Clive Dunn
One of our great character actors has died. Clive Dunn may not have been a big movie star – though he appeared in plenty, starting as far back as the 1930s – nor a great Shakespearian tragedian, but he had a gift for playing old men even in his youth that showed remarkable dramatic skill. When he first played the doddering Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army he was in his forties and passed for 80. And given he was for a couple of decades part of what some would call our greatest ever sitcom, he has a special place in our national culture. That role gave him a lifelong income enabling him to explore other passions, most notably painting, but it is for “They don’t like it up ‘em” Jonesie that he will be remembered – seemingly for as long as we have television.
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