Richard Webber - The Complete A–Z of Everything Carry On

CLEGG, TOM

Roles: Massive Micky McGee in Regardless , Doorman in Spying , Sosages in Cleo , Blacksmith in Cowboy , Odbodd in Screaming! and Trainer in Loving

A stuntman and bit-part actor, Tom Clegg’s other credits include jobs in television shows Quatermass II and The Sweeney, as well as films like The Fake, The Extra Day and Raising the Wind. He was employed as a stuntman on numerous productions, including the films Ivanhoe and Thunderball.

CLEO, CARRY ON

see feature box here.

CLEOPATRA

Played by Amanda Barrie

Ruler of Egypt, the Queen of the Nile bathes in milk all day, making many men’s hearts flutter, especially Mark Antony’s in Cleo . She plots with Antony to topple Caesar but it takes several attempts before they finally see the back of Caesar and the blossoming of their relationship.

CLEOPATRA

The donkey who’s led into the lounge of the Palace Hotel in Fircombe. Seen in Girls , the animal is used to promote the beauty contest being held in the town; Peter Potter, a friend of Sidney Fiddler, who’s tasked with organising publicity for the event plans to photograph the girls with the donkey, using the promotional line, ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The donkey does little to ingratiate himself with hotel owner Connie Philpotts when it excretes all over the floor.

CLERK

Played by Ian Wilson

In Cabby the Clerk works at Stevens and Son, a printing firm. He speaks to Charlie Hawkins when he enters the office wanting some leaflets printed.

CLERK

Played by Lionel Murton

In Cowboy the Clerk works on the reception desk at Washington and briefly interviews the drainage, sanitation and garbage engineer Marshall P. Knutt when he arrives on the scene job-hunting. He soon wishes he hadn’t set eyes on the accident-prone Mr Knutt, though, when Knutt gets his plunger stuck on the clerk’s desk and ends up ripping the wooden top off.

CLIFF

Played by Jack Taylor

In Constable, Cliff is one of the robbers involved in the wages snatch.

CLIFTON, PHILIP

Role: Injured Footballer in Emmannuelle

Other television work saw Philip Clifton appearing in an episode of the Australian series, Delta , in 1970.

CLIFTON, ZENA

Roles: Au Pair Girl in Matron and Susan Clifton in Girls

As well as acting, Zena Clifton made a living as a dancer on many of Britain’s top television shows, such as Sez Les and The Benny Hill Show.

CLIFFORD, PEGGY ANN

Role: Willa Claudia in Cleo

Born in Bournemouth in 1919, Peggy Ann Clifford worked in rep before establishing herself as a supporting actress, normally cast as a jolly character on film and television. She was particularly busy during the 1950s, and appeared in many films, including Kind Hearts and Coronets, Man of the Moment, Brothers in Law, Doctor at Large and Under Milk Wood.

On television she was seen in, among others, Hancock’s Half Hour, Fawlty Towers, Man About the House, Bless This House, Dawson’s Weekly, George and Mildred, Are You Being Served? and Hi-de-Hi!.

She once sold a block of flats in Fulham in order to buy a grocery shop in Chelsea, which she ran for three years while not acting. She died in 1984, aged sixty-five.

CLIVE

Played by Larry Dann

A student from the University of Kidburn’s archaeological department who helps Professor Crump at the dig. While staying at the Riverside Caravan Site in Behind , next-door to where they are digging, Clive and his mate get friendly with two campers, Carol and Sandra.

CLIVE, JOHN

Roles: Robin Tweet in Abroad and Isaak the Tailor in Dick . (Note: also cast as the Dandy in Henry but scene cut.)

Born in 1938, Londoner John Clive began acting in rep as a child, appearing in plays like The Winslow Boy and Life with Father. His break arrived while working as a pageboy at a theatre. Hearing about auditions for a children’s show, he submitted his name and was accepted as a boy singer, as well as assisting the resident comic in sketches.

His face has since become familiar from more than a hundred film and television performances. On the big screen he’s appeared as a car manager in The Italian Job, as well as Clockwork Orange, Great Expectations and Revenge of the Pink Panther. On television his credits include The Sweeney, Wear A Very Big Hat, How Green Was My Valley, The Government Inspector, The Saint, Man in a Suitcase, Casualty, Perils of Pendragon, and the lead (Professor Sommerby) in the children’s series, Robert’s Robots. He’s also appeared with most of the great comedy performers including Dick Emery, Tommy Cooper, John Cleese and Peter Sellers.

Today, most of Clive’s time is dedicated to writing screenplays and novels – he’s written six to date – although he still acts if the right part comes along. Now divides his time between homes in England and Spain.

MEMORIES

‘You did the Carry On films and enjoyed them for what they were, never thinking, of course, that they’d become enormously successful cult movies. It’s quite remarkable.

‘My first role was playing Robin in Abroad. There was one thing that David, whom I knew prior to filming, and I couldn’t understand. Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey were both camping it up madly and we didn’t know why they wanted us to come in and do the same sort of thing. You know what actors are with everybody worried about their own positions and I didn’t want Kenneth or Charles to think we were seeking to take over their roles in the film – that was the last thing in our minds.

‘I liked Kenneth Williams enormously and thought he was a fabulously funny guy, so I was a little bit careful with him and waited to see how we’d get on, whether he was sharp with me but I’m glad to say he wasn’t. In fact, after he’d seen the rushes he came over personally to congratulate me, patting me on the shoulder and saying: “That was terrific, you two boys are going to be great in this.” Another time I was in make-up and Sid James said virtually the same thing.

‘Trying to create the Mediterranean in the freezing cold of Pinewood was difficult but you just had to put up with it, but I have to say that we were blue with the cold in those bathing costumes because there was a chill wind round the place that day. We had to have body make-up plastered all over us because everybody was freezing. When we filmed the scene involving the rainstorm, everyone got soaked. Luckily I wasn’t caught in it but poor old David was. It was good fun filming Abroad. It was one-take and on to the next.

‘ Carry On Dick was only a small part and, if I remember right, just one day’s filming. It was always good fun and easy comedy. I want to pay compliment to the regulars. The only reason anyone talks to anyone else about the Carry On films is because of the regulars, not the script, directing or the producing. They were superb comedy actors of their generations and knew exactly where to go, how far to go and when not to cross that line from pun and innuendo into crude comedy.’

JOHN CLIVE

CLOAKROOM ATTENDANT

Played by Elsie Winsor

In Girls the Cloakroom Attendant works at the Pier Theatre and reminds Sidney Fiddler that he’s in the ladies’ toilets when he’s caught kissing Hope Springs just before she takes part in the Miss Fircombe beauty contest.

CLOAKROOM GIRL

Played by Angela Ellison