Graham Stark

Graham Stark (20 January 1922 – 29 October 2013) was an English comedian, actor, writer and director.

Stark was born in Wallasey on the Wirral in Merseyside, England.

Career

He first came to prominence on BBC Radio, making his debut in Happy Go Lucky and going on to Ray's A Laugh, Educating Archie and substitute on The Goon Show. Stark was a regular supporting player on TV - notably with his good friend Peter Sellers in A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred, and with Benny Hill - before getting his own sketch series, The Graham Stark Show (BBC 1964). All the editions were scripted by Johnny Speight and each one featured a different group of supporting actors, including Deryck Guyler, Arthur Mullard, Derek Nimmo, Patricia Hayes and Warren Mitchell. Stark worked and socialised quite a bit with Spike Milligan and Sellers, and is mentioned throughout biographies of them, such as Pauline Scudamore's (1985) biography of Milligan, and especially in Roger Lewis's comprehensive (1995) biography of Sellers.

He became a regular performer in the Pink Panther film series. His first role in the series was as Hercule Lajoy, Inspector Clouseau's stonefaced assistant, in A Shot in the Dark (1964). Other than Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk, he has appeared in morePink Panther films than any other actor, playing a variety of characters, including reprising Lajoy in Trail of the Pink Panther(1982) and twice playing Dr Auguste Balls (in Revenge of the Pink Panther, 1978; and Son of the Pink Panther, 1993). He also played the role of Lord Fortnum's doctor, Captain Pontius Kak, in the original stage play of The Bed-Sitting Room, which opened at the Mermaid Theatre on 31 January 1963.

Following the death of James Beck, Graham took over the role of Private Joe Walker in the radio adaptation of Dad's Army.

In 1982, Graham appeared in a cameo role as a butler, alongside Dandy Nichols, in the music video for Adam Ant's UK No. 1 hit "Goody Two Shoes".

Personal life

Stark was also an accomplished stills photographer.

Filmography as actor

• The Spy in Black (1939) (uncredited)
• Emergency Call (1952)
• Flannelfoot (1952)
• Down Among the Z Men (1952)
• Johnny on the Spot (1953)
• Forces' Sweetheart (1953)
• The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954) (uncredited)
• The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959)
• Inn for Trouble (1960)
• Sink the Bismarck! (1960) (uncredited)
• The Millionairess (1960)
• On the Fiddle (1961)
• Dentist on the Job (1961)
• A Weekend with Lulu (1961)
• Watch it, Sailor! (1961)
• Double Bunk (1961)
• Only Two Can Play (1962)
• Village of Daughters (1962)
• A Pair of Briefs (1962)
• She'll Have to Go (1962)
• Operation Snatch (1962)
• The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963)
• Lancelot and Guinevere (1963)
• The Mouse on the Moon (1963)
• Ladies Who Do (1963)
• Strictly for the Birds (1963)
• Go Kart Go (1964)
• A Shot in the Dark (1964)
• Guns at Batasi (1964)
• Becket (1964)
• Runaway Railway (1965)
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)
• San Ferry Ann (1965)
• You Must Be Joking! (1965)
• Alfie (1966)
• Finders Keepers (1966)
• The Wrong Box (1966)
• The Plank (1967)
• Casino Royale (1967)
• Rocket to the Moon (1967)

• A Ghost of a Chance (1968)
• Salt and Pepper (1968)
• The Magic Christian (1969)
• The Picasso Summer (1969)
• Scramble (1969) (uncredited)
• Rhubarb (1969)
• Simon, Simon (1970)
• A Day at the Beach (1970)
• Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
• Doctor in Trouble (1970)
• Hide and Seek (1972)
• Secrets of a Door-to-Door Salesman (1973)
• Not Now Darling (1973) (uncredited)
• Where's Johnny? (1974)
• The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
• Come una rosa al naso (1976)
• I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight (1976)
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
• Hardcore (1977)
• What's Up Nurse! (1977)
• Let's Get Laid (1977)
• Gulliver's Travels (1977) (voice)
• Crossed Swords (1977)
• Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
• Le Petomane (1979)
• The Prisoner of Zenda (1979)
• Hawk the Slayer (1980)
• There Goes the Bride (1980)
• The Sea Wolves (1980)
• Victor Victoria (1982)
• Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
• Superman III (1983)
• Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)
• Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)
• Blind Date (1987)
• Jane and the Lost City (1987)
• Son of the Pink Panther (1993)
• The Incredible Adventures of Marco Polo (1998)