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Tributes after death of actor Ian Carmichael, the definitive Wooster
TRIBUTES have been paid following the death of veteran actor Ian Carmichael, 89, who went to school in Scarborough and lived near Whitby.
Mr Carmichael, who went to Scarborough College, was a film, television, stage and radio actor.
One of the biggest stars of British film in the 1950s and early 1960s, he was also famous for his TV roles as Bertie Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey, and recently appeared in ITV's The Royal, which was largely filmed in Scarborough.
He died peacefully on Friday at his home in Grosmont, near Whitby, where he lived with his wife Kate Fenton, 55.
Mr Carmichael was born in Hull in 1920. He studied at Scarborough College from the age of seven and, in his 1979 autobiography entitled Will The Real Ian Carmichael ..., he talks of his bad memories at the public school and said he disliked it so much he had vowed he would never return to the town (see separate story).
He went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and was on stage by the time he was 19.
In 1941 he was called up for Army service and was posted to Whitby and Helmsley.
He made his name in a series of films in the 1950s for the Boulting Brothers including Private's Progress, Brothers in Law and I'm All Right Jack.
During the 1960s and 1970s he was successful in television, particularly as Bertie Wooster in The World of Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey in several drama series based on the mystery novels by Dorothy L Sayers. Although Wooster author PG Wodehouse called Mr Carmichael's portrayal of Bertie "the definitive version", the actor still bemoaned that "Bertie had only one facet – he was a complete bloody idiot".
At the age of 57 Mr Carmichael decided he would return to Yorkshire to semi-retirement and while looking for a suitable property he rented a flat in the Metropole Hotel in Whitby.
Mr Carmichael and his wife Pym Maclean, whom he met at Scarborough Spa, bought a 200-year-old house in Grosmont but five years later she died of cancer.
On the night of their honeymoon Mr Carmichael travelled from Whitby to the Falcon Inn in Cloughton in bad weather conditions before staying over at the Victoria Hotel, originally owned by the Laughton family.
Nine months after his wife died he met novelist Kate Fenton. They married in the early 1990s.
In 2000 he joined ITV's The Royal playing the character of Mr Middleditch, the hospital secretary. He filmed in around Scarborough and said it was "nice to be able to go home at the end of the day".
He was filming in Scarborough as recently as last year.
In 2003 he was awarded an OBE.
Mr Carmichael was a big cricket fan and enjoyed attending Scarborough's Cricket Festival.
As well as his wife, he also leaves two daughters, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
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Weather for Scarborough
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: South
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Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to -1 C
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