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Peter Bull

{{short description|British actor (1912–1984)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}

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

{{Infobox person

| name = Peter Bull
{{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DSC}}

| image = Actor_Peter_Bull.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Peter Cecil Bull

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|3|21|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|5|20|1912|3|20|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| known_for =

| occupation = Actor, author

| years_active = 1936–1984

| spouse =

| children =

}}

Peter Cecil Bull, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DSC}} (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British actor who appeared on the stage and in supporting roles in such films as The African Queen, Tom Jones and Dr. Strangelove. Peter Bull wrote twelve books.

Biography

=Pre-war=

He was the fourth and youngest son of William Bull, later Sir William Bull, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for Hammersmith. Bull was educated at Winchester College. His first professional stage appearance was in If I Were You at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1933.{{sfn|Bull|1985|p=21}}

=War service=

He was a friend of Alec Guinness, whom he first met at {{HMS|Raleigh|shore establishment|6}} during training in the Second World War, and later {{HMS|King Alfred|1939 shore establishment|6}}. He served as an officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, later commanding Landing Craft (Flak) 16 in the Mediterranean.{{sfn|Bull|1977|p=73}} He achieved the rank of lieutenant commander and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.{{London Gazette |issue=37380 |date=7 December 1945 |supp=y |page=5987}}

=Post-war=

File:Lcf (4) 24 FL5979.jpg and four QF 2-pounder "pom-pom" anti-aircraft guns}}]]

Returning to acting after the war, he narrated and had a small role in Scrooge (1951) and portrayed the captain of the ship that Katharine Hepburn's and Humphrey Bogart's characters set out to destroy, whom they persuade to marry them just before they are to be executed, in The African Queen (1951). Bull was the first actor to portray Pozzo in the English-language version of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot when it opened on 3 August 1955.

Bull's performance as the Soviet Ambassador, Alexi de Sadesky, in Dr. Strangelove (1964) is probably the best known of his many film and TV appearances. He was cast as Thwackum, one of Blifil's two tutors, in the 1963 film Tom Jones. In the 1970s, he ran a small shop just off Notting Hill Gate, selling zodiac-related items.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

Bull was an avid collector of teddy bears. He published a number of books about them, including Bear With Me and The Teddy Bear Book, as well as a book on his adventures on the Greek islands of Corfu and Paxos, where he owned a house, It isn't all Greek to me, illustrated by Roger Furse.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/22/obituaries/peter-bull-actor-and-writer.html |title=Peter Bull, actor and writer |first=Jon |last=Pareles |date=22 May 1984 |newspaper=The New York Times}} He was also the author of a non-fiction book about his experiences during the Second World War as commander of a Tank Landing Craft (LCT), To Sea in a Sieve (1956), the best-selling I Say, Look Here!: The Rather Random Reminiscences of a Round Actor in the Square (1965) and several memoirs and collections of his letters. Peter Bull died of a heart attack in London on 20 May 1984 at 72 years of age.

Partial filmography

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Theatrical appearances

Data from Peter Bull and Sheridan Morley (ed.) [1985]{{sfn|Bull|1985|loc=Peter Bull's Career}}

{{div col}}

  • If I were You (début), As You Desire Me, Escape Me Never, London 1933
  • Escape Me Never, New York (1935)
  • Founder and manager of Perranporth Summer Theatre, 1936–1939
  • The Boy David, London, 1936
  • Judgement Day, London, 1939
  • The Lady's Not for Burning, London, 1948
  • Pericles, London, The Lady's Not for Burning, New York, 1950
  • Figure of Fun, London, 1951
  • Under the Sycamore Tree, London, 1952
  • Second Best Bed, The Man with Expensive Tastes, London, 1953
  • The Dark is Light Enough, London, 1954
  • Waiting for Godot, London, 1955
  • The Restless Heart, Man of Distinction, London, 1957
  • Luther, London, Paris, 1961
  • Pickwick, London, Luther, New York, 1963
  • Pickwick, New York, 1965
  • Black Comedy, New York, 1967

{{div col end}}

Published works

{{div col}}

  • To Sea in a Sieve (1956){{sfn|Bull|1977|pp=1–205}}
  • Bulls in the Meadow (1957){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=Bulls in the Meadows |date=1957 |publisher=Peter Davies Ltd |location=London |oclc=2953304}}
  • I Know the Face But... (1959){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title= I Know the Face But... |date=1959 |publisher=Peter Davies Ltd |location=London |isbn=978-1-91-431138-3}}
  • Not on Your Telly (1961){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=Not on Your Telly |date=1959 |publisher=Peter Davies Ltd |location=London |oclc=30236517}}
  • I Say Look Here (1965){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=I Say Look Here: The Rather Random Reminiscences of a Round Actor in the Square |date=1965 |publisher=Peter Davies Ltd |location=London |oclc=4238642}}
  • It Isn't All Greek to Me (1967){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title= It Isn't All Greek to Me |date=1967 |publisher=Peter Davies Ltd |location=London |oclc=462745}}
  • Bear with me (1969){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=Bear with me:The Teddy Bear: A symposium |date=1969 |publisher=Hutchinson & Co. |location=London |isbn=978-0-09-098730-6}}
  • The Teddy Bear Book (1970){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=Bull's Eyes: The Selected Memoirs of Peter Bull |date=1970 |publisher=Random House |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-39-441630-4}}
  • Life Is a Cucumber (1973){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=Life Is a Cucumber: Some Not Frightfully Belles Lettres |date=1973 |publisher=Peter Davies Ltd |location=London |isbn=978-0-43-201954-2}}
  • Peter Bull's Book of Teddy Bears (1977a){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=Peter Bull's Book of Teddy Bears |date=1977a |publisher=Cassell |location=London |isbn=978-0-30-429850-1}}
  • A Hug of Teddy Bears (1984){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=A Hug of Teddy Bears |date=1984 |publisher=Herbert Press Ltd |location=London |isbn=978-0-90-696943-4}}
  • Bull's Eyes: The Selected Memoirs of Peter Bull (1986){{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |title=Bull's Eyes: The Selected Memoirs of Peter Bull |date=1986 |publisher=Quartet Books Ltd |location=London |isbn=978-0-86-072095-9}}

{{div col end}}

Footnotes

{{reflist}}

Bibliography

  • {{cite book |last=Bull |first=Peter |title=To Sea in a Seive: The little Ships |year=1977 |orig-year=1956 |publisher=Peter Davies |location=London |edition=pbk. repr. Corgi Books, London |isbn=0-552-10380-2}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Bull |first1=Peter |editor-last=Morley |editor-first=Sheridan |title=Bull's Eyes: The Selected Memoirs of Peter Bull |year=1985 |publisher=Robin Clark |location=London |isbn=0-86072-095-0}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|0119988}}
  • {{IBDB name|77363}}
  • [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129553658 Peter Bull at Find-A-Grave]

{{Teddy bears}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Peter}}

Category:1912 births

Category:1984 deaths

Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)

Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II

Category:English male film actors

Category:Male actors from London

Category:People educated at Winchester College

Category:20th-century English male actors

Category:Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II

Category:Younger sons of baronets

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