Alan Webb

Alan Norton Fletcher Webb (2 July 1906 – 22 June 1982) was an English actor. He was principally known as a stage performer, but made several film and television appearances. He seldom played leading roles, but was frequently cast in important character parts. He created roles in plays by A. A. Milne, Noël Coward, T. S. Eliot and other contemporary playwrights. Life and career Early years Webb was born in York on 2 July 1906, the elder of the two sons of Major Thomas Francis Albertoni Webb (1862–1955) and his wife Lili, née Fletcher. He was educated at Bramcote School, Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire and Royal Naval Colleges Osborne and Dartmouth. He decided against a Royal Navy career in favour of the theatre. Webb made his first professional appearance on the stage at the Century Theatre, Bayswater in April 1924, as Lawyer Hawkins in The Devil's Disciple with the Lena Ashwell Players, with whom he remained until 1926. After shorter spells with J.B. Fagan's Oxford Players (1926–28) and the Masque Theatre Company in Edinburgh and Glasgow (1928) he had small roles in three West End productions. He then joined the Liverpool Repertory Company under the direction of William Armstrong. There, between 1929 and 1931 he was cast in leading roles, including Mole in the world premiere of Toad of Toad Hall, and Astrov to Armstrong's Uncle Vanya.