Diverse talents

“A recent quiz featured Scots actor John Laurie and it’s worth revealing the diverse talents of a performer who had an unusual link with Perth and Dundee,” writes Fraser Elder.

“Born in Dumfries in 1897, Laurie made an impact as a stage performer in the 1820s and was acclaimed as the most outstanding Shakespearian stage actor of the age.

“The Perth connection came in 1935 when his film career took off in The 39 Steps, the first screen play of the novel by John Buchan, the author from the Fair City. Two years later he joined the Perth Theatre Group and became the first actor to portray the Dundee poet William McGonagall in a stage production.

“In later years the actor recorded an album entitled The Great McGonagall which featured renditions of his most famous poems. The outbreak of the Second World War led Laurie, prophetically, to serve in the Home Guard. He continued with film work in association with Laurence Olivier who cast him in the classics Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III.

“He then linked up with Walt Disney in the film Treasure Island in 1950 and serious stage and movie work continued for 18 years before a TV career beckoned in the Dad’s Army series.

“The series ran from 1968 to 1977 with Laurie gaining stardom along with Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn and Ian Lavender. He appeared in all 80 episodes as Private James Fraser, the penny-pinching, pessimistic Scots undertaker who made the catch-phrase ‘we’re all doomed’ his own.”

Perth Theatre. Picture: The actor John Laurie, appearing as McGonagall. See above.