Geoffrey Toone

Geoffrey Toone
As von Gelb in the series Freewheelers (1969)
Born	(1910-11-15)15 November 1910 Dublin, Ireland
Died	Northwood, Greater London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1933–2002

Geoffrey Toone (15 November 1910 – 1 June 2005) was an Irish character actor based in the United Kingdom. Most of Toone's film roles after the 1930s were in supporting parts, usually as authority figures, though he did play the lead character in the Hammer Films production The Terror of the Tongs in 1961

Roles

Toone was born in Dublin, Ireland to English parents and was educated at Charterhouse School. He served in the Royal Artillery during World War II, but was invalided out in 1942. Toone appeared:

• As Sir Edward Ramsay in the musical film The King and I (he dances with Deborah Kerr in the banquet sequence, much to the annoyance of the King).
• The BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who:
  • As Temmosus in the film of Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)
  • As Hepesh in the television story The Curse of Peladon in 1972.
• In Yes Minister.
• In Freewheelers as the Nazi officer Von Gelb who continually tries to avenge Germany's WWII defeat.
• As Lord Ridgemere, owner of the stately home where Delboy and Rodney dropped a chandelier in the Only Fools and Horses episode, "A Touch of Glass".
• As Lord Bittlesham, a recurring character in the TV adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster.

Death

He died from natural causes, aged 94, at Denville Hall in Northwood, London. At the time of his death, Toone was one of the last survivors of the Old Vic theatre company of the 1930s, having appeared alongside the likes of John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier in productions of Shakespeare. At the time, he was also the longest-lived actor to have appeared in Doctor Who. For many years he had shared a house with the actor Frank Middlemass.

Selected filmography

• Luck of the Navy (1938)
• Sword of Honour (1938) ... as Bill Brown
• Queer Cargo (1938) ... as Lieutenant Stocken
• Night Journey (1938) ... as Johnny Carson
• North Sea Patrol (1939) ... as Cmdr.Clive Stanton
• Sword of Honour (1939)
• Poison Pen (1940) ... as David
• An Englishman's Home (1940) ... as Peter Templeton
• The Woman's Angle (1952)
• The Man Between (1953)
• The King and I (1956) ... as Sir Edward Ramsey
• Zero Hour! (1957) ... as Dr. Baird
• Murder at Site 3 (1958) ... as Sexton Blake
• The Entertainer (1960) ... as Harold Hubbard
• The Terror of the Tongs (1961) ... as Captain Jackson Sale
• Dr Crippen (1962) ... as Mr. Tobin
• Captain Sindbad (1963) ... as Mohar
• The River Line (1964) ... as Julian
• Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) ... as Temmosus
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982) ... as the Marquis de St. Cyr

External links

• Geoffrey Toone at the Internet Movie Database