Line #28 Creator/TerryThomas


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/terry-thomas_8713.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"A page about me? [[CatchPhrase I say! Jolly good show!]]"]]
3	->''"Do not always assume the other fellow has intelligence equal to yours. He may have more."''
4
5	Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens, 10 July 1911 -- 8 January 1990) was an English comedian and character actor.
6
7	He became known to a worldwide audience through his many films during the 1950s and '60s. He often portrayed disreputable members of the British upper classes, especially cads, toffs and bounders, using his distinctive voice; his costume and props tended to include a bowler, waistcoat and cigarette holder. He was also well known for the large gap between his front teeth.
8
9	His Website/{{Wikipedia}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry-Thomas article]] is a jolly good read over his splendid life, career and legacy.
10	----
11	!!Films with pages on TV Tropes:
12
13	* ''Film/TheNakedTruth'' (1957): Lord Henry Mayley
14	* ''Film/BlueMurderAtStTrinians'' (1957): Captain Romney Carlton-Ricketts
15	* ''Film/TheWonderfulWorldOfTheBrothersGrimm'' (1962): Sir Ludwig
16	* ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' (1963): Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
17	* ''[[Literature/TheMouseThatRoared The Mouse on the Moon]]'' (1963): Maurice Spender
18	* ''Film/ThoseMagnificentMenInTheirFlyingMachines'' (1965): Sir Percy Ware-Armitage
19	** ''In Monte Carlo or Bust'' (1969, a.k.a. ''Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies''), he plays Sir Percy's equally devious son, Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage.
20	* ''Film/HowToMurderYourWife'' (1965): Charles Furbank
21	* ''Film/{{Strange Bedfellows\|1965}}'' (1965): Mortician
22	* ''Film/TheWildAffair'' (1965): Godfrey Deane
23	* ''Film/LaGrandeVadrouille'' (1966): Sir Reginald Brook
24	* ''Film/TheDaydreamer'' (1966): The First Tailor
25	* ''Film/AGuideForTheMarriedMan'' (1967): Harold 'Tiger'
26	* ''Film/DangerDiabolik'' (1968): Minister of Finance
27	* ''Film/AtlanticWall'' (1970): Commander Perry
28	* ''Film/TheAbominableDrPhibes'' (1971): Dr. Longstreet
29	** ''Film/DrPhibesRisesAgain'' (1972): Lombardo
30	* ''Film/VaultOfHorror'' (1973): Arthur Critchit
31	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robin Hood\|1973}}'' (1973): Sir Hiss
32	* ''Film/TheLastRemakeOfBeauGeste'' (1977): Warden
33
34	!! Tropes associated with his work:
35	%% * AristocratsAreEvil
36	* {{Catchphrase}}:
37	** "I say!"
38	** "You're an absolute shower."
39	** "Jolly good show!"
40	** "Hard cheese."
41	** "Splendid!"
42	%% * CheshireCatGrin
43	* DastardlyDapperDerby: His characters were most associated with wearing Edwardian suits, including the derby hat.
44	* DastardlyWhiplash: Said to be the inspiration behind the visual appearance of ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces''' Dick Dastardly (though the characters also borrows a lot from Creator/JackLemmon's Dr. Fate in ''Film/TheGreatRace''). Also obviously the inspiration for ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle'' villain "Tiger" Titherage (even down to the nickname: "Tiger" was the nickname of Terry-Thomas' character in ''A Guide for the Married Man'', which came out the same year).
45	* EvilBrit:
46	** In addition to Dick Dastardly (see above) he is also said to be the inspiration for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Jim_Jaspers James "Mad Jim" Jaspers]], a PsychopathicManChild with vast reality-warping powers and the main villain in Creator/AlanMoore's run in the comic ''Captain Britain''.
47	** Averted with his World War II officer roles in some French movies of TheSixties.
48	%% * GentlemanSnarker
49	* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Of the evil variety, of course.
50	* HandsomeLech: He was this both on- and off-screen, apparently.
51	* IAmVeryBritish: Quite possibly the trope codifier; most people that pretend a RP accent these days are basically doing an impression of him.
52	%% * LoveableRogue
53	* ManOfWealthAndTaste: In real life as well as on screen he was apparently one for fine clothing, dining and drink; for instance, he insisted his strawberries be "bathed" in Marsala wine.
54	* PreppyName: Hyphenated - like the gap in his teeth. The names of many of his roles were also hyphenated, accenting (no pun intended) his upper-crustiness.
55	%% * QuintessentialBritishGentleman: (though generally just a veneer of it). Just take a look at some of his character's outrageously British names below.
56	* SelfDeprecatingHumor: When Andrew Spicer wrote for the British Film Institute, he called Terry-Thomas "the definitive postwar cad or rotter". Terry-Thomas wrote of himself in the 1980s: "T-T with his permanent air of caddish disdain... bounder... aristocratic rogue... upper-class English twit... genuine English eccentric... one of the last real gentlemen... wet, genteel Englishman... high-bred idiot... cheeky blighter... camel-haired cad... amiable buffoon... pompous Englishman... twentieth-century dandy... stinker... king of the cads... All those descriptions added up to my image as Terry-Thomas."
57	%% * SharpDressedMan
58	* SmokingIsCool: Often smoked using a cigarette holder.
59	* StiffUpperLip: As a con artist, he could be cool as a cucumber.
60	* StockBritishPhrases: He used many of the upper-class sort, and probably codified several.
61	%% * TwoFirstNames
62	* {{Typecasting}}:
63	** [[invoked]] He so defined the role of the upper-class scoundrel that most actors portraying the type today are essentially doing a parody of him.
64	** He was also the most "obviously British" [[TheComicallySerious comically serious]] guy French cinema could find in the 1960s and early 1970s to play UsefulNotes/WorldWarII officers, such as in ''Film/LaGrandeVadrouille'' and ''Film/AtlanticWall''.
65	* UpperClassTwit: When he wasn't doing the scoundrel, his comedic skills sometimes led him into this role.
66	%% * WaistcoatOfStyle
67	%% * WickedCultured

Context Creator / TerryThomas