Derek Nimmo

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English actor (1930–1999)

title: "Derek Nimmo" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1930-births", "1999-deaths", "male-actors-from-liverpool", "people-educated-at-quarry-bank-high-school", "comedians-from-liverpool", "english-male-film-actors", "english-male-radio-actors", "english-male-stage-actors", "english-male-television-actors", "20th-century-english-male-actors", "english-actor-managers", "accidental-deaths-from-falls", "people-from-north-northamptonshire", "20th-century-english-comedians", "20th-century-theatre-managers", "english-male-comedians", "military-personnel-from-liverpool", "20th-century-british-military-personnel"] description: "English actor (1930–1999)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Nimmo" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English actor (1930–1999) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameDerek Nimmo
imageDerek Nimmo Allan Warren.jpg
image_size175px
captionNimmo in 1975
birth_nameDerek Robert Nimmo
birth_date
birth_placeLiverpool, Lancashire, England
death_date
death_placeChelsea, London, England
resting_placeChurch of St Peter and St Paul, Easton Maudit
educationQuarry Bank High School for Boys
occupationActor, theatre manager
spouse
children4
yearsactive1956–1996
::

| name = Derek Nimmo | image = Derek Nimmo Allan Warren.jpg | image_size = 175px | caption = Nimmo in 1975 | birth_name = Derek Robert Nimmo | birth_date = | birth_place = Liverpool, Lancashire, England | death_date = | death_place = Chelsea, London, England | resting_place = Church of St Peter and St Paul, Easton Maudit | education = Quarry Bank High School for Boys | occupation = Actor, theatre manager | spouse = | children = 4 | yearsactive = 1956–1996

Derek Robert Nimmo (19 September 1930 – 24 February 1999) was an English character actor, producer and author. He is best remembered for his comedic upper class "silly ass" and clerical roles, including Revd Mervyn Noote in the BBC1 sitcom All Gas and Gaiters (1966–71).

Career

Nimmo was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of an insurance salesman, and grew up in Mossley Hill in an environment he described as "old merchants' houses, comfy English suburbia". He was educated at Booker Avenue Infants and Junior School and Quarry Bank High School for Boys, then a grammar school under headmaster R. F. Bailey, who brought with him, from his previous position as assistant headmaster at leading independent school Shrewsbury School, "the finest traditions of public schools". He then followed his father into the insurance business, and after National Service in Cyprus, became a salesman for a paint company. He began his stage career at the Hippodrome Theatre in Bolton, Lancashire. It was during this time that he made a cameo appearance in the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night (in which he appeared as "Leslie Jackson", a magician with doves).

He appeared in a number of British films and television series, as aristocrats, including starring roles in the television comedy series The World of Wooster (as "Bingo Little"), and in the comedy film One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (as "Lord Southmere"), as well as appearing in the James Bond spoof film Casino Royale.

Nimmo made his name as the Reverend Mervyn Noote in the British sitcom All Gas and Gaiters (1966). At the time it was considered rather controversial because the main characters were senior churchmen (the Bishop, his chaplain Noote and the Archdeacon) who got into various scrapes as a result of their general incompetence. By the time the series finished, Nimmo was identified with the stereotype of a traditional British clergyman and he went on to play a bungling monk in another BBC clerical sitcom, Oh, Brother!, and a Roman Catholic priest in its sequel series, Oh, Father!{{cite book |last= Stevens |first= Christopher |title= Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams |publisher= John Murray |year= 2010 |isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5 |page=395

In 1966, Nimmo appeared in the second series of The Bed-Sit Girl. He appeared on stage in many West End plays and starred in the musical Charlie Girl, which contained a scene specially written to allow him to perform his party trick of wiggling his toes. He also became a regular panellist on the popular BBC radio show Just a Minute, and had a chat show on BBC Television, If It's Saturday, It Must Be Nimmo, from 24 October to 19 December 1970, though it was felt that he seemed less at ease as a chat show host. Having been away from television for some time, he made an appearance in the Australian television series Neighbours in 1990, playing Lord Ledgerwood alongside Madge and Harold Bishop.

As a theatrical impresario, he took his own touring production (Intercontinental Entertainment) to 30 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Oman and the UAE, and so provided himself with material for many stories on Just a Minute.

In the 1970s, Nimmo sang the jingle "P…p…pick up a Penguin" in a series of television advertisements for McVitie's Penguin biscuits, echoing a stammer he had used for his character in All Gas and Gaiters. In 1996, he voiced Mr Smiley in one episode of Dennis the Menace.

In December 1998, having recently returned from a Middle East tour of Run For Your Wife, he was a guest for a National Treasures celebrity lunch, in the boardroom of the Daily Express. Other guests included Sir Peter O'Sullevan, Joan Collins, Dame Beryl Bainbridge, Dickie Davies and Sue MacGregor. He was to die, after complications from an accidental fall later that evening.

Personal life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/NimmoGrave.JPG" caption="Nimmo's grave at [[Easton Maudit]], [[Northamptonshire"] ::

He married Patricia Brown in 1955; they had three children: Timothy (b. 1956); Piers (b. 1967); and Amanda (b. 1959), who was the first wife of Nicholas Howard, son of politician George Howard, Baron Howard of Henderskelfe. Nimmo had a fourth child, Justin (b. 1971). Justin's mother was a woman known only as Anne, a fellow actor who Nimmo had an affair with from 1969 to 1973, the height of Nimmo's fame. Justin grew up knowing Nimmo was his father and spent time with Nimmo and his other siblings. His existence became public only after Nimmo's death when Nimmo left various personal possessions to Justin in his will.

Nimmo's hobbies included gardening, photography (particularly nature photography), birdwatching and collecting walnut furniture, porcelain and paintings. He was also a wine expert and wrote several books on the subject as well as a number of books on the theatre. Another interest was after dinner speaking, for which he was always in demand.

Nimmo received many awards, including the 1990 Benedictine After Dinner Speaker of the Year. He was made a Freeman of the City of London, and the University of Leicester recognised his contribution to entertainment with an honorary master's degree in 1996. He was an Anglican.

Death

On the evening of 2 December 1998, Nimmo was checking an external alarm outside his house in Kensington when he lost his footing and fell down a stone staircase into the basement. He suffered head injuries and was taken to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where he remained in a coma until the end of December. While still recovering in hospital, he contracted pneumonia and died on 24 February 1999.

Nimmo is buried in the churchyard at Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire.

Selected filmography

Film

Television

References

References

  1. (24 February 1999). "Nimmo dies after fall". BBC News.
  2. (23 October 2011). "Obituary: Derek Nimmo".
  3. ''The Illustrated London News'', vol. 467, issue 2, Illustrated London News & Sketch Ltd, 1979, p. 432
  4. (25 February 1999). "Derek Nimmo obituary".
  5. (23 October 2011). "Obituary: Derek Nimmo".
  6. Anthony Hayward. (26 February 1999). "Obituary:Derek Nimmo". The Independent.
  7. (May 9, 1969). "All Gas and Gaiters Man Gains Award". Belfast Telegraph.
  8. (8 July 2009). "A Word From our Sponsors…".
  9. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 689
  10. (25 February 1999). "Derek Nimmo dies aged 68". [[The Independent]].

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