Frank Williams obituary
He was not on the list.
The actor Frank Williams, who has died aged 90, was best known as the Rev Timothy Farthing in Dad’s Army, one of the BBC’s most popular TV series. Although this mild-mannered vicar was a bit of a joke and a ditherer, Williams himself was a deeply religious man, an Anglican churchgoer.
Indeed, in his later years he served three terms (1985-2000) as a representative of the diocese of London in the General Synod, where he expressed opposition to the ordination of women – he left the vote, which went against him in 1992, in tears – but never left the church, and often spoke up for better treatment of gay people.
He joined Dad’s Army, which ran from 1968 to 1977 (and has rarely been off the screen since), at the start of the third series, in 1969, when the vicar’s church hall in Walmington-on-Sea was commandeered by the elderly platoon for drill and strategic planning. It was not an arrangement Farthing welcomed.
Apart from Ian Lavender as the “stupid boy” Pike, Williams was the youngest member of the cast and recorded the friendships and camaraderie of the series, together with tales of location shooting in Thetford, Norfolk (where the actors used the Bell Hotel as a home from home) in his memoir, Vicar to Dad’s Army (2002).
It amused him that, having once donned the dog collar, he progressed on other screen outings through the clerical ranks: as an archdeacon (“at last!”) in the final episode of the BBC’s 1987 Vanity Fair serialisation, then as a bishop in You Rang, My Lord? a comedy series set in the 1920s that ran for three years (in 25 episodes of 50 minutes each) from 1990, written by the Dad’s Army team of Jimmy Perry and David Croft.
Born in Edgware, north London, Frank lived there all his life, buying a house one and a half miles from his parents’ home (he was an only child) in 1956. His grandfather had owned a large drapery business in Wales. His father, William Williams, a Welsh nonconformist, married to Alice (nee Myles), who gave Bible classes, started other small businesses and, inheriting money, retired before Frank was born.
During the war years Frank went to a school temporarily housed in St Andrew’s Church, Edgware, before attending two private schools and boarding for two years at Ardingly college, West Sussex, in his early teens before returning to Hendon county school where, in his final year, he played the lead role in The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley, an eventual friend and colleague as Charles Godfrey in Dad’s Army.
His life from then on was either in the church – he worshipped at St Margaret’s, Edgware, switching later to John Keble in Mill Hill – or on the amateur stage. He made his film debut, as a soldier in the trenches, in The Shield of Faith (1956) for the Rank Organisation’s religious department, following with a commercial debut as a cameraman in The Extra Day (1956), a film about making a film, with Sid James and George Baker.
As a young man, he was a regular audience member at the Watford Palace. Having befriended Jimmy and Gilda Perry, who ran the Palace as a repertory theatre in the 50s (a friendship that led eventually to his time in Dad’s Army) before it became a civic theatre under Giles Havergal, he both acted with the company and wrote plays for them.
Although his several thrillers – they all featured the word “Murder” in the title – were popular with amateur companies, they never made his name. That happened on TV, as he popped up first as a dying patient in Emergency Ward 10 and then, crucially, as Captain Pocket in The Army Game (1957-60), a Granada TV comedy series starring Bernard Bresslaw (“I only arsked”), Bill Fraser and Alfie Bass, written by Sid Colin (with contributions from Barry Took and Marty Feldman) and set in an army surplus depot and transit camp at Nether Hopping, somewhere in Warwickshire.
In this period he also played stooge characters in several Norman Wisdom films including The Square Peg (1958) and The Bulldog Breed (1960), before moving on to more “respectable” movies such as Anthony Asquith’s The VIPs (1963), Peter Yates’s Robbery (1967) and Otto Preminger’s The Human Factor (1979), the latter with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard from the Graham Greene novel.
His sporadic stage appearances included a 1965 season at the Royal Court in NF Simpson’s The Cresta Run and with Vienna’s English Theatre, the oldest such organisation in mainland Europe, in two plays by Simon Gray in the 70s. A stage version of Dad’s Army, directed by Roger Redfarn, surfaced at the Shaftesbury theatre in 1975, with interpolated music hall sequences featuring Bill Pertwee, the ARP warden, as Max Miller and Arthur Lowe, Captain Mainwaring, as Robb Wilton, and then on tour.
In what turned out to be his farewell performance in 1996, he was inspirationally cast by Jonathan Miller as old Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Almeida theatre in Islington in 1996, apologising to Snug with an “Oops, sorry love”, when he overlooked him in the prologue to the Pyramus and Thisbe play and mouthing everyone else’s lines anxiously in the wings.
By the time of the 2016 film version of Dad’s Army, Williams was the only actor reprising his original role. Lavender was in the cast too, but now as a brigadier.
The most important people in his life were his parents and a churchgoing friend, Betty Camkin, who died in 1992, so he always valued the “family life” with his colleagues, especially those in Dad’s Army. In later years, he was a prominent member of the Council of Equity, the actors’ union, and also served on the panel of the Olivier Awards.
Actor
Ruth Jones in Stella (2012)
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8.0
TV Series
Lord Stanley
2016–2017
2 episodes
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Toby
Jones, Bill Nighy, Bill Paterson, Daniel Mays, and Blake Harrison in Dad's Army
(2016)
Dad's Army
5.2
Reverend Timothy Farthing - Vicar
2016
Peter O'Toole, Steven Berkoff, and Edward Fox in Decline of
an Empire (2014)
Decline of an Empire
3.4
The Confidente
2014
Waiting for Rose
Short
Stanley Bridewell
2014
Poster for snooker film Extended Rest
Extended Rest
8.0
Short
Norm
2014
Ian Cullen, Bernard Holley, Frank Williams, and Nicola
Posener in A Voice to Die For (2013)
A Voice to Die For
6.3
Short
Jeremiah McBain
2013
Beautiful Day
TV Series
Mr. Stubbs
2012
Ian Cullen, Stuart McGugan, Yvonne Quenet, Frank Williams,
and Karl Moffatt in The Echoes of Empire (2012)
The Echoes of Empire
Winston Churchill
2012
George and Bernard Shaw
TV Series
Gerald
2011
1 episode
Panos and Cascadia
TV Series
Dave
2011
1 episode
The Golden Years
TV Movie
Philip Forrester
2011
The Critic
7.0
Short
Mulberry Sr.
2010
Bernard Holley in Z Cars: A Lot of Fuss About Light (2010)
Z Cars: A Lot of Fuss About Light
7.9
Short
Horace Blenkinsop
2010
Mervyn Cumming, Tony Osoba, Frank Williams, Bernard Wrigley,
Oliver Crocker, Solitaire Mouneimne, and Richard Jobling in Tanner (2007)
Tanner
8.2
Edward Protheroe
2007
Phew
Short
Harry
1994
You Rang, M'Lord? (1988)
You Rang, M'Lord?
8.7
TV Series
Charles - the Bishop
1990–1993
14 episodes
Boon (1986)
Boon
6.4
TV Series
Auctioneer
1991
1 episode
Ian Richardson in House of Cards (1990)
House of Cards
8.5
TV Mini Series
Treasurer
1990
1 episode
Screen One (1985)
Screen One
6.5
TV Series
Major Sykes
1989
1 episode
Bad Boyes
7.9
TV Series
Reverend Price
1988
1 episode
The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985)
The Ray Bradbury Theater
7.3
TV Series
Defence Counsel
1988
1 episode
Small World
8.3
TV Mini Series
Oxford Medievalist
1988
1 episode
Su Pollard in Hi-de-Hi! (1980)
Hi-de-Hi!
6.7
TV Series
Vicar
1988
1 episode
Eve Matheson and Benedict Taylor in Vanity Fair (1987)
Vanity Fair
8.0
TV Series
Archdeacon
1987
1 episode
High & Dry (1985)
High & Dry
7.2
TV Series
Bank Clerk
1987
1 episode
Jeremy Child, James Faulkner, David Robb, and Tom Wilkinson
in First Among Equals (1986)
First Among Equals
8.4
TV Mini Series
Mr. Speaker
1986
2 episodes
Terence Alexander, Sean Arnold, Annette Badland, Deborah
Grant, Lindsay Heath, Celia Imrie, David Kershaw, Geoffrey Leesley, Thérèse
Liotard, Nancy Mansfield, Tony Melody, John Nettles, Cécile Paoli, John Telfer,
and Mela White in Bergerac (1981)
Bergerac
6.8
TV Series
Librarian
1985
1 episode
Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett in The Two Ronnies (1971)
The Two Ronnies
7.8
TV Series
Mervyn Miracle
1985
1 episode
Jonathan Kent and Maureen Lipman in Love's Labour's Lost
(1985)
Love's Labour's Lost
6.7
TV Movie
Dull
1985
Christopher Rozycki in The Man from Moscow (1985)
The Man from Moscow
8.3
TV Series
Representative
1985
1 episode
David Daker, Thora Hird, and Patsy Rowlands in Hallelujah!
(1983)
Hallelujah!
7.2
TV Series
Anglican Priest
1984
1 episode
George Cole in Minder (1979)
Minder
7.8
TV Series
Mr. Chicory
1984
1 episode
The Brief (1984)
The Brief
TV Series
Member of Bar council
1984
1 episode
The Comedy of Errors (1983)
The Comedy of Errors
6.9
TV Movie
Officer
1983
Grey Granite
8.6
TV Mini Series
George Piddle
1983
3 episodes
Tears Before Bedtime
TV Series
Herbert
1983
1 episode
The Kenny Everett Television Show (1981)
The Kenny Everett Television Show
7.2
TV Series
Various
1982–1983
2 episodes
The Ghost Downstairs (1982)
The Ghost Downstairs
TV Movie
Clergyman
1982
BBC2 Playhouse (1973)
BBC2 Playhouse
6.7
TV Series
Angry Major
1982
1 episode
The Island of Adventure (1981)
The Island of Adventure
7.7
Map Shop Owner
1981
Chevy Chase, Jane Seymour, and Benjean in Oh Heavenly Dog
(1980)
Oh Heavenly Dog
5.4
Mr. Easton
1980
"The Human Factor" (Saul Bass Poster) 1979
The Human Factor
6.1
Bellamy
1979
Kelly Monteith in Kelly Monteith (1979)
Kelly Monteith
7.3
TV Series
1979
1 episode
You're Only Young Twice (1977)
You're Only Young Twice
7.3
TV Series
Horace Maddox
1979
1 episode
Room Service (1979)
Room Service
5.6
TV Series
Mr. Heilbron
1979
1 episode
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
Revenge of the Pink Panther
6.6
Gentleman Client
1978
The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)
The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash
7.3
TV Movie
Archie Macaw, Record Producer
1978
What's Up Nurse! (1977)
What's Up Nurse!
4.3
Vicar
1977
Dad's Army (1968)
Dad's Army
8.1
TV Series
Reverend Timothy Farthing
1969–1977
40 episodes
The Fosters (1976)
The Fosters
7.3
TV Series
Jewellery Salesman
1977
1 episode
Jabberwocky (1977)
Jabberwocky
6.1
2nd Merchant
1977
Rock Follies (1976)
Rock Follies
7.7
TV Mini Series
Make-Up Man
1976
1 episode
One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975)
One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing
5.9
Dr. Freemo
1975
Norman Wisdom in A Little Bit of Wisdom (1974)
A Little Bit of Wisdom
6.8
TV Series
Brother Jonas Jackson
1974
1 episode
Tell Tarby
3.0
TV Series
Various Characters
1973
6 episodes
CBS Children's Film Festival (1967)
CBS Children's Film Festival
8.5
TV Series
Harry
1973
1 episode
It's Tarbuck
TV Series
Various Characters
1973
6 episodes
The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968)
The Morecambe & Wise Show
8.1
TV Series
Mr. Walmsley
1973
1 episode
Top Gear
8.3
Driving Instructor
1972
Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Monty Python in Monty
Python's Flying Circus (1969)
Monty Python's Flying Circus
8.8
TV Series
Maurice, Clerk of the Court
1972
1 episode
Jack Smethurst and Rudolph Walker in Love Thy Neighbour
(1972)
Love Thy Neighbour
7.0
TV Series
Mr. Martin
1972
1 episode
Derek Jacobi, Ronald Fraser, Charles Gray, Bernard Hepton,
John Thaw, and Douglas Wilmer in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971)
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
7.2
TV Series
Mr. Roberts
1971
1 episode
John Barron, Robertson Hare, William Mervyn, and Derek Nimmo
in All Gas and Gaiters (1966)
All Gas and Gaiters
7.7
TV Series
Mr Dawson
Mr. Dobson
1967–1971
2 episodes
Dick Emery in The Dick Emery Show (1963)
The Dick Emery Show
6.8
TV Series
1971
1 episode
Dad's Army (1971)
Dad's Army
6.9
Reverend Timothy Farthing
1971
Le mur de l'Atlantique (1970)
Le mur de l'Atlantique
5.8
Clergyman 1
1970
The Worker (1965)
The Worker
7.6
TV Series
Manager
Paul
Vicar
1965–1970
3 episodes
Countdown to Danger (1970)
Countdown to Danger
7.9
Harry
1970
As Good Cooks Go
TV Series
Frankie Bullock
1970
3 episodes
Comedy Playhouse (1961)
Comedy Playhouse
7.2
TV Series
Labour Exchange Clerk
Warrender
1963–1970
2 episodes
Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width (1967)
Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width
7.6
TV Series
Father John
1969
1 episode
John Clive, Hugh Lloyd, Terry Scott, and Leon Thau in The
Gnomes of Dulwich (1969)
The Gnomes of Dulwich
8.1
TV Series
Gnome
1969
1 episode
Galton and Simpson Comedy (1969)
Galton and Simpson Comedy
8.1
TV Series
1st Angel
1969
1 episode
Ray Barrett, Geoffrey Keen, and Philip Latham in Mogul
(1965)
Mogul
7.2
TV Series
Finch
Norman Reeves
1965–1969
2 episodes
Peter Kastner in The Ugliest Girl in Town (1968)
The Ugliest Girl in Town
4.9
TV Series
Coopersmith
1968
1 episode
Journey to the Unknown (1968)
Journey to the Unknown
7.7
TV Series
Man at Seance (uncredited)
1968
1 episode
Headline Hunters (1968)
Headline Hunters
5.4
Carter
1968
Gazette (1968)
Gazette
7.8
TV Series
Burgess
1968
1 episode
Life with Cooper (1966)
Life with Cooper
TV Series
Various Roles
1968
2 episodes
Harry Worth in Harry Worth (1966)
Harry Worth
7.1
TV Series
Humphrey
The Salesman
1966–1967
2 episodes
After Many a Summer
TV Movie
Jeremy Pordage
1967
Robbery (1967)
Robbery
6.9
Prison Contact (uncredited)
1967
Mitzi Rogers in The Big M (1967)
The Big M
TV Series
Victor
1967
3 episodes
Kika Markham and Ian Ogilvy in Boy Meets Girl (1967)
Boy Meets Girl
7.0
TV Series
Toby
1967
1 episode
Adam Adamant Lives! (1966)
Adam Adamant Lives!
7.0
TV Series
Mr. Byers-Thompson
1967
1 episode
The Deadly Affair (1967)
The Deadly Affair
6.7
Witch #2 (in "Macbeth") (uncredited)
1967
Four Tall Tinkles
TV Series
Mr. Hackenforth
1967
1 episode
The Scales of Justice (1962)
The Scales of Justice
7.9
TV Series
Price
1966
1 episode
Pamela Franklin in Quick Before They Catch Us (1966)
Quick Before They Catch Us
7.2
TV Series
Ferrars
1966
4 episodes
Marius Goring in The Suspect (1966)
Thirteen Against Fate
TV Series
Maître Abeille
1966
1 episode
Mr. John Jorrocks
TV Series
Reverend Slooman
1966
1 episode
Three Rousing Tinkles
TV Series
Antique Dealer
1966
1 episode
Lil
TV Series
Mr. Brown
1965
1 episode
Derek Godfrey and Roddy McMillan in Front Page Story (1965)
Front Page Story
TV Series
Bill Markham
1965
1 episode
Hugh and I (1962)
Hugh and I
6.7
TV Series
Passenger
Soldier
Yellow Army Man 3
1962–1965
4 episodes
The Wednesday Play (1964)
The Wednesday Play
7.5
TV Series
John de la Poeur Whiting
1965
1 episode
Ingrid Bergman, Shirley MacLaine, Alain Delon, Rex Harrison,
George C. Scott, Omar Sharif, and Jeanne Moreau in The Yellow Rolls-Royce
(1964)
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
6.4
Racegoer (uncredited)
1964
Here's Harry (1960)
Here's Harry
7.3
TV Series
1963–1964
5 episodes
Diary of a Young Man
4.8
TV Series
Bank manager
Biologist
Cedric ...
1964
6 episodes
ITV Play of the Week (1955)
ITV Play of the Week
7.3
TV Series
Mr. Utteridge
1964
1 episode
Detective (1964)
Detective
7.9
TV Series
Dr. Thorne
1964
1 episode
Ian Carmichael, Curd Jürgens, and Janet Munro in Hide and
Seek (1964)
Hide and Seek
5.9
Committee Man
1964
Norman Wisdom in A Stitch in Time (1963)
A Stitch in Time
6.9
Driver Nutall, St. John's Ambulance Brigade
1963
Malcolm Patton, Pamela Pitchford, Geoffrey Russell, and Gay
Emma in Badger's Bend (1963)
Badger's Bend
6.0
TV Series
Mr. Partridge
1963
2 episodes
James Ellis and John Slater in Z Cars (1962)
Z Cars
7.0
TV Series
Mr. Stanfield
Thurston
1962–1963
2 episodes
Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Louis Jourdan in The
V.I.P.s (1963)
The V.I.P.s
6.3
Assistant to Airport Director (uncredited)
1963
Bobby Vee in Just for Fun (1963)
Just for Fun
5.8
General
1963
No Hiding Place (1959)
No Hiding Place
7.6
TV Series
Alfred Rinkley
Salesman
1962
2 episodes
Rupert Davies in Maigret (1959)
Maigret
7.9
TV Series
Doctor
1962
1 episode
Citizen James (1960)
Citizen James
7.3
TV Series
1961–1962
2 episodes
Peter Sellers in Trial and Error (1962)
Trial and Error
6.2
Barrister (uncredited)
1962
Compact (1962)
Compact
7.8
TV Series
Arthur Chard
1962
1 episode
Sean Connery and Claire Bloom in Anna Karenina (1961)
Anna Karenina
5.7
TV Movie
Korsunsky
1961
Alfie Bass, Bill Fraser, and William Hartnell in The Army Game
(1957)
The Army Game
7.5
TV Series
Capt. T.R. Pocket
Capt. Pocket
Captain T.R. Pocket ...
1957–1960
47 episodes
Norman Wisdom in The Bulldog Breed (1960)
The Bulldog Breed
6.1
Mr Carruthers
1960
Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Norman Rossington, and Joan
Sims in Our House (1960)
Our House
6.4
TV Series
1960
1 episode
Jazz Boat (1960)
Jazz Boat
5.7
Man in bowler hat (uncredited)
1960
Inn for Trouble (1960)
Inn for Trouble
5.7
Percy Pirbright
1960
Chelsea at Nine (1957)
Chelsea at Nine
TV Series
1960
1 episode
Hardy Krüger in Bachelor of Hearts (1958)
Bachelor of Hearts
5.7
Police Constable Hesketh (uncredited)
1958
Norman Wisdom in The Square Peg (1958)
The Square Peg
6.8
Captain Ford
1958
The Larkins (1958)
The Larkins
7.4
TV Series
Artist
1958
1 episode
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950)
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
7.8
TV Series
Miller
Waiter
1956–1958
2 episodes
The Common Room
TV Series
Mr. Rossiter
1958
3 episodes
The One That Got Away (1957)
The One That Got Away
7.1
Station Porter (uncredited)
1957
Motive for Murder
TV Series
Photographer
1957
2 episodes
The Shield of Faith
Dying Soldier (uncredited)
1956
Abigail and Roger
5.4
TV Series
Mr. Meiklejohn
1956
5 episodes
H.M. Tennent Globe Theatre
TV Series
David Peers-Johnston
1956
1 episode
The Extra Day (1956)
The Extra Day
5.7
Sid
1956
The Queen Came By
TV Movie
Eustace Wallasy, on the Floor
1955
Honor Blackman and John Ireland in The Glass Tomb (1955)
The Glass Tomb
5.4
Spectator Outside Sapolio's Cage (uncredited)
1955
Norman Wisdom in One Good Turn (1955)
One Good Turn
6.5
Boxing Match Spectator (uncredited)
1955
Gilbert and Sullivan (1953)
Gilbert and Sullivan
6.9
Singer Rehearsing with Sir Arthur (uncredited)
1953
Derby Day (1952)
Derby Day
6.4
Derby Race-goer (uncredited)
1952
Writer
The Golden Years
TV Movie
written by
2011
Poster for the 2009 Short Film "Murder by
Appointment"
Murder by Appointment
8.2
Short
story and screenplay
2009
John Carlisle and John Woodvine in New Scotland Yard (1972)
New Scotland Yard
7.3
TV Series
story
1972–1974
2 episodes
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