Richard Arthur Beckinsale (6 July 1947 â€" 19 March 1979) was an
English actor, who played Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom Porridge
(along with its sequel series Going Straight) and Alan Moore in the
British ITV sitcom Rising Damp. He was the father of actresses
Samantha Beckinsale and Kate Beckinsale.Beckinsale was born in
Carlton, Nottinghamshire, to an Anglo-Burmese father, Arthur John
Beckinsale, and an English mother, Maggie Barlow, his parents ran a
local workers club. Beckinsale stated in a 1977 interview that he was
related to the actor Charles Laughton via his
great-great-grandmother's side.While attending College House Junior
School in Chilwell, Beckinsale appeared in his first of many school
plays, playing Dopey in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As a teenager
at Alderman White Secondary Modern School, he played the lead in
Tobias and the Angel and also appeared as Hsieh Ping-Kuei in Lady
Precious Stream, which earned him a positive review in the Nottingham
Evening Post. Beckinsale left school at 15 with ambitions to become a
professional actor but he was still too young to go to drama school.
He spent a year working in numerous manual labour jobs, including a
grocer's, an upholsterer's apprentice, and a pipe inspector.
English actor, who played Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom Porridge
(along with its sequel series Going Straight) and Alan Moore in the
British ITV sitcom Rising Damp. He was the father of actresses
Samantha Beckinsale and Kate Beckinsale.Beckinsale was born in
Carlton, Nottinghamshire, to an Anglo-Burmese father, Arthur John
Beckinsale, and an English mother, Maggie Barlow, his parents ran a
local workers club. Beckinsale stated in a 1977 interview that he was
related to the actor Charles Laughton via his
great-great-grandmother's side.While attending College House Junior
School in Chilwell, Beckinsale appeared in his first of many school
plays, playing Dopey in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As a teenager
at Alderman White Secondary Modern School, he played the lead in
Tobias and the Angel and also appeared as Hsieh Ping-Kuei in Lady
Precious Stream, which earned him a positive review in the Nottingham
Evening Post. Beckinsale left school at 15 with ambitions to become a
professional actor but he was still too young to go to drama school.
He spent a year working in numerous manual labour jobs, including a
grocer's, an upholsterer's apprentice, and a pipe inspector.
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