17 Facts About Windsor Davies

Windsor Davies is best remembered for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum over its entire run.

Windsor Davies later starred with Donald Sinden in Never the Twain, and his deep Welsh-accented voice was heard extensively in advertising voice-overs.

Windsor Davies was born on 28 August 1930 in Canning Town, East London, to Welsh parents.

Windsor Davies performed his National Service in Libya and Egypt, with the East Surrey Regiment, between 1950 and 1952.

Windsor Davies had become active in amateur dramatics, including the Bromley Little Theatre, and took a short drama course with a Kew theatre company.

Windsor Davies became a professional actor at the age of 31 and began working at the Cheltenham repertory theatre in 1961.

Windsor Davies' best known role was as Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the British sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum, who was modelled on similar individuals Windsor Davies had met as a soldier during his national service.

Journalist Neil Clark, contributing to The Times in 2005, described his performance as the "definitive portrayal of a bullying and uneducated sergeant-major" and reported Spike Milligan was of the opinion that Windsor Davies' role was "the funniest comic performance he had ever" watched.

Windsor Davies was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

Windsor Davies featured in an episode of 2 Point 4 Children in 1999, as Ben's long-lost Uncle Ion.

Windsor Davies played Mog in the Welsh rugby film Grand Slam, and was a sergeant in the Highland Regiment in Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall with Jim Dale and Spike Milligan.

Windsor Davies appeared as Baron Hardup in the pantomime Cinderella in Bournemouth, UK, from 10 December 1992 to 17 January 1993.

Windsor Davies appeared alongside New Zealand rugby union coach Alex Wyllie in New Zealand advertisements for Mitre 10 hardware stores in the early 1990s.

Windsor Davies sang and voiced many characters in the Paul McCartney film Rupert and the Frog Song in 1984, and appeared in that year's children's film Gabrielle and the Doodleman as three different characters.

Windsor Davies lived in the south of France, and was a keen birdwatcher.

Windsor Davies was an amateur organist and occasionally played at Capel Y Cymru London.

Windsor Davies died on 17 January 2019, aged 88, four months following the death of his wife.