Talfryn Thomas: Difference between revisions

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'''Talfryn Thomas''' was a [[Welsh]] actor, born John Talfryn Thomas on [[31 October (people)|31 October]] [[1922 (people)|1922]] in [[Swansea]].  

He trained as an instrument mechanic, but joined the local amateur dramatic society. During the [[Second World War]], he was a rear gunner on a [[Lancaster Bomber]], flying on multiple raids into [[Germany]]. After a surviving a crash in which all other crew were killed, Thomas took up acting partly as a diversion from the trauma. Thomas excelled at playing quirky and sometimes seedy Welshmen. His distinctive appearance was enhanced by his protruding front teeth, which earned him the nickname 'Talf The Teef'.

He trained as an actor in the {{w|London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art}} (LAMDA).<ref name="DAAS">{{cite web|title=Other Characters|url=http://www.dadsarmy.co.uk/othercharacters.html|work=The Dad's Army Appreciation Society|accessdate=10 October 2012}}</ref> For some time he acted in provincial theatres, and he began making television appearances in the late 1950s.<ref name="DAAS" /> Among his earliest television appearances were his roles in two episodes of {{wi|The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers}} - ''A Surfeit of H2O'' (1965) and ''Look Stop Me'' (1968) - and with [[Roger Moore]] in {{wi|The Saint (TV series)|The Saint}} (1968).  He is probably best remembered for his role as Private Cheeseman, a member of the Home Guard in later episodes of {{wi|Dad's Army}} with [[Alan Tilvern]] and [[Wendy Richard]] (1973-1974); it was hoped that his character would replace James Beck's character Private Walker when Beck died in 1973, but it did not work out. In 1975, he featured in several episodes of the first series of the BBC TV series {{wi|Survivors (1975 TV series)|Survivors}} as Tom Price. In 1979, he appeared on ''The Ken Dodd Laughter Show'' with {{w|Rita Webb}} and Pat Ashton. He was a regular on [[Ken Dodd]]'s BBC radio comedy show.