Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor who played Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom The Good Life (1975–1978) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom Yes Minister (1980–1984) and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister (1986–1988). He was a four-time BAFTA TV and two-time Olivier Award nominee.
Early life Eddington was born in Paddington, London to decorative artist Albert Clark Eddington (1887–1955) and Frances Mary (née Roberts) (1898–1958). He was raised in St John's Wood.https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-60456 Eddington gave his place of birth as St John's Wood in a Desert Island Discs interview with Roy Plomley in August 1981. The family were Quakers. Albert Eddington was related to the Somerset shoemaking Clark family and the scientist Sir Arthur Eddington,Quakers and the Arts: "Plain and Fancy" – An Anglo-American Perspective, David Sox, Sessions Book Trust, 2000, p. 65 Albert and Sir Arthur being second cousins, both great-grandsons of William Eddington (1755–1806).
Paul was brought up by his parents with strict family values. His father had been "emotionally shattered" on his return from the First World War, which led to Paul being a lifelong pacifist. He attended Sibford School in Sibford Ferris, Oxfordshire. In 1952, he married Patricia Scott.
Career Having registered as a conscientious objector, Eddington began his acting career as a teenager with ENSA during the Second World War. He worked for Sheffield Repertory Theatre, a theatre company based at Sheffield Playhouse. In 1956, he played his first major role on television as the corrupt policeman PC Tom Carr in the Dixon of Dock Green episode The Rotten Apple, and later that year he became a regular cast member of The Adventures of Robin Hood. Initially he played minor characters, but in the fourth series (1959–60), he played Will Scarlet.
He had a leading role in "Liberty Bar", a 1960 episode of the BBC version of Maigret, playing Harry Brown, an Australian entrepreneur. He had roles in episodes of The Avengers (1963), The Prisoner (1967) and the final episode of The Champions (1969). He was a main cast member of the television series Frontier (1968). He also had a supporting role in Hammer Films' The Devil Rides Out (1968), an episode of Van der Valk in 1972, and appeared as a "straight man" (substituting for regular stooge Henry McGee) in a 1976 episode of The Benny Hill Show. He also appeared in most episodes of the ATV series Hine (1971). In this he played Astor Harris, a member of an arms dealing firm named Pendles. Eddington appeared as civil servant Strand in the last series of Special Branch (1974).
Career peak Although he was an actor for all his adult life, it was not until Eddington was in his late forties that he became a household name because of his role in The Good Life, first screened by the BBC in 1975, and written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey. The sitcom focuses on a suburban couple who decide to give up conventionally paid work and become self-sufficient in their suburban garden. Eddington was cast as Jerry Leadbetter, a neighbour of the main characters, and Penelope Keith played his wife, Margo. Originally intended as small parts, the Leadbetters soon became essential foils for the two stars. He also appeared in a single episode of another Esmonde and Larbey sitcom, Get Some In! in 1977.
Eddington's profile was raised further when he played the title role of Jim Hacker in the comedy series Yes Minister (1980–1984) and Yes, Prime Minister (1986–1988). He was shortlisted four times for the BAFTA award for Best Light Entertainment Performance for the series, but he lost out to his co-star Nigel Hawthorne on each occasion.
During 1987 Eddington appeared as Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore in Australia.The Pirates of HMS Pinafore essgee.com, accessed 26 May 2019 His last roles included Guy Wheeler, a corrupt property developer in the Minder episode "The Wrong Goodbye" (1989); as Richard Cuthbertson alongside Good Life co-star Felicity Kendal in the TV dramatisation of The Camomile Lawn (1992); the voice of Badger in The Adventures of Mole and Justice Shallow in Henry IV (1995); a BBC adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2. He was reunited with another Good Life co-star Richard Briers in a run of the play Home in 1994.
Eddington read extracts from Sir Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples for the award-winning BBC Radio series This Sceptred Isle; he died midway through the production, and his place was taken by Peter Jeffrey.
Awards and honours Eddington was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1987 New Year Honours.Supplement to The London Gazette, 31 December 1986, p. 8, accessed on 9 December 2013 +YearWorkAwardsCategoryResultRef.1982Noises OffLaurence Olivier AwardsBest Comedy PerformanceYes MinisterBritish Academy Television AwardsBest Light Entertainment Performance1983Yes Minister / Let There Be Love1987Yes, Prime Minister19881993No Man's Land Laurence Olivier AwardsBest Actor
Final years and death Eddington's autobiography, So Far, So Good, was published in 1995. On 30 October 1995, five days before Eddington's death, the BBC aired an edition of Face to Face in which he discussed his life, career and battle with lymphoma.The Face on the Screen: Death, Recognition and Spectatorship, Therese Davis, Intellect, 2004, page 19 On that show he was asked how he would like to be remembered:
Eddington had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, known as mycosis fungoides, when he was 28. The ailment was to cause his death eventually, but in the intervening four decades, Eddington and his immediate family kept his condition private. It only became public knowledge in 1994, when Eddington responded to press speculation about his darkening skin and hair loss. He said “I’d always had a little bit of cancer but now I have the real thing, it is exciting somehow.”
Eddington died in Southwark, London, on 4 November 1995. He and Patricia, his wife of 43 years, had three sons and a daughter.Who's Who 2009
Selected filmography Year Title Role Notes1956Dixon of Dock GreenPC Tom CarrEpisode: The Rotten AppleThe Secret of the ForestMuseum tour leader Sailor Beware! Bearded Sailor Uncredited1956–1960The Adventures of Robin HoodVarious roles/ Will Scarlet64 episodes1957KenilworthEdmund Tressilian6 episodes1958IvanhoeRobber ChiefEpisode: The Widow of Woodcote The Diary of Samuel Pepys Sir William Coventry 8 episodes 1959 Television Playwright Selwyn Roberts Episode: High Fidelity The Adventures of Brigadier Wellington-Bull Harry, another Soho type Episode: A Clubbable Man Jet Storm Victor Tracer Desert Mice Army Officer Uncredited1960MaigretHarry BrownEpisode: Liberty BarThe Four Just MenRustieEpisode: Crack-Up The Man Who Was Nobody Franz Reuter1961Seven Faces of JimCol. DownsEpisode: The Face of GeniusThe Escape of R.D.7Michael Rabinowitz 2 episodes1963The AvengersRichard MarlingEpisode: Immortal ClayThe Spread of the EagleMarcus BrutusTV mini-series, 3 episodesZ-CarsStan FerrisEpisode: Act of Vengeance 1964 Ring of Spies Johnnie Uncredited1966Danger ManCaptain ShulmanEpisode: I'm Afraid You Have The Wrong Number1967Half Hour StoryTim Phipps-ArnoldQuick on the TakeoverThe AvengersBeaumontEpisode: Something Nasty in the NurseryThe PrisonerCobbEpisode: Arrival 1968 Frontier Hamilton Lovelace8 episodesThe Devil Rides OutRichard Eaton1969Fraud SquadJoseph HordenEpisode: The Biggest Borrower of AllThe ChampionsKleinEpisode: Autokill1970DoomwatchReynoldsEpisode: The Red Sky1971CatweazelVandantiEpisode: The Heavenly TwinsHineAstor Harris9 episodesThe Rivals of Sherlock HolmesHamerEpisode: The Case of the Mirror of Portugal1972Man at the TopClive Kempson3 episodes The Amazing Mr Blunden VicarVan der ValkWolf GebhardtEpisode: The AdventurerVillainsHenry Percival2 episodes 1973 Baxter! Mr Rawling 1974 Fall of Eagles George Plekhanov TV mini-series, 1 episodeSpecial BranchStrand11 episodes1974–1978The Good LifeJerry Leadbetter30 episodes1975Play for TodayVarleyGoodbye1977Get Some In!Squadron-Leader BushEpisode: End of Basic Training1980–1984Yes MinisterJames Hacker22 episodes1982Outside EdgeRogerTelevision film1982–1983Let There Be LoveTimothy Love12 episodes1984Hay FeverDavid BlissTelevision film1986Miss MarpleRev. Leonard ClementEpisode: Murder at the Vicarage1986–1988Yes Prime MinisterJames Hacker16 episodes1989MinderGuy WheelerEpisode: The Wrong Goodbye1992The Camomile LawnRichardTV mini-series, 5 episodes1995PerformanceJustice ShallowHenry IV Part 1 & Part 2
References
Further reading
External links