Richard Murdoch
Richard Bernard Murdoch was educated at Charterhouse School in Surrey, and Pembroke College, Cambridge University. Whilst at university he participated in the Footlights Dramatic Club's performances. Murdoch's first appearance in cinema was as an uncredited dancing extra in 1932 film Looking on the Bright Side. In 1937 he was listed among the cast of the "Television Follies", an early BBC Television programme. He received his big professional break in the British Broadcasting Corporation's comedy radio programme Band Waggon in 1938 as part of a double act with the then rising star Arthur Askey, acquiring the nickname "Stinker" in mocking reference to his superior formal education. As Askey moved from radio performing into cinema at the end of the 1930s Murdoch went with him and they appeared in a number of Askey star vehicle films together, Murdoch's tall athletic physique, good looks and upper middle class English Home Counties demeanor contrasting comedically with Askey's short stature, homely appearance, Lancashire provincial accent and working class performance persona. Their working partnership broke up during World War 2 when Murdoch joined the Armed Forces, but they briefly reprised it in the late 1950s for the television series Living It Up. Murdoch was conscripted into the Royal Air Force in 1941, serving as a junior intelligence officer with Bomber Command, before being posted to the Department of Allied Air Force and Foreign Liaison as a Flight Lieutenant. In 1943 he joined the Directorate of Administrative Plans at the Air Ministry, where he shared an office with Wing Commander Kenneth Horne, being responsible for the supply of aircraft and air equipment to Russia. He finished the war with the rank of Squadron Leader.
The Ghost Train
as Teddy DeakinMismatched travellers are stranded overnight at a lonely rural railway station. They soon learn...
Movie pageThe Magic Box
as Sitter in Bath StudioNow old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once very different. As...
Movie pageI Thank You
as StinkerClassic comedy starring Arthur Askey. The perils, humiliations and humour of trying to run a...
Movie pageWhoops Apocalypse
as Cabinet MinisterWhen a small British owned island in the Caribbean is invaded and the world's most dangerous...
Movie pageLilli Marlene
as Flight Lieutenant Murdoch / Capt. WimpoleLilli Marlene, a French girl working as a bar maid in her uncle's café in Benghazi, Libya, turns...
Movie pageOne Exciting Night
as IllusionistA young singer meets a man who is the victim of a kidnap plot, and is assumed by the gang to be...
Movie pageCharley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt
as 'Stinker' BurtonCharley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde starring...
Movie pageThe Terror
as Detective LewisFor ten years, The Terror has laughed at both police and public. And for ten years, two of his...
Movie pageGolden Arrow
as David FeltonOn a journey from Paris to London, a Briton, a Frenchman and an American bond with each other...
Movie pageLooking on the Bright Side
as Dancer (uncredited)Gracie Fields' second film Looking on the Bright Side was a smash hit film of 1932. It contains...
Movie pageOver She Goes
as Sergeant OliverPlot and counter-plot jostle each other in this romantic comedy about a music-hall star who...
Movie pageUnder the Table You Must Go
as SelfA trip around the clubs, pubs and discotheques in London, England.
Movie pageBand Waggon
as Stinker MurdochA gang of spies held up in a haunted castle gives this team of celebrated British wireless...
Movie pageThe Professionals
as Sir Alan SternfieldThe lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their...
TV Show pageRumpole of the Bailey
as uncreditedRumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer...
TV Show pageBlackadder
as Ross, a LordBlack Adder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders...
TV Show pageThe New Avengers
as uncreditedThe New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series broadcast during...
TV Show pageThe Moomins
as NarratorA stop motion animated children's television series based on Tove Jansson's book series.
TV Show page