Peter Sallis

Peter Sallis OBE February 1 1921 June 2 2017 was an English actor and entertainer wellknown for his work on British television Although he was born and brought up in London his two most notable roles required him to adopt the accents and mannerisms of a Northerner Peter John Sallis was born on 1 February 1921 in Twickenham Middlesex now in Greater London He was the only child of bank manager Harry Sallis 18891964 and Dorothy Amea Frances née Barnard 18911975 His first big television role came in 1958 where he played the role of Samuel Pepys in the BBC serial The Diary of Samuel Pepys Sallis was best known for his role as the main character Norman Clegg in the longrunning British TV comedy Last of the Summer Wine set in a Yorkshire town He was the longest serving cast member appearing in all 295 episodes and by the end of the shows run was the only one surviving from the programmes first episode in 1973 He also appeared in all 13 of the episodes of the prequel series First of the Summer Wine as Norman Cleggs father He was also famous for providing the voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films again using a northern accent Sallis also starred alongside Richard Pearson Michael Horden and David Jason in Cosgrove Halls The Wind in the Willows 19841990 as the voice of RatRatty In 1975 he appeared in the BBC Wales TV play The Snowdropper as Spicer a snowdropper that wheres OverallsDungarees In 1976 he played Mr GudginArnold Gudgin in the childrens series The Ghosts of Motley Hall 197678 The character Gudgin Sallis played in the series was a estate agent who did not want to see the hall fall into the wrong hands Sallis also appeared in the TV series Yanks Go Home 19761977 where he played Randell Todd in four episodes of the series Around the same period he starred alongside Northern comic actor David Roper in the ITV sitcom Leave it to Charlie 19781980 as Charlies pessimistic boss The programme ran for a total of 26 episodes over four series ending in 1980 He also played the part of the ghosthunter Milton Guest in the childrens paranormal drama TV series The Clifton House Mystery 1978 Sallis was married to Elaine Usher in 1957 until they eventually divorced in 1965 Sallis and Usher eventually reconciled and decided to come living together until 1999 Sallis continued to remain close to Usher until eventually she died on 1 January 2014 at the age of 81 They both had one son named Crispian Sallis who was born on 24 June 1959 who later became a British art director and set decorator Sallis and Usher also had two grandchildren from Crispian Sallis also lived with three small cats in a small cottage Description above from the Wikipedia article Peter Sallis licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia