Roderick A. Maude-Roxby (born 2 April 1930) is a retired British actor.[1] He has appeared in numerous films, such as Walt Disney‘s The Aristocats, where he voiced the greedy butler Edgar Balthazar (his only voice role), Unconditional Love, and Clint Eastwood‘s White Hunter Black Heart, playing Thompson.
Born in London in 1930, by the time he was 13 he had written two children’s books about the adventures of a frog named Bulgy. By the age of 17 he was living in Melbourne, Australia, where he edited a page for The Age, drawing Bulgy comic strips for kids to colour in at home. [2]
An early innovator at the Royal College of Art (RCA) alongside David Hockney and Peter Blake, he was one of the UK’s first performance artists, before it was a recognized art form. At the RCA he edited ARK magazine in 1958 and was president of the college’s Theatre Group.[1] He had a joint exhibition with Blake at the Portal Gallery in 1960.[1].
As an actor he played the recurring role of Professor Weaver in Michael Palin and Terry Jones‘ pre-Monty Python series The Complete and Utter History of Britain, and also made appearances in The Goodies, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Not Only… But Also and The Establishment. In 1992 he starred as imprisoned alien Mercator in the experimental BBC1 Saturday morning children’s magazine show Parallel 9.[citation needed]
On the stage he won the Theatre of the Year Award for Best Comic New York in 1968 for his work as a stand-up comedian,[citation needed] and in 2012 appeared in Ibsen’s St John’s Night at London’s Jermyn Street Theatre.[citation needed] He also worked with masks and improvisation for over 40 years and was a co-creator of improvisational games developed at the Royal Court Theatre, and then as “Theatre Machine” with Keith Johnstone.[citation needed]
He lives in south-west London. [3]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Dangerous Afternoon | Pug | |
| 1962 | The Wild and the Willing | Man | Uncredited |
| 1965 | The Party’s Over | Hector | |
| 1966 | Doctor in Clover | Tristram | |
| 1970 | The Aristocats | Edgar Balthazar, the Butler | Voice |
| 1984 | Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes | Olivestone | |
| 1985 | Plenty | Committee Chairman | |
| 1987 | Playing Away | Vicar | |
| 1989 | How to Get Ahead in Advertising | Dr. Gatty | |
| 1990 | White Hunter Black Heart | Thompson, British Partner | |
| 1993 | Shadowlands | Arnold Dopliss | |
| 2002 | Unconditional Love | Minister | Final role |
References
- ^ a b c David Buckman (2006). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 2, M to Z. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0-953260-95-X.
- ^ https://www.inigo.com/almanac/a-makers-story-roddy-maude-roxby
- ^ https://www.inigo.com/almanac/a-makers-story-roddy-maude-roxby
External links
- Roddy Maude-Roxby at IMDb
- Roddy Maude-Roxby at the TCM Movie Database (archived)