Terry Scott

Scott was born and brought up in Watford, Hertfordshire,^[2] and educated at Watford Field Junior School and Watford Grammar School for Boys. He was the youngest of three children, and the only surviving son after his brother Aubrey died when Scott was six.^[2] After National Service in the Navy at the end of the Second World War, he briefly studied accounting.

Scott began his acting career with appearances on radio shows such as Workers Playtime, which were followed by appearances on television. He gained an opportunity to perform in farce when he joined the Whitehall Theatre Company. With Bill Maynard he appeared at Butlin's Holiday Camp in Skegness, Lincolnshire and partnered him in the TV series Great Scott - It's Maynard!.^[3] During the 1960s he appeared alongside Hugh Lloyd in Hugh and I (1962–1967).^[4] They both appeared as Ugly Sisters in pantomime at The London Palladium; Scott reappeared in later years in the same role alongside Julian Orchard. Scott and Lloyd later appeared in Hugh and I Spy (1968) and, as gnomes, in the sitcom The Gnomes of Dulwich (1969).

In 1966 Scott was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance, for his performances on Scott on Birds; Scott on Money; Scott on Food; Hugh and I; and Christmas Night with the Stars.^[5]

Scott's novelty record "My Brother" (written by Mitch Murray, and released in 1962 on Parlophone) was based on a schoolboy character (he dressed in school uniform to sing it on TV). In the 1970s he had a role in TV commercials for Curly Wurly caramel bars, in which he again appeared dressed as a schoolboy, with short trousers and cap. He repeated this performance several times on BBC TV's long-running variety show The Good Old Days. Scott had played a small role in the very first of the Carry On films series of films, Carry On Sergeant in 1958. In 1968 he returned to the series with a role in Carry On Up the Khyber (1968), playing main roles in six of the later films.

Scott starred alongside June Whitfield in several series of the comedy Happy Ever After and its successor Terry and June.^[6] They had first worked together making a series of the sketch show Scott On (1968).^[2] They also featured in supporting roles together (as a couple) in the film version of Bless This House. Although both Scott and Whitfield made several Carry On appearances, they never appeared in the same film. From 1981 to 1992, Scott was the voice of Penfold the hamster in the animated series Danger Mouse.

Scott suffered from ill health for several years in the latter part of his life. In 1979, he had a life-saving operation after a brain haemorrhage.^[7] He also suffered from creeping paralysis and had to wear a neck brace.

Scott was also diagnosed with cancer in 1987 and besides voicing Penfold, gradually wound down his performing career. He died from its effects at his family home in Witley, Surrey, on 26 July 1994, at the age of 67.^[8] He said of his last illness: "I know it would be better to give up the booze, fags and birds, but life would be so boring, wouldn't it?"^[9]

When Terry and June ended in 1987, Scott suffered a nervous breakdown. The breakdown was in part brought on by his public confession that he had indulged in a series of affairs since his marriage to dancer Margaret Peden in 1957. The couple had four daughters.^[2]

• "Don't Light The Fire 'Til After Santa's Gone" / "My Brother", Parlophone R 4967 (December 1962)^[10]

Scott’s career extended beyond television and film into a substantial body of stage work, particularly in British farce and traditional pantomime. He appeared regularly in West End comedies and in major pantomime seasons, including several productions at the London Palladium, and toured widely in farces such as A Bedfull of Foreigners and Run for Your Wife.^[11][12]