Arthur Lowe

When touring at coastal theatres with his wife, Lowe used his distinctive 1885 former steam yacht Amazon as a floating base. He bought Amazon as a houseboat in 1968 but realised her potential and took her back to sea in 1971; this unique vessel is still operating in the Mediterranean. The ship had a bar with a semicircular notch cut halfway along, to enable both the portly figure of Lowe and his wife to serve behind the bar at the same time, acting as hosts during the parties they threw on board.

Son of Arthur ('Big Arthur') (1888-1971) and Mary Annie ('Nan') Lowe (née Ford) (1885-1981).

The only child of a Derbyshire railworker, Lowe gained valuable experience by organising shows for a British army field entertainment unit, in the Middle East, during World War Two, before commencing his professional acting career, at the age of 30, in 1945, upon joining the "Manchester Repertory Theatre Company".

In between endless tours for repertory and in major stage performances, Lowe utilised his character actor status - which writers identify as being aided by his bald head - in bit-parts for films including: the inspired "Ealing" black comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and The Green Man (1956).

Later, whilst gathering fame - with the reputedly observational realist soap opera Coronation Street (1960) - he cemented a professional relationship with maverick film director Lindsay Anderson; using left-wing sensibilities for some of his films: including If. . . .

Lowe, rotund and professionally indefatigable, rightly gained acclaim as an accomplished comedy character actor; fondly remembered as the irascible "Captain Mainwaring" in the Home Guard comedy series Dad's Army (1968-1977), and as Coronation Street (1960)'s "Leonard Swindley".

(1968) and several characters in the avant-garde O Lucky Man! (1973) (the latter earning Lowe an SFTA Award, for best supporting performance).

As his son, and biographer, Stephen Lowe, intimated, finances governed and perpetuated his career, in the final stages of his life, in the 1970s; appearing in over 100, and possibly very lucrative, television advertisements and, not surprisingly, a surfeit of comedies including the sit-com Potter (1979) (1979-1983), the ribald film No Sex Please - We're British (1973) and to rave reviews for his stage performance as "Stephano", in "The Tempest" (1974), at the "National Theatre".

In 1972, he recorded the novelty songs "How I Won The War" and "My Little Girl, My Little Boy".

He was originally cast in Royal Flash (1975) but was replaced.

In later life, his wife Joan Cooper insisted they only work on stage together, so he turned down a lot of good theatre work to tour the country in plays that were poor, just to give her a part. He was offered a part in a Hollywood film, Heaven Can Wait (1978), but felt obligated to turn it down because there was no part for his wife.

Three weeks into the shooting of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979), Alec Guinness panicked and decided he couldn't play George Smiley; he suggested Lowe as a replacement.

A memorial service was held for him at St Martin-in-the Fields, London on 24 May 1982.

Two biographies of him have been published: Arthur Lowe - Dad's Memory by his son Stephen, which was issued in 1997; and Arthur Lowe by Graham Lord in 2002.

In 2005, he was one of the first 100 to be honoured with his name set into the pavement in London's 'Avenue of the Stars' in Convent Garden.

In December 2007, plans were unveiled for a statue of Lowe to be erected in Thetford, Norfolk, where the outside scenes for Dad's Army (1968) were filmed. The statue was unveiled on 19 June 2010, by the writers of the series, Jimmy Perry and David Croft. The star has also had two blue plaques unveiled, one at Maida Vale and one at his birthplace in Hayfield, Derbyshire.