Sam Kelly

Roger Michael Kelly (19 December 1943 – 14 June 2014), known by the stage name Sam Kelly, was an English actor who appeared in film, television, radio and theatre. He is best known for his roles as Captain Hans Geering in 'Allo 'Allo!, Warren in Porridge, Sam in On the Up, and Ted Liversidge in Barbara. Early life Kelly was born in Salford, Lancashire on 19 December 1943 and abandoned; he was adopted by a couple who moved to Liverpool. There he attended the Liverpool Collegiate School and was a chorister at Liverpool Cathedral, where he showed early acting talent by reciting monologues. He worked for three years in the Civil Service in Liverpool before training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After graduating in 1967, he appeared in repertory theatres around the UK. Career His early roles included playing a film director in Tiffany Jones (1973) and appearances in two of the later Carry On films, Carry On Dick (1974) and Carry On Behind (1975). He then had a significant role in the British sitcom Porridge as the affable and high spirited Slade Prison inmate Bunny Warren who relies on fellow prisoners to read his letters from home and blames his incarceration on his inability to read. In the sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! he played German officer Captain Hans Geering, leaving after the third series (something he later said that he regretted doing). He played the law-stationer Mr. Snagsby in the 1985 BBC adaptation of Bleak House. In On the Up he played Dennis Waterman's chauffeur and he appeared in We'll Think of Something as Les Brooks. From 1990 to 1992, he co-starred in the comedy television series Haggard. In 1994, he appeared as Mr. Mould, the undertaker, in the BBC mini-series Martin Chuzzlewit. From 1999 to 2003, he played Barbara's husband Ted in the British sitcom Barbara. In 1996, Kelly appeared at the National Theatre in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. He played Bernard in Holding On (1997) and Carl Langbehn in the five-part television drama Christabel (1988). He appeared in Midsomer Murders episode "Down Among the Dead Men" as Jack Fothergill in 2006 and as the eccentric impoverished ghostwriter, Majors, in the Inspector Morse episode "Second Time Around".