Leonard Rossiter

 

  1. Windsor Davies, It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum, TV, 1974-1981.      What arrogance!  So said creators Jimmy Perry andy David Croft  when Rossiter wanted a re-write to match how he saw Battery Sergeant-Major Tudor Bryn “Shut Up” Williams.   Davies became quite a star in the 56 episodes. Rossiter was a much bigger TV name later due to concurrent sitcom hits: Rising Damp, 1974-1978, and The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin, 1976-1979.
  2. Patrick Stewart, Lifeforce, 1984.  
  3. Michael Gothard, Lifeforce, 1984. 
  4. Frank Finlay, Lifeforce, 1984. 
  5. Aubrey Morris, Lifeforce, 1984.  
  6. Tim Curry, Clue, 1985.         A leading UK TV star, Rossiter was the first choice for the butler, Wadsworth. He died, however, during pre-productiom in 1984 – in his theatre dressing room during a revival of Loot. Not quite the actors’ dream of dying on stage, but close by. UK auteur Jonathan Lynn was then told that Rowan Atkinson was not well enough known in the US (as if Rossiter was) so he chose a Brit who was.

 

 

 

 

 

 Birth year: 1926Death year: 1984Other name: Casting Calls:  6