Charlie Drake, was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer best known for his catchphrase "Hello. My darlings!". With his small stature (5 ft 1 in or 155 cm tall), curly red hair and liking for slapstick, he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, performing with Jack Edwardes in the double act Mick and Montmorency on children's TV. He subsequently made the break into primetime TV and critical and commercial acclaim with his solo show Drake's Progress (1955-1957). He was best known for his series The Worker (1965–70) in which he played a perpetually unemployed labourer who, in every episode, was dispatched to a new job by the ever-frustrated clerk at the local labour exchange. In the sixties, Drake made the transition to cinema, making several comedy films. By the 1980s, Drake reinvented himself as a straight actor, including a memorable performance as Smallweed in the 1985 BBC adaptation of Bleak House and playing Nagg in Samuel Beckett's Endgame in 1989. He suffered a series of strokes in 1995 and retired, passing away in 2006 at the age of 81.

Filmography

• 2004Sinderella Comes Again - Backstage — Baron Von Hard-on
• 1995Sinderella Live — Baron Hardon
• 99-1 — Freddie Windsor
• 1991Filipina Dreamgirls — Lionel
• 1989Endgame — Nagg
• Screen One — Lionel
• 1988Mr. H Is Late
• The Modern World: Ten Great Writers — Marmeladov
• Bleak House — Smallweed
• Professor Popper's Problems — Professor Popper
• 1984Royal Variety Performance 1984
• The Bob Monkhouse Show
• 1980Rhubarb Rhubarb
• 1979The Plank — Delivery man with cake
• 1977To See Such Fun
• 1974Descent to Danger
• 1974Follow That Skate
• 1974Into the Unknown
• 1974Magic Powder
• 1974Monster
• 1974Professor Popper's Problems
• 1974Pursued
• 1967Mister Ten Per Cent — Percy Pointer
• The Worker — Creator
• 1963The Cracksman — Ernest Wright, Screenplay
• 1961Petticoat Pirates — Charlie
• 1960Sands of the Desert — Charlie Sands
• Charlie Drake In...
• Christmas Night with the Stars
• Charlie Drake And Jack Edwardes
• 1954The Golden Link — Joe

Appearances as themselves (1)

• 2001Charlie Drake: Drake's Progress — Self