Peter
Sallis (1st February 1921 to 2nd June 2017)
I had a drive over to Holmfirth
for a walk round Digley Reservoir. I was so close to St John the Baptist church
at Upperthong that I had to call in. I’ve visited previously to see the grave
of “Compo” from Last Of The Summer Wine.
He’s now been joined fellow actor Peter Sallis who lies a few feet away. Though
Peter was born and brought up in London his mannerisms were Northern and he’s
best known for the voice behind Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films.
He also played "Cleggy" in Last of the Summer Wine for 37 years from
its 1973 inception
You can’t miss the graves just behind the church.
They receive so many visitors a new path has been made. A couple were at the
graves so I went round the front of the church and had a coffee from the flask
and watched a robin redbreast.
A quick summary: Peter’s life started a long way
from here: he was born in Twickenham, an only child. His dad was a bank manager
and he also went to work in a bank. He joined the RAF when World War Two
commenced. He tried to join an aircrew but a lack of protein in his liver meant
he may black out and was forced to work as a mechanic. He began acting in his
four years in the RAF and resolved to become an actor after the war. His first
professional appearance on the London stage was aged 25 in a play. Three years
later he spoke his first word and his career started properly. He slogged as a
jobbing actor before getting his first television role aged 37. I won’t go
through his television credits here (it’s all on the net) but he was in many
British films of the 1960s and 1970s.
In recent years he’s well known for being Wallace
in the Wallace & Gromit films. It
all started when - aged 62 - he received a letter from a student called Nick
Park asking him if he would voice his character Wallace who an eccentric
inventor. Peter agreed so long as £50 was donated to his favourite charity.
Nick went to form Aardman Animations and make the hugely successful W&G
films. For such a quiet self-depreciating man there was a fiery marriage to
actress Elaine Usher when he was 36. Despite a son she left him 16 times before
they divorced in 1965 on grounds of desertion and adultery (they’d reconcile,
live together and part again when he was 78.)
In later years Peter suffered from irreversible
vision loss and retired aged 89 in 2010. He died in an actor’s nursing home
called Denville Hall in London aged 96. His wish was to be buried next to
“Compo” (Bill Owen), his chum and fellow actor from Last Of The Summer Wine.
Here I am by them both.
Higher up in the graveyard are four war graves,
one being a woman (quite rare) who died aged 22. Opposite her is some poor kid
who died aged 17. After a walk round a nearby reservoir I drove home thinking I
must re-read Peter’s self-deprecating autobiography Fading into the
Limelight.
A lady aged 22…
Just 17…
