Norman Shelley
Biography
Norman Shelley was a British actor remembered mainly for radio, especially the BBC's Children's Hour. Born in Chelsea, London, he intended to become an aircraft designer but took up acting on Rosina Fillipi's advice, making his first public appearance at the Old Vic in 1919. During the early 1920s he toured with Charles Doran's Shakespeare company. Shelley made his first BBC broadcast in 1926, after building a radio reputation in Australia and New Zealand. For Children's Hour he became known as Winnie-the-Pooh and as Dennis the Dachshund in Toytown, and he portrayed Dr. Watson opposite Carleton Hobbs's Sherlock Holmes from 1952 to 1969. He voiced Gandalf and Tom Bombadil in a radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and played Detective Constable Walter Dew in Jack the Ripper, a 1973 BBC television series. Late in life he gained a new following as Colonel Freddy Danby in the radio soap opera The Archers.
77years old at death
- Born Chelsea
- Died London
- Star sign: AquariusThe sign runs January 20 to February 18
Movie Career
- Films
- 5
- Career span
- 24 years1945 to 1969
Every film, newest first
- 1969Frankenstein Must Be DestroyedIMDb rating 6.7
- 1960The Angry SilenceIMDb rating 7.2
- 1953The Great AdventureIMDb rating 7.0
- 1947Dancing with CrimeIMDb rating 6.5
- 1945I Know Where I'm Going!IMDb rating 7.4
Genres
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A first
Shelley played Dr. Watson opposite Carleton Hobbs's Sherlock Holmes for seventeen years, from October 1952 to July 1969, in a long-running radio series.
A change of course
Norman Shelley had planned on a career as an aircraft designer, but the actress and teacher Rosina Fillipi advised him to take up stage acting instead.
First role
Shelley first appeared in public at the Old Vic in 1919. In the early 1920s he went on tour with the Charles Doran Shakespeare Company, taking parts including Trebonius in Julius Caesar and Sebastian in Twelfth Night.
A first
Shelley's first BBC broadcast was in 1926, after he had already built a radio reputation in Australia and New Zealand.
Norman Shelley movies on Netflix
Worked with
Norman Shelley shares two films with Richard Attenborough, and one with each of the others. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Richard Attenborough's page
Peter Cushing's page
Oliver Reed's page
Dirk Bogarde's page
Geoffrey Keen's page
Bernard Lee's page
All films by Emeric Pressburger
All films by Michael Powell
Terence FisherDirector, 1 film, 1969
All films by Terence Fisher
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.