Felix Bowness

Felix Hervè Talbot Bowness (30 March 1922 – 13 September 2009) was a British comedy actor who was best remembered for his portrayal of the jockey Fred Quilley in the BBC sitcom Hi-de-Hi!.

Biography Born in the village of Harwell, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), to French Canadian parents, he became a bantamweight boxing champion.

Second World War At the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Royal Berkshire Regiment as a signalman. At the D-Day landings in Normandy, after his landing craft was hit and sunk, he only remembered waking in a French convent. During recovery he attended a Vera Lynn concert, after which she gave him a singing lesson.

Performing career Bowness returned to Britain and started performing on the comedy circuit, undertaking two summer seasons at Clacton-on-Sea Pier in 1948 and 1949.

He eventually broke into films and television in the early 1960s, and supplemented his income by becoming a well used warm-up act for television shows including Morecambe and Wise, Home To Roost, The Two Ronnies and later Terry Wogan's chat show Wogan and Noel's House Party. He was also the warm-up act for This Is Your Life and became the subject of it in 1985.

Bowness was not known for cinematic roles, but in 1979 he appeared in the soft-porn film Queen of the Blues starring Mary Millington and Milton Reid.

Personal life and death Bowness and Mavis, his wife of 59 years, lived in Earley, Caversham and then Woodley, all in Berkshire. Bowness retired from acting in 2003 after being diagnosed with dementia.

Television roles

Year Title Role1978 to 1979 Leave it to Charlie Newsreader (voice), George, Mechanical Voice, Politician's Voice1980 to 1988 Hi-de-Hi! Fred Quilley 1981 Shillingbury Tales ('The Shillingbury Daydream', episode) Drunken Austin Allegro driver1990 to 1993 You Rang, M'Lord? Mr Pearson1996 to 1997 Oh, Doctor Beeching! Bernie Bleasdale1991 to 1999 Noel's House Party Himself. Warm Up Act. Burt the bugler.