Anthony Rodgers[2] (10 January 1933 – 1 December 2007) was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film, in television dramas and sitcoms.[3][4] He starred in several sitcoms, including Fresh Fields (ITV, 1984–86), its sequel French Fields (ITV, 1989–91), and May to December (BBC, 1989–94).
Rodgers was born on 10 January 1933 in Ealing, Middlesex,[5] the son of William Robert Rodgers and Leonore Victoria (née Wood).[6] His early education was at Westminster City School.[6][7] The family were evacuated to Wisbech, Isle of Ely during the war, where his father worked for Balding and Mansell, printers of ration books, permits and passes; Rodgers is sometimes erroneously reported as having been born in Wisbech.[5] Later he was educated at the Italia Conti Academy and LAMDA.
He appeared on stage from the age of 14. He was known for his television performances, specifically his long-running roles in the television sitcoms Fresh Fields in the 1980s and May to December from 1989 to 1994.
He narrated three programmes for the railway video production company Video 125[8]
Personal lifeedit
Rodgers married Morna Watson, a ballet dancer, in Kensington in 1959,[9] having a son and a daughter and later divorcing.[7] Rodgers's second wife was the actress Elizabeth Garvie; they frequently appeared on stage together and toured giving readings from the works of Jane Austen[10] and Robert Browning, among others.
Rodgers made his first West End appearance in 1947, aged 14, in Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He followed this in same year with a tour of an adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations playing Pip, and the title role in a revival of Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy which toured the UK in 1948. After repertory experience at Birmingham, Northampton and Hornchurch, he trained at LAMDA.
Returning to London in November 1957 he joined the cast of The Boy Friend at Wyndham's Theatre. Thereafter his credits include:
He was a member of the original cast of the musical Pickwick, in which he played Mr Jingle, Saville Theatre July 1963; making his New York debut in the same role at the 46th Street Theatre, October 1965
Directed A Piece of Cake and Grass Roots at Leatherhead, 1968
Devised and co-directed We Who Are About To... with George Melly at Hampstead Theatre, February 1969; eight one-act plays presented in a modified form as Mixed Doubles at the Comedy Theatre, April 1969
^"WATSON Morna E / RODGERS Anton / Kensington 5c 2281" in General Index to Marriages in England and Wales, 1959
^Daniel Lombard (2 February 2007). "Anton Rodgers in Monmouth". Southwalesargus.co.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
^Strachan, Alan (4 December 2007). "Anton Rodgers: Versatile actor best known for his middle-class heroes in the sitcoms 'Fresh Fields' and 'May to December'". The Independent. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
^"LGBTQ+ Timeline". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
External linksedit
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