Alan Webb

Alan Norton Fletcher Webb (2 July 1906 – 22 June 1982) was an English actor. He was principally known as a stage performer, but made several film and television appearances. He seldom played leading roles, but was frequently cast in important character parts. He created roles in plays by A. A. Milne, Noël Coward, T. S. Eliot and other contemporary playwrights.

Life and career Early years Webb was born in York on 2 July 1906, the elder of the two sons of Major Thomas Francis Albertoni Webb (1862–1955) and his wife Lili, née Fletcher. He was educated at Bramcote School, Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire and Royal Naval Colleges Osborne and Dartmouth.

Webb made his first professional appearance on the stage at the Century Theatre, Bayswater in April 1924, as Lawyer Hawkins in The Devil's Disciple with the Lena Ashwell Players, with whom he remained until 1926. and Astrov to Armstrong's Uncle Vanya.

1930s and 1940s Webb's last spells in provincial repertory were with the Croydon Rep in 1932 and 1933, interspersed with three engagements in London. John Gielgud called Webb "[Coward's] best critic, in my opinion . . . a very caustic and brilliant actor, much under-rated. He was one of the few who dared to oppose Noël. Short, masculine, a little rough but definitely camp". Webb appeared in several of the author's plays. He had supporting roles in nine of the ten short plays in the Tonight at 8.30 cycle (1936), played Ernest in the British premiere of Design for Living (1939) and took over from Nicholas Phipps as Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit (1945). In 1947, under the author's supervision, he directed the first production of Coward's Peace in Our Time. Long after their affair had finished, Coward cast him in the important role of Punalo Alani in South Sea Bubble in 1956.

Webb made his Broadway début in Tonight at 8.30 in 1936, During the Second World War he served in the armed forces. In the late 1940s, resuming his stage career, he acted and in the West End, on Broadway, and on tour in the US, the latter in Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy. He also directed. and The Tatler called Webb's performance "an adroit and amusing study of failing powers which occasionally find their former strength". At the Edinburgh Festival and on tour in the same year he played Henry Higgins in Pygmalion with Margaret Lockwood as Eliza.

Cinema and television Webb made his film debut in Challenge to Lassie (1949), and went on to appear in such films as The Pumpkin Eater (1964), King Rat (1965); Chimes at Midnight (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Women in Love (1969), Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1970), The Canterbury Tales (1972) and The Duellists (1977).

He appeared several times on the BBC Play of the Month, Hallmark Hall of Fame and Play for Today, as well as popular television series Z-Cars, The Protectors, and Public Eye. In 1963, he was offered the role of the First Doctor in the BBC's new science fiction series Doctor Who but declined. Webb was also cast as Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi but bowed out owing to illness.

Webb died at his home in Haslemere, Surrey, on 22 June 1982, aged 75.