Arnold Ridley

Arnold Ridley OBE
Ridley in 1921
Born	William Arnold Ridley (1896-01-07)7 January 1896 Walcot, Bath, Somerset, England.
Died	12 March 1984(1984-03-12) (aged 88) Northwood, London Borough of Hillingdon, England.
Resting place	Bath Abbey Cemetery, Widcombe, Somerset, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Bristol
Occupation(s)	Actor, playwright
Years active	1918–1984
Spouse(s)	Hilda Kathleen Mary Cooke (m. 1926–1939), Isola Strong ​ ​ (m. 1939)​ , Althea Parker ​ ​ (m. 1945)​
Children	1
Relatives	Daisy Ridley (great-niece)
Military career
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1915–1917 1939–1940 1940–1944
Rank	Captain
Service number	103363
Unit	Somerset Light Infantry Caterham Home Guard
Battles/wars	First World War Battle of the Somme Second World War Battle of France

William Arnold Ridley, OBE (7 January 1896 – 12 March 1984) was an English playwright and actor, earlier in his career known for writing the play The Ghost Train and later in life in the British TV sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977) as the elderly bumbling Private Godfrey, as well as in spin-offs including the feature film version and the stage production.

He is the great-uncle of actress Daisy Ridley.

Early life

William Arnold Ridley was born in Walcot, Bath, Somerset, England, the son of Rosa Caroline (née Morrish, 1870–1956) and William Robert Ridley (1871–1931). His father was a gymnastics instructor and ran a boot and shoe shop. He attended the Clarendon School and the Bath City Secondary School where he was a keen sportsman. A graduate of the University of Bristol, he studied at the Education Department, and played Hamlet in a student production. Ridley undertook teaching practice at an Elementary School in Bristol.

Military service

Ridley was a student teacher and had made his theatrical debut in Prunella at the Theatre Royal, Bristol when he volunteered for service with the British Army on the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. He was initially rejected because of a hammer toe. In 1915 he enlisted as a Private with the Somerset Light Infantry. He saw active service in the war, sustaining several wounds in close-quarter battle. His left hand was left virtually useless by wounds sustained on the Somme; his legs were riddled with shrapnel; he received a bayonet wound in the groin; and the legacy of a blow to the head from a German soldier's rifle butt left him prone to blackouts after the war. He was medically discharged from the army with the rank of Lance Corporal in 1916.

Ridley rejoined the army in 1939 following the outbreak of the Second World War. He was commissioned into the General List on 7 October 1939 as a second lieutenant. He served with the British Expeditionary Force in France during the "Phoney War", employed as a "Conducting Officer" tasked with supervising journalists who were visiting the front line. In May 1940, Ridley returned to Britain on the overcrowded destroyer HMS Vimera, which was the last British ship to escape from the harbour during the Battle of Boulogne. Shortly afterwards, he was discharged from the Armed Forces on health grounds. He relinquished his commission as a captain on 1 June 1940. He subsequently joined the Home Guard, in his home town of Caterham, and ENSA, with which he toured the country. He described his wartime experiences on Desert Island Discs in 1973.

Acting career

After his medical discharge from the army in 1916, Ridley commenced a career as a professional actor. In 1918 he joined the company of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, staying for two years and playing 40 parts before moving on to Plymouth, where he took a break from the stage when his war injuries began to trouble him.

After being stranded for an evening at Mangotsfield railway station, near Bristol, Ridley was inspired to write the play The Ghost Train (1923), a tale of passengers stranded at a haunted railway station in Cornwall, with one of the characters being an incognito British Government agent trying to catch Bolshevik revolutionaries active in Great Britain. The play was produced on stage, and became a hit, with 665 performances being staged consecutively in London's West End, and two revivals. The Ghost Train was first filmed in 1931 and again in 1941 when it starred Arthur Askey. Ridley also wrote more than 30 other plays including The Wrecker (1924), Keepers of Youth (1929), The Flying Fool (1929) and Recipe for Murder (1932).

During his time in military service in the Second World War he adapted the Agatha Christie novel Peril at End House into a West End play that premiered in 1940. Ridley's post-war play, Beggar My Neighbour, was first performed in 1951 and adapted for the Ealing Comedy film Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953).

Ridley worked regularly as an actor, including an appearance in the British comedy Crooks in Cloisters (1964). He also played Doughy Hood, the village baker, in the radio soap opera The Archers and the Rev. Guy Atkins in the ATV soap Crossroads from the programme's inception in 1964 until 1968. However, he became a household name only after he was cast as Private Godfrey, the gentle platoon medic in the television comedy series Dad's Army (1968–1977). He continued to appear into his eighties, and was appointed an OBE in the 1982 Queen's New Year Honours List, for services to the theatre.

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at London's Marylebone Station.

Personal life

Ridley was married three times. His first marriage lasted from January 1926 to 1939, and was followed by a short marriage to Isola Strong, an actress (It's Hard to Be Good), at Kensington in 1939, before his final marriage to actress Althea Parker (1911–2001) on 3 October 1945; they had one son, Nicolas (born 1947). He was a Freemason, and belonged to the Savage Club Lodge in London. The actress Daisy Ridley is his great niece.

A keen rugby player in his youth, he was President of Bath Rugby 1950–52.

Death

Ridley died in hospital in Northwood in 1984 at the age of 88 after falling at his residence in Denville Hall, a home for retired actors. His body was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium and an urn holding his ashes was buried in his parents' grave at Bath Abbey Cemetery. His collection of theatrical memorabilia was left to the University of Bristol and has been made available online.

Works

Plays

• The Ghost Train (1923)
• The Wrecker (with Bernard Merivale, 1924)
• Old Leeds (1928)
• The Flying Fool (with Bernard Merivale, 1929)
• Keepers of Youth (1929) (filmed in 1931)
• Third Time Lucky (1932)
• Half a Crown (1934)
• Recipe for Murder (1936)
• Peril at End House (1945, from Agatha Christie novel)
• Easy Money (1948)
• East of Ludgate Hill (1950)
• Murder Happens (1951)
• The Return (1953)
• Mrs Tredruthan's Son (1953)
• Beggar My Neighbour (1953)
• Geranium (1954)
• Tabitha (1956) (written with Mary Cathcart Borer)
• You, My Guests (1956)
• Bellamy (1960)
• Hercule Poirot Strikes (1967, from Agatha Christie novel)

Film adaptations (original author)

• Ghost Train, directed by Géza von Bolváry (1927, based on the play The Ghost Train)
• The Wrecker, directed by Géza von Bolváry (1929, based on the play The Wrecker)
• The Flying Fool, directed by Walter Summers (1931, based on the play The Flying Fool)
• Third Time Lucky, directed by Walter Forde (1931, based on the play Third Time Lucky)
• The Ghost Train, directed by Walter Forde (1931, based on the play The Ghost Train)
• Keepers of Youth, directed by Thomas Bentley (1931, based on the play Keepers of Youth)
• Kísértetek vonata, directed by Lajos Lázár (Hungary, 1933, based on the play The Ghost Train)
• Trenul fantoma, directed by Jean Mihail (Romania, 1933, based on the play The Ghost Train)
• The Warren Case, directed by Walter Summers (1934, based on the play The Last Chance)
• Un train dans la nuit, directed by René Hervil (France, 1934, based on the play The Ghost Train)
• Blind Justice, directed by Bernard Vorhaus (1934, based on the play Recipe for Murder)
• Seven Sinners, directed by Albert de Courville (1936)
• East of Ludgate Hill, directed by Manning Haynes (1937, based on the play East of Ludgate Hill)
• De Spooktrein, directed by Karel Lamač (Netherlands, 1939, based on the play The Ghost Train)
• Shadowed Eyes, directed by Maclean Rogers (1940)
• The Ghost Train, directed by Walter Forde (1941, based on the play The Ghost Train)
• Easy Money, directed by Bernard Knowles (1948, based on the play Easy Money)
• Meet Mr. Lucifer, directed by Anthony Pelissier (1953, based on the play Beggar My Neighbour)
• Who Killed the Cat?, directed by Montgomery Tully (1966, based on the play Tabitha)

Screenwriter

• The Flying Fool (dir. Walter Summers, 1931)
• Royal Eagle (dir. George A. Cooper, 1936)
• East of Ludgate Hill (dir. Manning Haynes, 1937)
• Shadowed Eyes (dir. Maclean Rogers, 1940)

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	The Interrupted Journey	Mr Saunders	Uncredited
1951	Green Grow the Rushes	Tom Cuffley
1952	Stolen Face	Dr Russell
1963	Wings of Mystery	Mr Bell	Children's Film Foundation
1964	Crooks in Cloisters	Newsagent
1966	A Man for All Seasons	Innkeeper	Uncredited
1971	Dad's Army	Private Godfrey
1973	Carry On Girls	Alderman Pratt
1975	The Amorous Milkman	Cinema Attendant

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Charlesworth	Bank Clerk
1964–1968	Crossroads	Rev. Guy Atkins
1967	The Avengers	Elderly Gentleman	Episode: Never, Never Say Die
	Z Cars	Gardener	Episode: I Never Meant to Drop Him: Part 1
	Coronation Street	Herbert Whittle
	Mrs Thursday	Director
	Beggar My Neighbour	Man	2 episodes
1968–1977	Dad's Army	Private Godfrey	80 episodes, (final appearance)
1968	Theatre 625	Tunicliffe
	The War of Darkie Pilbeam	Hospital patient
	The Very Merry Widows	Sir Frederick Snayle, QC
	The Caesars	Nigrinus
1969	The Contenders	Walrus
	Out of the Unknown	Munnings
	Special Branch	Mr. Turner
1970	As Good Cooks Go	Mr. Charmers
	The Doctors	Percy
	W. Somerset Maugham	London Club Waiter
1971	Crossroads	Guy Atkins
	The Flaxton Boys	Mr. Mooney
1972	The Persuaders!	Uncle Rodney	Episode: The Ozerov Inheritance
1973	Thriller	1st Old Man
1975	Hogg’s Back	Old Man

External links

• Arnold Ridley at IMDb
• Arnold Ridley Collectors’ Guide at Brenton Film
• Arnold Ridley Archive in the University of Bristol Theatre Collection