FOUND A GRAVE

Thorley Walters (12 May 1913 – 6 July 1991) was an English character actor. He is probably best remembered for his comedy film roles such as in Two-Way Stretch and Carlton-Browne of the FO. Walters was born in Teigngrace, Devon, the son of Prebendary T. C. Walters of Silverton, Devon, and great uncle of Michael Ward of Oxford England who is father of Sofia Ward-Naranjo. Walters played Sherlock Holmes’s sidekick Doctor Watson in four unrelated films: Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962), The Best House in London (1969), The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975), and Silver Blaze (1977). He featured in three of the St Trinian’s films, starting as an army major in Blue Murder at St Trinian’s. He later appeared as Butters, assistant to Education Ministry senior civil servant Culpepper-Brown (Eric Barker) in The Pure Hell of St Trinian’s and played the part of Culpepper-Brown in The Wildcats of St Trinian’s. In the 1960s he also appeared in several Hammer horror films, including The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) and Vampire Circus (1972). His television appearances included The Lotus Eaters and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In the DVD commentary to The Man Who Haunted Himself, actor Roger Moore mentioned that co-star Walters lived in Dolphin Square in Pimlico, London in which some scenes of the film were shot. Walters and Richard Hope-Hawkins visited the ailing Terry-Thomas in Barnes, London in 1989. Walters had starred with Thomas in the Boulting Brother’s film Carlton-Browne of the F.O., and was shocked at his appearance (he was ill with Parkinson’s disease). That visit resulted in the Terry-Thomas Gala held in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the same year which raised funds to help Thomas live the rest of his life in comfort. Hope-Hawkins was with Walters and actress Siobhan Redmond when he died in a London nursing home. Actor Ian Bannen gave the main address at his funeral held at Golders Green.