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Windsor Davies (28 August 1930 – 17 January 2019) was a British actor. He is best remembered for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981) over its entire run. The show's popularity resulted in Davies and his co-star achieving a UK hit with a version of "Whispering Grass" in 1975. He later starred with in Never the Twain (1981–1991), and his deep voice was heard extensively in advertising voice-overs.


Early life
Davies was born on 28 August 1930 in , , to Welsh parents. In 1940 they returned to their native village of , . Davies studied at Ogmore Grammar School and worked as a coal miner. He performed his National Service in Libya and Egypt, with the East Surrey Regiment, between 1950 and 1952. Following teacher training at Bangor Teacher Training College, he taught English and Maths at Leek in , and at a school in Elephant and Castle, south London.

Davies had become active in amateur dramatics, including the Bromley Little Theatre, and took a short drama course with a theatre company. He became a professional actor at the age of 31 and began working at the repertory theatre in 1961.


Career

Television
Davies' best known role was as Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1974–1981), who was modelled on similar individuals Davies had met as a soldier during his national service. "Bastards, real bastards some of them were. They knew it, too, and took pride in it," he once said. Among his character's catchphrases was "Shut Up!!", delivered as an -shattering military scream. Another phrase was "Oh dear, how sad, never mind", delivered in a dry, ironic manner, and used when others around him had problems. Journalist Neil Clark, contributing to in 2005, described his performance as the "definitive portrayal of a bullying and uneducated sergeant-major" and reported was of the opinion that Davies' role was "the funniest comic performance he had ever" watched. Davies and co-star had a number-one hit in the UK with a semicomic version of "Whispering Grass" in 1975.

His other television roles included the sailor Taffy in the first of the BBC series The Onedin Line (1971), a boat captain in an episode of Special Branch, a special branch detective in Callan (1972), and the dealer Oliver Smallbridge in Never the Twain (1981–1991), with . In the field of science fiction television, Davies appeared in the 1967 story "The Evil of the Daleks" as Toby; and was the voice of Sergeant Major Zero (a spherical robotic soldier in charge of 100 other spherical robotic soldiers) in the 1983 Gerry Anderson-Christopher Burr production .

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when he was surprised by .

In September–October 1985, Davies played the lead role of George Vance, a museum custodian elevated to the peerage, in the six-part comedy series The New Statesman. This was based on the play by Douglas Watkinson and is not to be confused with the later sitcom of the same name. ( played the role of Vance in a pilot episode transmitted on BBC2 in December 1984.)

Davies also featured in the BBC comedy sitcom Oh, Doctor Beeching!, written by David Croft and Richard Spendlove, as the Lord Mayor in an episode broadcast in 1997. He also featured in an episode of 2 Point 4 Children in 1999, as Ben's long-lost Uncle Ion.


Films
In the cinema, Davies played major roles in two Carry On films, Behind (1975) and England (1976), in the latter again as a sergeant major. He played Mog in the Welsh rugby film Grand Slam (1978), and was a sergeant in the Highland Regiment in (1973) with and Spike Milligan. In 1989, he revived the role of Sergeant Major Williams in a 30-minute Royal Air Force training film, Hazardous Ops.


Pantomime
Davies appeared as Baron Hardup in the pantomime Cinderella in , UK, from 10 December 1992 to 17 January 1993.


Voice work
Davies' distinctive voice was heard in commercials for New Zealand's Pink Batts house insulations and confectionery ads for Cadbury's and for Heinz Curried (Baked) Beans. He also appeared alongside New Zealand coach in New Zealand advertisements for Mitre 10 hardware stores in the early 1990s. Davies and Wyllie had worked together previously on the rugby-themed film in 1991.

In the 1970s, he read an edition of BBC Radio 4's Morning Story programme, and also narrated the for the children's classic . He sang and voiced many characters in the film Rupert and the Frog Song in 1984, and appeared in that year's children's film Gabrielle and the Doodleman as three different characters (the Ringmaster, the Black Knight, and an Ugly Sister). In 1984, he auditioned to be the voice of the UK's .


Personal life and death
In 1957, he married Eluned Lynne Evans; the couple had four daughters and a son. Eluned died in September 2018. Davies lived in the south of France, and was a keen .

He died on 17 January 2019, aged 88, four months following the death of his wife. His estate was valued at £883,000.


Filmography
  • The Pot Carriers (1962) - Police Constable
  • Murder Most Foul (1964) - Sergeant Brick
  • The Alphabet Murders (1965) - Dragbot
  • Arabesque (1965) - Policeman in Car Crash (uncredited)
  • The Family Way (1966) - Man in Crowd (uncredited)
  • Drop Dead Darling (1966) - Radio Engineer
  • (1968) - Bill (uncredited)
  • Hammerhead (1968) - Police Sergeant
  • Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) - Police Sergeant
  • The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder (1969–1971) - Chief Inspector Pyne
  • (1971) - Geoffrey Carter
  • Endless Night (1972) - Sgt. Keene
  • (1973) - Sgt. MacKay
  • Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974) - Bisset (uncredited)
  • (1975) - George
  • Carry On Behind (1975) - Fred Ramsden
  • Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976) - Mr. Truscott
  • Carry On England (1976) - Sergeant-Major 'Tiger' Bloomer
  • Not Now, Comrade (1976) - Constable Pulford
  • Grand Slam (1978, TV Movie) - Mog Jones
  • (1978) - Assistant Police Commissioner
  • (1983–1986; voice only) - A children's science fiction programme
  • Gabrielle and the Doodleman (1984) - Ringmaster / Black Knight / Ugly Sister
  • Rupert and the Frog Song (1985, Short) - Rupert's Father / Father Frog (voice)
  • (1991) - Evan Price
  • The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) - Chief Roofless (voice)
  • The Willows in Winter (1996, TV Movie) - Commissioner of Police (voice)


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