1. Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth was a British actor and comedian best known for his appearances in the Carry On film series.
23 Facts About Peter Butterworth
1. 2.
Peter Butterworth was a regular on children's television and radio.
3.
Peter Butterworth served as a lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War.
4.
On 21 June 1940 while serving with 826 Naval Air Squadron, Peter Butterworth was shot down during an attack against a German-occupied seaplane air base on Texel in the Netherlands.
5.
Peter Butterworth was sent to Stalag Luft III near Sagan in Poland.
6.
The performance was followed by some comic repartee which, according to Peter Butterworth's account, provoked enough boos and hisses to have the desired effect of drowning out the sounds of an escape tunnel being dug by other prisoners' escape party.
7.
Peter Butterworth was one of the vaulters covering for the escapers during the escape portrayed by the book and film The Wooden Horse.
8.
Peter Butterworth later auditioned for the film in 1949 but "didn't look convincingly heroic or athletic enough" according to the makers of the film.
9.
All four remained very close friends after the war ended and they all appeared on This Is Your Life when Peter Butterworth was a subject of the programme in 1975.
10.
Peter Butterworth came to notice after appearing in pantomime around the UK.
11.
Guest and Peter Butterworth became close friends and the two worked on a further seven films together during their careers.
12.
Peter Butterworth presented successful programmes aimed at children in the 1950s including Whirligig and Peter Butterworth Time.
13.
Peter Butterworth continued to take minor parts in films and went on to appear alongside actors including Sean Connery, David Niven and Douglas Fairbanks Jr during his career.
14.
Peter Butterworth starred in the children's TV show Saturday Special, broadcast on Saturdays at 5:00 pm, alternating with Whirligig.
15.
Peter Butterworth was put in touch with the creator of the series, Peter Rogers, by his friend Talbot Rothwell, the writer of Carry On Cowboy and who had written the previous four films.
16.
Peter Butterworth's Carry On appearances portrayed his characters as typically quiet and subtly eccentric.
17.
Peter Butterworth was often cast as a stooge for another character.
18.
Peter Butterworth was unable to take larger parts due to other work and stage commitments, but these minor roles were specially written into the films for him.
19.
Peter Butterworth returned to playing more substantial parts within the Carry On films with Carry On Abroad, in which he played 'Pepe' the manager of an unfinished hotel with his nagging wife.
20.
Peter Butterworth remained with the series until the final film in the main series, Carry On Emmannuelle.
21.
Peter Butterworth appeared in Lester's film version of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
22.
Peter Butterworth was introduced to actress and impressionist Janet Brown by Rothwell and the two married in 1946 at St Mary's, Bryanston Square, Marylebone.
23.
In 1979, whilst The First Great Train Robbery was on general release, Peter Butterworth was starring as Widow Twankey in the pantomime Aladdin at the Coventry Theatre.