Norman Shelley
| Norman Shelley | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
16 February 1903 Chelsea, London, U.K. |
| Died | 22 August 1980 (aged 77) Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, London, U.K. |
| Occupation | Actor |
Norman Shelley (16 February 1903 – 22 August 1980) was a British actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC's Children's Hour. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera The Archers.
Perhaps Shelley's single best-known role was as Winnie-the-Pooh in Children's Hour adaptations of A.A. Milne's stories; for many British people of the mid-20th century, his is the definitive voice of Pooh. Other roles for Children's Hour included Dr. Watson (opposite Carleton Hobbs as Holmes) in a series of adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories;Toad in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows; and the roles of The Magician and Captain Higgins in the specially written Toytown series. Shelley also played the parts of Gandalf and Tom Bombadil in the 1955-6 radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. In the 1973 BBC television series Jack the Ripper Shelley played Detective Constable Walter Dew.
Shelley was born in Chelsea, London, the son of Frank Shelley, a painter, and his wife, Alice Campbell, née Glover. He originally intended to make a career as an aircraft designer, but took up stage acting on the advice of the actress and teacher Rosina Fillipi. His public debut was at the Old Vic in 1919, and in the early 1920s he toured with the Charles Doran Shakespeare Company, performing such roles as Trebonius in Julius Caesar and Sebastian in Twelfth Night. During the 1920s and early '30s he worked principally in London, and was particularly associated with Peter Godfrey's experimental productions at the Gate Theatre Studio.
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