David Tomlinson (actor)
| David Tomlinson | |
|---|---|
Tomlinson in Mary Poppins, 1964
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| Born |
David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson 7 May 1917 Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England |
| Died | 24 June 2000 (aged 83) Westminster, London, England |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1940–1980 |
| Notable work | George Banks in Mary Poppins, |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Lindsay Hiddingh (m. September 1943 – 2 December 1943; her death) Audrey Freeman (m. 17 May 1953 – 24 June 2000; his death) |
| Children | David Tomlinson Jr William Tomlinson Henry Tomlinson James Tomlinson |
David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000) was an English stage, film and television actor and comedian. Having been described as both a leading man and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug. In 2002, two years after his death, Tomlinson was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend.
Tomlinson was born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on 7 May 1917, to Florence Elizabeth Tomlinson (nee Sinclair-Thomsona) (1890-1968) and a well-respected London solicitor father Clarence Tomlinson (1883-1978). He attended Tonbridge School and left to join the Grenadier Guards for 16 months. His father then secured him a job as a clerk at Shell Mex House.
His stage career grew from amateur stage productions to his 1940 film debut in Quiet Wedding. His career was interrupted when he entered Second World War service as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF. During the war, he served as a flight instructor in Canada and made three films. His flying days continued after the war and he crashed a Tiger Moth plane near his back garden after he lost consciousness while flying.
David Tomlinson was known to generations of children for his role as George Banks, head of the Banks family, in the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins brought Tomlinson continued work with Disney, asking him to appear in The Love Bug (1968) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Throughout the rest of Tomlinson's film career, he never steered far from comedies. His final acting appearance was in The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), which was also the final film of Peter Sellers, who died shortly prior to its release. Tomlinson retired from acting at age 63 to spend more time with his family, however, the enduring popularity of Mary Poppins ensuring that he remained well-known.
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