Biography for
Terry-Thomas More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

14 July 1911, Finchley, London, England, UK

Date of Death

8 January 1990, Godalming, Surrey, England, UK (parkinson's disease)

Birth Name

Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Spouse

Belinda Cunningham	(1963 - 8 January 1990) (his death) 2 children
Ida Patlanski	(February 1938 - 1962) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Gap between top teeth

Catchphrases "You're an absolute shower", "Good show" etc

Trivia

Changed his professional name from Thomas Terry after repeatedly being asked if he was related to stage legend Ellen Terry

He and Belinda Cunningham had two sons, Timothy ("Tiger") and Cushan.

Cousin of actor Richard Briers

In 1966 he was about to co-star in a movie called "Easy Come, Easy Go" with Jan Berry and Dean Torrence in the leading roles. Due to a car wreck during shooting, in which Berry suffered a severe brain damage and paralysis, the film was canceled. The film would have marked the screen debut of Mel Brooks, who also would have starred in the movie.

The producer of "Two's Company" (1975) tried to get him to play a recurring character part in the series, but Thomas's suffering from Parkinson's disease made it impossible for him to sign the contract.

Having played Bertie Wooster in two radio plays in 1964 ('Indian Summer of an Uncle' and 'Jeeves Takes Charge'), he was also the first choice for the same role in the television series "The World of Wooster" (1965), eventually portrayed by Ian Carmichael.

He was the first choice to play the role of Dr. Ezra Mungo in Call Me Bwana (1963), a part eventually played by Lionel Jeffries.

He was asked by director Derek Jarman to star as "Prospero" in his Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest (1979), but his failing health didn't allow him to play this role, which was eventually portrayed by Heathcote Williams.

The gap in his upper teeth is so famous that in British medicine there is a Terry-Thomas sign - the gap between the scaphoid and lunate bones (scapho-lunate disassociation) on x-rays. These two bones are in the human wrist.

He and producer Douglas Rankin headed their own production company together. It was called Thomkins Productions Ltd.

Although mentioned in some German Edgar Wallace books, Terry-Thomas did not appear in The Trygon Factor (1966) as "Thompson", neither in the original English nor in the German version of the film. The role was played by Allan Cuthbertson.

He used to say that the hyphen in his name Terry-Thomas represented the famous gap between his teeth.

The Marvel UK comic book villain Mad Jim Jaspers is based on him.

In 1965 he brought a successful court action against "Private Eye" magazine after a cartoon image in the August 23 edition depicted him as a "drunken dissolute character standing under a stage door" (The Times, February 9, 1965).

A comic heritage plaque now commemorates his ownership of 11 Queen's Gate Mews, South Kensington, London, SW7. He lived at the West London Mews from 1949 until 1981.

Was charged with driving a car in Great Windmill Street, Soho, on December 23 1957 "while under the influence of drink to such an extent as to be incapable of proper control of the vehicle." At Bow Street Court on January 16, 1958 he pleaded not guilty and elected to go for trial. At the trial on March 14, 1958 he was found not guilty and discharged.

Salary

How to Murder Your Wife (1965)	£ 100.000
A Date with a Dream (1948)	£ 50
Climbing High (1938)	£ 5.25

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