Quite a strange experience tonight. Watching Fawlty towers and up pops the MSFs Uncle Terry (Terence Conoley). I always knew he’d been in it but until tonight had never seen him.
He’s actually in two episodes. The first was the very first Fawlty Towers “A Touch Of Class” where he constantly demands with ever increasing fury a “Gin & Orange, a lemon squash and a scotch and water”.
What was rather surreal is the fact that having seen it before I knew exactly who the character was, but until watching it now it’d never clicked that’s who Terry was. After seeing it I realised how many other things I’d seen him in. Terry is now nearly 90, and full of wonderful stories, with a fantastic cut glass accent and manner (he’s an ex-opera singer too).
Having seen the first it was a quick fast forward to the the next one he was in – the “Waldorf Salad” episode. Again he’s playing an irate “Mr. Johnson”, this time in a wig, which apparently he went shopping with John Cleese for, to ensure he wasn’t recognised as the same actor from the first series.
Go “Uncle” Terry!