Dad’s Army actor Clive Dunn dies aged 92

Wednesday, November 7, 2012
5:08 PM

Dad’s Army actor Clive Dunn has died after a short illness.

The 92-year-old, who played Corporal Jones in the sitcom, passed away in Portugal, where he had lived since 1992.

Dunn, who leaves his wife, children and grandchildren, was born in 1920 in London’s Covent Garden area. He attended Sevenoaks boarding school for boys - which he hated - and later studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

His agent Peter Charlesworth said the star will be “sorely missed”.

He said: “He will be a real loss to the acting profession.”

Dunn started out his career with a number of small film roles in the 1930s before the war intervened. He served with the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars before being captured and spent four years as a prisoner of war in Austria.

After the war he resumed his career and in 1968 landed the role of Corporal Jones in the much-loved sitcom about life on the home front.

The character, a World War One veteran-turned butcher, was notorious for his often rambling recollections of his time in the army and his much-used catchphrase “Don’t panic, don’t panic”.

Dunn also had a number one hit in 1970 with Grandad and went on to play the title character in a children’s show of the same name.

Mr Charlesworth said: “He had been a star since the mid 1930’s.

“He was a young man playing old men even when he was young.”

Dunn lived in Portugal for more than 20 years and, in a 1992 interview with Saga Magazine, he explained the appeal of the place was down to Greta Garbo.

He said: “The reason I came to Portugal originally was through seeing Greta Garbo in the film Queen Christina.

“In the script she was going to the south west corner of Europe, full of sunshine, where warm breezes blew. The final shot shows her on her way to Portugal and I thought if it’s good enough for Garbo, it’s good enough for me.”