Lionel Jeffries
| Lionel Jeffries | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Lionel Charles Jeffries 10 June 1926 Forest Hill, London, England |
| Died | 19 February 2010 (aged 83) Poole, Dorset, England |
| Occupation | Actor, film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1950–2001 |
| Spouse(s) | Eileen Mary Walsh (m. 1951; his death 2010) |
| Children | 3 |
Lionel Charles Jeffries (10 June 1926 – 19 February 2010) was an English actor, screenwriter and film director.
Jeffries attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wimborne Minster, Dorset. In 1945, he received a commission in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. After his World War II service, for which he was awarded the Burma Star, he trained at RADA. He entered repertory at the David Garrick Theatre, Lichfield, Staffordshire for two years and appeared in early British television plays.
Jeffries built a successful career in British films mainly in comic character roles and as he was prematurely bald he often played characters older than himself, such as the role of father to Caractacus Potts (played by Dick Van Dyke) in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), although Jeffries was actually six months younger than Van Dyke. His acting career reached a peak in the 1960s with leading roles in other films like Two-Way Stretch (1960), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), First Men in the Moon (1964) and Camelot (1967).
Jeffries turned to writing and directing children's films, including a well regarded version of The Railway Children (1970) and The Amazing Mr Blunden (1972). He was a member of the British Catholic Stage Guild.
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