Colin Bean, (15 April 1926 — 20 June 2009), was a British actor best known for playing Private Sponge in Dad's Army.
His first time acting came when he was a shepherd in a school play. Despite his parent's disapproval, he took up acting as his career, which was against his parents' wishes. His acting work briefly paused when he fought in World War II, but he managed to graduate from drama school in 1952.
In 1962, he worked at Watford Rep; this was where he met Jimmy Perry, who would go on to come up with the idea behind Dad's Army. Perry got Bean cast as Private Sponge, one of the platoon's background members. As the series continued, Private Sponge's became more prominent, especially once James Beck Died During Production and Talfryn Thomas was written out.
Bean also made smaller appearances in other Britcoms including Are You Being Served?, The Gnomes of Dulwich, Hi-de-Hi!, The Liver Birds, and Up Pompeii. Later in his life, Bean focused more on work on the radio due to the fact that he was suffering from arthritis.
He died at the age of 83.
Works on TV Tropes he appeared in:
Films- Dad's Army (1971) — Private Sponge
- Z Cars, episode "Members Only" (1963) — Mr. Cowper
- Dad's Army, 48 episodes (1968-77) — Private Sponge
- The Gnomes of Dulwich, 2 episodes (1969) — Gnome
- Up Pompeii, episode "The Ides of March" (1970) — Centurion
- Are You Being Served?, episode "Camping In" (1973) — Leatherette Gloves Customer
- Hi-de-Hi!, episode "Wedding Bells" (1988) — Verger
