Graham Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was a British
character actor and comedian.
Born in Hammersmith, London
[1], he is best know for a
number of films where he appeared with Will Hay and Moore Marriott as
'Albert': an insolent, overweight, overgrown-schoolboy type character,
loosely reminiscent of Billy Bunter.
His first film with Will Hay was Where There's a Will (1936) in
which he plays an office boy. In his next film with Hay, Windbag the
Sailor (1936), he is joined by Moore Marriott and his character has
become 'Albert'. He is known by this name in all his later films with Hay
and Marriott: Oh, Mr Porter! (1937), Old Bones of the River
(1938), Ask a Policeman (1939) and Where's That Fire? (1940).
Still as Albert, he appeared again with Moore Marriott in a series of films
starring Arthur Askey: Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940), I
Thank You (1941), and Back Room Boy (1942). His later films
include Powell and Pressburger's A Canterbury Tale and I Know
Where I'm Going!, before he semi-retired from show business to become a
publican with his wife Joyce.
Where's That Fire? (1940)
Graham Moffatt in Will Hay film
|
Together, they ran the Swan Inn at Braybrooke
(near Market Harborough) followed by The Englishcoombe Inn at Bath. In March
1952 he had to be admitted to hospital in Kettering after two weeks of
hiccoughing. He still made occasional film appearances until his death from
a heart attack in 1965 [2]. His
ashes were scattered at sea.