Primary School in 1947 and played Puck in a school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which got him into acting.^[5][3] He was educated at Belle Vue Boys' Grammar School in Bradford. During his teenage years, he earned seven shillings and a sixpence every Saturday delivering groceries on a bike.^[3]

In 1956, Layton and his best friend, Roger Selby, were at Selby's aunt and uncles house in Edinburgh during the summer holidays;^[3] they went to different schools and Layton's schools holidays ended early, so he called in sick so he could stay in Scotland, and with Selby climbed the Arthur's Seat mountainous hill, by the time they got up to the top it was dark so they took a shortcut which led them to the edge of a cliff overhanging a 60-foot drop;^[3] unable to go up or down they yelled for help until the police came and attempted to rescue them however they also got stuck.^[3] After the fire brigade were called, they were successfully brought back down.^[3] According to Selby, the incident was "splashed all over the national press" including the Bradford Telegraph, which got George in trouble as the school's headmaster, believing he was sick, had read the paper.^[3]

In an interview for Talking Pictures TV Channel in April 2020, he mentioned his work on BBC Children's Hour at the former BBC Studios at Piccadilly, Manchester, where he came under the influence and guidance of Trevor Hill, Violet Carson and Doris Gamble. He then studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, studying in the same class as Mike Leigh, Martin Jarvis and Ian McShane,^[5] where he won the Emile Littler award for most promising actor and The Denys Blakelock Award for an outstanding performance in a minor role.^[6][7] He graduated in 1962.^[7] After graduating, he joined Belgrade Theatre.^[8] Layton auditioned for the role of Terry Collier for the show The Likely Lads, however the producers deemed that he was not a big enough of a household name yet, giving the role to James Bolam.^[8]

Layton was also one of the main presenters on the original series of That's Life!, hosted by Esther Rantzen. He went on to leading parts at Coventry and Nottingham and in 1963 appeared on Broadway in Chips with Everything, the production lasted for six months but according to Layton the assassination of John F. Kennedy forced the show to be stopped.^[5] Layton's big break came in 1969 with the show Doctor in the House in which he played Paul Collier.^[5] He would later reprise this role many times for other Doctor-related series'^[5] such as the 1971 show Doctor at Large, the 1972—73 show Doctor in Charge and the 1991 sitcom Doctor at the Top. His other television writing credits during this time with Jonathan Lynn include episodes of On the Buses, Nearest and Dearest, Romany Jones and My Name Is Harry Worth. Layton wrote for the first series of Doctor at Large under the pseudonym "Oliver Fry".^[9][8] and contributed scripts under his own name to subsequent series in the "Doctor" franchise. Layton was part of the team that wrote most of the episodes of series 4-6 of Robin's Nest and was the creator and primary writer of Executive Stress (1986-88).

Layton was cast as Bombardier "Solly" Solomons in It Ain't Half Hot Mum. He appeared in sixteen episodes of the first two series before he left the show after the second series when he felt that his character wasn't developing enough, which led to show co-creator David Croft telling him "if you're not happy, you can leave".^[5][10] Bombardier Solomons was written out of the show, and in the first episode of the third series, it is written that he was demobbed. Layton still remained friends with Perry and Croft.^[8] George also appeared in an Australian production called Funny Peculiar in 1977^[11] and later took over the role of Fagin from Roy Hudd in 1979^[12] in the first London revival of Oliver! at the Albery Theatre. He also appeared in two episodes of The Sweeney. and made a few early appearances as himself on the light entertainment BBC1 consumer show That's Life!.

In the 1980s,he played the recurring character 'Des' in the hit comedy-drama Minder. In a 2021 interview with Paul Stenning, Layton described how he left Minder temporarily as he had committed to a pantomime and now bitterly regrets he lost his role in the show.^[13] From 1999 to 2000, he appeared in all fourteen episodes of the show Sunburn, starring Michelle Collins.^[5] In 1999, he was the subject of an episode of This is Your Life.^[14][15] In 2011, he played a love interest to Pat Butcher on EastEnders.^[5] Layton has written three books of short stories, entitled The Fib and Other Stories, The Swap and Other Stories and The Trick and Other Stories. The tales describe family life in the North of England after the Second World War. The books have been part of the National Curriculum in British schools, and film versions are being planned. Myles McDowell quotes Layton's The Balaclava Story as an example of how adults are often mostly absent from children's fiction.^[16]

Layton lives in North London with his second wife, Moya Smylie, who he met in 1974 and married three years later.^[5] He married his first wife, Vera Hodges, in 1968 but divorced some time after. He has four children, two with Vera and two with Moya.^[5] From his first marriage, he has Tristan, who works for charity and Claudie, who is a producer.^[5] From his second marriage, he has Danny, a former musical director for Endemol and Hannah, a comedy agent.^[5]

As actor:

• Billy Liar as Geoffrey Fisher (King's Head, Islington)
• The Caucasian Chalk Circle as Lavrenti (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry)
• Chicago as Amos Hart (Adelphi Theatre, London)
• Chips With Everything as First Corporal (Royal Court and Broadway)
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as Ponty (New Theatre, Bromley)
• More Lies About Jerzy as Jerzy Kosinski (New End Theatre, Hampstead)
• The Odd Couple as Felix (Theatre Royal, Windsor)
• Oliver! as Fagin Albery Theatre 1978/9 then at the(London Palladium)
• Twelfth Night as Feste (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry)

As director:

• Barefoot in the Park (Cambridge Theatre Company)
• Dangerous Corner (Cambridge Theatre Company)
• Aladdin (Theatre Royal, Bath)
• Dick Whittington (Shaw Theatre)