Clive Dunn: Dad’s Army’s Unlikely Lance Corporal

Clive Dunn (9 January 1920 – 6 November 2012) was an English actor. He achieved his greatest fame playing Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad’s Army, and topped the UK Singles Chart in 1971 with the song “Grandad”.

Early Life and Education

Born Robert Bertram Dunn in Brixton, south London, he was the son of actor parents and cousin of actress Gretchen Franklin. He was educated at Sevenoaks School in Kent before studying at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. While still at school, he appeared in small film roles alongside Will Hay in Boys Will Be Boys (1935) and Good Morning, Boys (1937). In 1939, he worked as stage manager for a touring production of the detective play The Unseen Menace, though the production struggled when its billed star, Terence De Marney, did not appear on stage and his dialogue was supplied by gramophone recording.

Career and Achievements

Dunn began his acting career in 1935, but his early progress was interrupted by the Second World War. After the war ended, he resumed work in repertory theatre and adopted the stage name Clive Dunn when he joined Equity. His first television appearance came in 1951 as the man in the pub in Surprise Attack, a short film commissioned by the Ministry of Health. From the mid-1950s onward, he built a reputation for playing elderly characters, appearing in both series of The Tony Hancock Show (1956 and 1957) and the army reunion party episode of Hancock’s Half Hour in 1960. He made regular appearances in the early 1960s on It’s a Square World and played Mr. Johnson, an old dogsbody at a gentlemen’s club, in Bootsie and Snudge, a spin-off from The Army Game. In 1967, he guest-starred in The Avengers episode “Something Nasty in the Nursery” as a toy shop proprietor.

At age 48, Dunn was cast as Lance Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army in 1968, despite being one of the youngest cast members. He was made up to look considerably older than he was, playing the elderly butcher whose earlier military service made him the most experienced member of the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard. His relative youth compared with most of the cast meant he performed much of the show’s physical comedy. Dad’s Army ran for nine series and 80 episodes between 1968 and 1977.

After Dad’s Army ended, Dunn starred as Charlie Quick in the slapstick children’s television series Grandad from 1979 to 1984, playing a caretaker at a village hall and singing the theme lyrics. He also performed as Frosch in the 1979 English National Opera production of Die Fledermaus at the London Coliseum.

Notable Events and Milestones

During the Second World War, Dunn joined the British Army in 1940 and served as a trooper in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars. The regiment was posted to the Middle East on 31 December 1940 and fought in the Greek Campaign as part of the 1st Armoured Brigade supporting the 6th Australian Infantry Division. In April 1941, Dunn fought in the rearguard action at the Corinth Canal. When the regiment was overrun, he was among 400 men taken prisoner and was held in Austria for the next four years. He remained in the army until demobilisation in 1947.

On his 51st birthday in January 1971, Dunn released the single “Grandad”, written by bassist Herbie Flowers and accompanied by a children’s choir. The song reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, his only chart hit. The B-side, “I Play The Spoons”, also received considerable airplay, and he performed the song four times on Top of the Pops. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1971, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. Following the success of “Grandad”, he released several other singles but never charted again.

Awards and Honors

Dunn achieved a number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in 1971 with “Grandad”. He was the subject of the television programme This Is Your Life in 1971.

Additional Resources

Clive Dunn’s career spanned nearly seven decades, from his early film appearances in the 1930s through his iconic television roles. More detailed information about his life, military service, and extensive television and theatre work is available through Wikipedia and other biographical archives.

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