We continue to introduce our readers to famous showbiz stars who were born in Liverpool. In this article, we will tell you about the popular English actor Leonard Rossiter, who became famous thanks to his TV comedy roles. Learn more about his life at liverpoolski.com.
Education and beginning of creative career
Leonard was born in Liverpool in 1926. The future actor attended the Liverpool Collegiate School. Leonard was growing up during the Second World War, so he was evacuated to Wales. The young man lived there for 18 months and dreamed of studying at the university. However, his father died in the war and Rossiter was forced to refuse from the University of Liverpool. The young man completed his National Service as a sergeant. Then he worked as an insurance clerk in the claims and accident departments of the Commercial Union Insurance Company for six years.
His acting career began by chance. He was dating an actress who suggested Leonard start acting. Thus, he joined the Wavertree Community Centre Drama Group. His first film was Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path. It should be noted that his work in the film was appreciated by critics. Accordingly, Leonard Rossiter left his job as an insurance clerk and became a professional actor at the age of 27. In 1954, he made his debut on the professional stage in Joseph Colton’s play The Gay Dog in Preston.
Development of his acting career
His acting career began to develop gradually. He became an assistant stage manager and later started working in Wolverhampton and Salisbury repertory companies. Rossiter played about 75 roles in almost two years.
He also had a role in the musical Free as Air, a tour of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Iceman Cometh. Leonard also took part in the plays The Strange Case of Martin Richter, Disabled, The Heretic, The Caretaker, Semi-Detached and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
After some time, the actor began to appear in films. In 1962, his first role was in the film A Kind of Loving. A year later, he played in Billy Liar. However, his first big leading role was in the police TV series Z-Cars. He also had episodic roles in such series as The Avengers (the Dressed to Kill episode) and Steptoe and Son (The Lead Man Cometh and The Desperate Hours episodes).
The Pink Panther Strikes Again was released with his participation in 1976. Then there was the TV play The Year of the Sex Olympics and many other interesting TV projects.
From 1978 to 1983, the actor starred in ten Cinzano commercials. In addition, he worked on the radio. Rossiter voiced Boot the dog in the animated adaptation of The Perishers. He also narrated an abridged version of Charles Dickens’ book A Christmas Carol. In addition, Rossiter hosted an episode of BBC Radio 4 With Great Pleasure, narrated a seven-part series of satirical five-minute monologues for BBC Radio 3, wrote the children’s story series Harlequin and Columbine and voiced the King of Hearts.
Personal life
Leonard Rossiter was married to actress Josephine. Their marriage lasted several years. The actor’s second wife was actress Gillian Raine. The couple had a daughter.
Rossiter died in 1984. After his death, it became known that he had a relationship with TV presenter Sue MacGregor.
It should be noted that Rossiter was posthumously nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for “Comedy Performance of the Year”.
That was the life story of an outstanding English actor Leonard Rossiter. We hope that our article was informative and you learned more information about this star.