Terry-Thomas
Biography
Terry-Thomas was an English actor and comedian whose films of the 1950s and 1960s made him famous internationally; he played upper-class rogues, cads and bounders, using a monocle and cigarette holder. Born in London, he made his uncredited film debut in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), then spent years in small roles and wartime entertainment with ENSA and Stars in Battledress before starring in the London stage show Piccadilly Hayride and heading the first British television comedy series, How Do You View? In the 1950s he appeared in Private's Progress (1956), Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957), I'm All Right Jack (1959) and Tom Thumb (1958), earning a BAFTA nomination for the last. He moved into American films in the early 1960s, appearing in How to Murder Your Wife (1965) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), then worked in European films such as the French film La Grande Vadrouille. His final film came in 1980.
78years old at death
- Born Finchley
- Died Godalming
- Star sign: CancerThe sign runs June 21 to July 22
- Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens (birth name)
Movie Career
- Films
- 22
- Career span
- 21 years1957 to 1978
Genres
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A role that slipped away
In 1962 Terry-Thomas was offered the part of Lt-Colonel J. Algernon Hawthorne in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He said no before flying to the UK, but changed his mind by the time he landed in London and called Stanley Kramer from the airport to accept.
About the name
Terry-Thomas billed himself as Thomas Stevens, then rearranged it to the backward spelling Mot Snevets. He changed it to Thomas Terry, then inverted it to Terry Thomas, adding the hyphen in 1947 to tie the two names together.
Own stunts
Terry-Thomas did his own stunts, including running along the roof of a moving train for Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.
Terry-Thomas movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Robert Fuest directed two of these films, Ken Annakin two and Don Sharp two. John Le Mesurier appears in five of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
John Le Mesurier's page
Hugh Griffith's page
Irene Handl's page
Lionel Jeffries's page
Dennis Price's page
Gert Fröbe's page
Robert FuestDirector, 2 films, 1971 to 1972
All films by Robert Fuest
Ken AnnakinDirector, 2 films, 1965 to 1969
All films by Ken Annakin
Don SharpDirector, 2 films, 1966 to 1967
All films by Don Sharp
Box office
What Terry-Thomas's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$137 million
5 of the 22 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 22 films: 5 worldwide figure; 17 figure not found.
- 5Worldwide figure
- 17Figure not found
Highest grossing
The five biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$60M43.9% of the total
- 2$33M24.1% of the total
- 3Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes1965as Sir Percy Ware-Armitage$30M21.9% of the total
- 4$12M8.8% of the total
- 5$1.8M1.3% of the total
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.