Robert Dorning

Robert Dorning (13 May 1913 – 21 February 1989) was a musician, dance band vocalist, ballet dancer and stage, film and television actor. He is known to have performed in at least seventy-seven television and film productions between 1940 and 1988.

Origins

Robert Dorning was born at 108 Croppers Hill in St Helens, Lancashire, England on 13 May 1913. His father was Robert John Dorning who worked in a local pit as a coal miner haulier and his mother was Mary Elizabeth Dorning, formerly Howard. [Information from his entry in the Register of Births.] He was educated at Cowley Grammar School in St Helens, where he also learnt to play violin and saxophone. After leaving school, Dorning studied drama and dance in Liverpool with the intention of becoming a ballet dancer. During the 1930s he had a brief career as a musical comedian in theatre, before choosing acting as his profession.

Film roles

His first known film role was in the crime drama, "They Came By Night" (1940). However, his acting career was interrupted by the war and Dorning served in the RAF. After being demobbed, he utilised his ballet dancing talents when cast as a dancer in "The Red Shoes" (1948). During the 1950s he had supporting roles in at least ten films, mainly B-movie crime dramas. Although his movie career was overshadowed by his more prolific television work, towards the end of his career he was cast in a number of notable film productions. These included "Ragtime" (1981), Agatha Christie's " Evil Under the Sun " (1982) and "Mona Lisa" (1986).

Television roles

From 1958 Dorning began a lengthy television career appearing in many classic comedies such as "Hancock's Half Hour" (1959-60), "Bootsie and Snudge" (1960), "Steptoe and Son" (1965) and "Rising Damp" (1978). Dorning played Mr. West, the bank inspector, in the classic "Dad's Army" episode "Something Nasty in the Vault" (1969) in which a bomb lands on Mainwaring's bank. Writer Jimmy Perry initially envisaged Jon Pertwee as the pompous bank manager and Home Guard officer Captain Mainwaring with Robert Dorning as Sergeant Wilson but eventually gave the roles to Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier respectively. ["Dad's Army: Missing Presumed Wiped" (2001), documentary, BBC Television.]

Dorning also had roles in a number of television soap operas and appeared as two different "Coronation Street" characters. He was Edward Wormold in 1965 and Alderman Rogers in an episode in 1972. In 1974 he played Lewis Potter in "Emmerdale Farm". Dorning also appeared in several comedies including Not on your Nellie, and a number of television thrillers including " The Avengers" (1966), "The Sweeney" (1975), "The Professionals" (1978) and "Bergerac" (1988).

His thespian family

His daughter, Stacy Dorning (1958 - ) is, perhaps, better known than her father having starred in the children's television series "The Adventures of Black Beauty" (1973 -1974) as well as "Just William" (1976). Acting was a family tradition as Robert's Lancaster-born wife, Honor Shepherd (1926 - 2000), had been an actress since the age of eleven when she played a dwarf in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937). Like her husband she appeared in a number of television programmes, including "Emergency Ward 10" (1957), "Hancock's Half Hour" (1961), "Dixon of Dock Green" (1966) and "Juliet Bravo" (1981). Their youngest daughter Kate Dorning appeared in "Rumpole of the Bailey" (1979) and " The Professionals" (1980).

Family members would sometimes appear together within the same programme. In 1979 Kate, Stacy and their mother Honor all appeared within an episode of the television drama "Dick Turpin".

Robert Dorning died on 21 February 1989 in London of cancer.

References

External links

*imdb name|0233923
* [http://archive.thisissthelens.co.uk/2004/8/26/2627.html Childhood recollections]