British actor Frank Thornton, most famous for playing stuffy Captain Peacock in the long-running innuendo-filled BBC TV sitcom – and offshoot film – Are You Being Served? died in March 2012, aged 92.
Although famous as a comedy actor, Frank Thornton was no stranger to horror either. Well, if it usually involved comedy, that is.
We’d previously noted his minor role in the 1966 Hammer spoof Carry on Screaming! and as a vampire in the TV ad for kids snack Smiths’ Horror Bags (see below) but further delving has revealed his presence in Vampira (scripted by Jeremy Lloyd who also co-wrote Are You Being Served? and as ‘Count Boris’ in a 1987 animated series called T-Bag Bounces Back.
Digging deeper we’ve discovered fearless Frank had a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-him role in Roger Corman’s The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) and played a barman in The Tell-Tale Heart (1960). Frank Thornton: A horror legend then… and a great comedy actor too!
