Jack Smethurst

Jack Smethurst
Born (1932-04-09) 9 April 1932
Collyhurst, Manchester, Lancashire, England
Occupation Actor
Years active 1950s-present
Children Adam Smethurst

Jack Smethurst (born 9 April 1932 in Collyhurst, Manchester, Lancashire, England) is an English television and film comic actor.[1] He is best known for his role as bigoted socialist Eddie Booth in Love Thy Neighbour.[2]

Career

Jack Smethurst made his film debut in 1958's Carry On Sergeant. This was followed by parts in the films Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), A Kind of Loving (1962),[3] Run with the Wind (1966), Night After Night After Night (1970), the big-screen version of Please Sir! (1971) and the ITV sitcom For the Love of Ada (1970–71) amongst others, before he landed the role for which he is best known – that of bigoted socialist and union leader, 'brother' Eddie Booth in Love Thy Neighbour. The programme ran for eight series between 1972 and 1976.[4] During this run he also appeared in the 1974 film version of the sitcom Man About the House.[5]

After Love Thy Neighbour ended, his film appearances have been few and far between, but include Chariots of Fire (1981), the John Goodman vehicle King Ralph (1991) (which re-united him with his Love Thy Neighbour co-star Rudolph Walker) and 1996's La Passione.[1]

He made several appearances as Davenport in Britain's longest-running television sitcom Last of the Summer Wine in 1997.[6]

He has played two different characters in Coronation Street. Between 1980 and 1983, he occasionally appeared as Johnny Webb, one of the men on Eddie Yeats' bin round. In 2001, he returned for several months as Stan Wagstaff, a friend of Jimmy Kelly, who left his allotment to Jack Duckworth. Together with his brother Ernie, Stan let Jack in on Jimmy's big secret—he used his allotment shed to brew poteen.

He also starred in Vince Powell’s eight-part BBC Radio 2 slice-of-life sitcom A Proper Charlie in 1985, as factory worker Charlie Garside. Madge Hindle played his wife, and Jane Hazlegrove and Jason Littler their daughter and son.

He worked on stage in Australia when he appeared in the play Run for Your Wife during 1987 and 1988, and the production toured the country. Other members of the cast were David McCallum, Eric Sykes and Katy Manning. Smethurst regularly works in the theatre, recently touring with a production of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

Personal life

His son Adam is also an actor, who is married to the Welsh-born actress Rakie Ayola. He is an avid supporter of Manchester United in English football's Premier League.

Selected filmography

References

  1. 1 2 "Jack Smethurst".
  2. ↑ Guide, British Comedy. "Love Thy Neighbour – ITV Sitcom – British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
  3. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Kind of Loving, A (1962)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  4. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Love Thy Neighbour (1972–76)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  5. ↑ "Man about the House (1974)".
  6. ↑ "Deviations with Davenport (1997)".
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