Deryck Guyler (April 29, 1914 - October 7, 1999) was a versatile British actor, equally at home with comedy and classical/character roles, but best known for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as Please Sir! and Sykes. He was born in Wallasey in Cheshire and brought up in Liverpool, and originally planned a career in the church. During the Second World War he was called up and joined the RAF Police but was later invalided from service, whereupon he joined Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and then (on 4 May 1942) the BBC's Drama and Repertory company in Manchester. After the war, he became a regular on the immensely popular radio series, It's That Man Again (ITMA) until the series was cancelled in 1949 upon the death of the main star Tommy Handley. After ITMA, Guyler carried on working in a variety of roles from light entertainment (BBC Children's Hour) to classical (acting with Sir John Gielgud in King Lear). His success continued into the 1960s when he starred in the gently satirical radio programme about life in the British civil service The Men from the Ministry with Richard Murdoch.
He appeared as the Police Inspector in The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night.
His first television success came as one of Michael Bentine's sidekicks in the inventive and surreal BBC show It's a Square World (1960). More recently, he appeared in numerous television light entertainment shows in which he performed a novelty act playing the washboard. In 1990, he played the washboard on three tracks of an album by longtime fan Shakin' Stevens. He was also a regular on the sitcoms Please Sir! and Sykes. In 1983, he retired to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where he lived until his death.
One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975)
