Ian Lavender

Infobox Person
name = Ian Lavender

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birth_name = Arthur Ian Lavender
birth_date = birth date and age|1946|02|16|df=y
birth_place = Birmingham, England
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nationality = British
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occupation = Actor
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Arthur Ian Lavender, better known as Ian Lavender, (born 16 February 1946) is an English film and television actor best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series "Dad's Army".

Early life and career

Born in Birmingham, England [GRO Register of Births: MAR 1946 6d 813 BIRMINGHAM - Arthur I. Lavender, mmn = Johnson] , He later went straight from Bournville Boys Technical School, later Bournville Grammar-Technical School for Boys, where he had appeared in many school dramatic productions including playing Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", to the Bristol Old Vic Drama School, with the assistance of a grant from the City of Birmingham. He quickly made his mark as a talented young actor and following his graduation in 1967 appeared on stage in Canterbury. His first television appearance was as the lead in an ATV play entitled "Flowers at my Feet" in 1968.

Shortly afterwards, he was cast as Private Pike, the youngest member and 'stupid boy' of the platoon in "Dad's Army". This made him a household name and gave him the great advantage of working alongside a number of experienced and distinguished actors during his formative years, helping him to hone his acting skills. He appeared in the entire run of the series and in the spinoff film, made in 1971. He still takes part in occasional fan conventions and cast reunions.

Since "Dad's Army", Lavender spent most of his career in the theatre, most notably in a production of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" alongside Dustin Hoffman. Between 1971 and 1973 Lavender joined "Dad's Army" castmate Arthur Lowe on the BBC radio comedy "Parsley Sidings". He also appeared in films and television series, one of which featured him starring alongside Peter Jones. During the 1970s he appeared as a supporting actor in a number of British "low farce" films, including one "Carry On" film - "Carry On Behind" (1975). He was reunited with David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd in 1977 for the television series "Come Back Mrs Noah", though it was not particularly successful. 1978's "The Glums" proved rather more satisfactory, being a recreation of the characters from the popular Take It From Here radio series, written by its original writers Frank Muir and Denis Norden. He appeared in Granada Television's 1990 television game show "Cluedo", based on the board game.

Lavender has since appeared in several other comedy shows including two episodes of "Yes Minister", as Dr Richard Cartwright, and the shortlived "The Hello Goodbye Man", as the inept salesman Denis Ailing. He joined the BBC1 soap opera EastEnders in 2001, playing the role of Derek Harkinson. He was in EastEnders for four years, departing from the series in 2005.

During the 1990s, he had bit-part role as a burglar alarm salesman in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

He made a rather memorable appearance in Goodnight Sweetheart as two different parallel universe versions of the time-travelling lead character's son Michael.

Lavender successfully fought off cancer of the bladder in the 1980s and also survived a heart attack during this time.

He recently toured with "The Rocky Horror Show" musical, playing the Narrator. He also played the part of a patient in the 5 May 2007 episode of "Casualty" on BBC.

In late 2007, he toured in the comedy play "Donkey's Years". In May 2008 he appeared in the BBC documentary series "Comedy Map of Britain".

Ian appeared on BBC 1's The One Show on Thursday 31st July 2008.

Ian also appeared on BBC1's Jonathan Ross Salutes Dad's Army on Sunday August 3rd 2008.

References

Television Roles

Filmography

* "Dad's Army" (1971)
* "Three for All" (1975)
* "Confessions of a Pop Performer" (1975)
* "Carry on Behind" (1975)
* "Not Now, Comrade" (1976)
* "Adventures of a Taxi Driver" (1976)
* "Adventures of a Private Eye" (1977)
* "31 North 62 East" (2009)

External links

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Persondata
NAME = Lavender, Ian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Lavender, Arthur Ian
SHORT DESCRIPTION = English ctor
DATE OF BIRTH = 1946-02-16
PLACE OF BIRTH = Birmingham, England
DATE OF DEATH =
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