 Tall, gangly, with protruding teeth framing a cheerfully gormless grin,
Cardew Robinson is best remembered today for his enduring schoolboy comedy
persona, 'Cardew the Cad of the School'. Developed in 1942 for a rhyming
monologue to fill a few minutes in an RAF Gang Show, the character provided the
basis for a stage act and later caught the public imagination, becoming popular
on radio programmes including the BBC's Variety Bandbox.
Robinson's screen career was confined to small parts in quickie 'B' pictures
until he was given the chance to bring 'The Cad' to the screen. Wreathed in his
trademark stripy scarf, he proudly played his sole starring role, improbably
romancing pert Vera Day, in a bizarre classroom comedy based around his
creation, Fun at St. Fanny's (d. Maurice Elvey, 1955). One reviewer described
the film, produced by the tiny family-run independent, Adelphi, as "the British
school joke stretched almost to infinity".
Charming, well-spoken, seemingly innocent, but with a cheeky twinkle in his
eye, Robinson was possessed of unusual looks that ensured a steady stream of character parts in film
and television after the Cad was retired. He played an undertaker in Waltz of
the Toreadors (d. John Guillerman, 1962), a gravedigger in I Was Happy Here (d.
Desmond Davis, 1965); a vicar in Smashing Time (d. Davis, 1967), a minister in a
1967 episode of The Avengers (ITV, 1961-69) and had a memorable small role in
Carry On... Up the Khyber (d. Gerald Thomas, 1968).
Despite his sometimes ecclesiastical air, Robinson was unafraid to venture
into the world of 'adult' films, providing light relief in Harrison Marks' The
Nine Ages of Nakedness (1969), and Derek Ford's What's Up Nurse (1977). Working
with Marks again, Robinson appeared as Scotsman McIvor in the massively
successful smut comedy Come Play with Me (1977), in the process revealing
exactly what is worn beneath a kilt.
There were more respectable parts, too: latter days saw Robinson as a lawyer
with no tongue in Roman Polanski's Pirates (France/Tunisia,1986) and concluding his film career
with a small role in Shirley Valentine ((d. Lewis Gilbert, 1989). Off screen,
Robinson also appeared in numerous stage plays, wrote comedy scripts for
distinguished performers including Peter Sellers, Dick Emery and Dave Allen, and
penned a light-hearted book, How to be a Failure. Enduringly popular with the
public and a genial raconteur, he remained a frequent guest on television and
radio shows until his death in 1992.
Vic Pratt
|
FILM & TV CREDITS
