Eric Dodson

{{Short description|English actor (1920–2000)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Eric Dodson

| image = Eric_Dodson.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name = Eric Norman Dodson

| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|12|1|df=y}}

| birth_place = Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|1|13|1920|12|1|df=y}}

| death_place = Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

| othername =

| occupation = Actor

| spouse =

}} Eric Norman Dodson (1 December 1920 – 13 January 2000) was an English actor born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, who played many roles in films and on television.

After amateur acting he joined the Royal Air Force in 1941. Following training in Canada he served in RAF Coastal Command, flew bombers and was a liaison officer in Yugoslavia. He then returned to acting with a repertory theatre in Edinburgh.

{{cite book|year=2001|author1=Richard Webster |author2=Dick Clement |author3=Ian la Frenais |isbn=0-7472-3294-6|title=Porridge The Inside Story|publisher=Headline Book Publishing}}

He appeared as bar owner Jack Pomeroy in Series Three to Five of Rumpole of the Bailey.[http://celebdomain.com/Eric_Dodson/Rumpole_of_the_Bailey%3A_Series_4.html Celeb Domain]

He also appeared in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum as a Brigadier, the Doctor Who story The Visitation, in Porridge as Banyard and many other roles.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090116001423/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/169889 BFI.org] His film appearances included The Dock Brief (1962), Danger by My Side (1962), Strictly for the Birds (1963), Battle of Britain (1969), The Mirror Crack'd (1980), The Masks of Death (1984) and Jekyll & Hyde (1990).

In the late 1980s, Eric and his wife Rosaline made their home in Sherborne, Gloucestershire where he took a hobby repairing and making harpsichords.

He was also asked on many occasions to play the organ at the village church.

He was unable to work for the last five years of his life due to illness and died in 2000 at age 79.