Andrew James Secombe (born 26 April 1953)[1] is a Welsh actor and author.

Andy Secombe
Secombe in 2012
Born
Andrew James Secombe

(1953-04-26) 26 April 1953 (age 71)
Mumbles, Wales
Alma materCentral School of Speech and Drama
Occupations
Years active1975-present
Spouse
(m. 1995)
FatherHarry Secombe
RelativesFred Secombe (uncle)

Early life and education

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Born in Mumbles, in south Wales, Secombe is son of comedian/singer Harry Secombe (whom he later impersonated in a Goon Show special). He attended the City of London Freemen's School in Ashtead, Surrey.

Career

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Acting

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Andy Secombe is an award-nominated stage, screen and radio actor. He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama after which he spent several years criss-crossing the country both touring and in rep. His early career included seasons at both the Old Vic (King Lear, The Rivals) and the Young Vic (Hamlet, Stags and Hens, Coriolanus and What a Way to Run a Revolution). Other theatrical performances includes Godspell, Guys and Dolls, Around the World in Eighty Days, Long Days' Journey into Night, Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Live! tour and The Invisible Man in the West End. He was recently Offie-nominated for playing Mr Gillie in the play of the same name at the Finborough Theatre.

On television he was a regular on both Playschool and Playaway and also appeared in the BBC TV children's sketch show Fast Forward and played Rover the Dog in Chips' Comic. He was one of the five in Five Alive and a regular on The Brian Conley Show. Other television appearances include Star Cops, Amnesty Beausire, Executive Stress, The Legend of Robin Hood, The Bill, Casualty, The Detectives, Unreported Incident, Britannia and Killing Eve.

In film, he is best known for providing the voice of Watto in the Star Wars prequels and in tie-in media relating to the Star Wars franchise. He also voiced Quello, another Toydarian, in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.

He has contributed vocals to a number of video games, including Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet and two entries in the Broken Sword series of games. For Penguin Audiobooks, he has recorded four novels by Mexican author Oscar de Muriel: The Strings of Murder, A Fever of the Blood, A Mask of Shadows and Loch of the Dead. He also regularly reads books for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and has also performed in radio productions, recently playing Reverend Wavering in the internet radio series Wooden Overcoats.

In March 2017, he starred in four episodes of the third series of The Missing Hancocks for BBC Radio 4; episodes that were originally aired in 1955 in the second series of Hancock's Half Hour starring his father Harry, after Tony Hancock had disappeared.[2][3]

Writing

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In the 2000s, Secombe focused on writing. He has penned five fantasy novels, including Limbo, Limbo Two: The Final Chapter and The Last House in the Galaxy. Looking for Mr Piggy-Wig (2008), about a post-nuclear Britain after the 'New Battle of Britain' is described by The Guardian as "best taken as a spoof on the genre".[4] Endgame (2009) was criticised by Publishers Weekly for its "two-dimensional, clichéd characters and the tiresomely predictable story line".[5]

In 2010 he published the book Growing Up with the Goons which is a memoir about growing up in the shadow of his father.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1975 I Don't Want to Be Born Delivery Boy
1976 Adventures of a Taxi Driver Third Kidnapper
1999 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Watto
(voice)
2002 Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
2016 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show Live Max Quordlepleen / Benjy Mouse (voice)

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1975 The Legend of Robin Hood Brett Part 3
1980 Fox Don Episode: "The Perfect Scapegoat Syndrome"
1981 Prisoners of Conscience DINA man Episode: "William Beausire"
1983 Chips' Comic
1984 Aladdin and the Forty Thieves Thief TV film
1984–1986 Fast Forward Himself / Various characters
1986 What a Way to Run a Revolution TV film
Five Alive Various characters 13 episodes
1987 Star Cops Brian Lincoln Episode: "An Instinct for Murder"
1988 The Play on One Simon Episode: "Unreported Incident"
The Bill D.S. Dougan Episode: "Light Duties"
Executive Stress Pierre de Savarin Series 3 Episode 3
1989-1990 This Way Up 13 episodes
1994–1995 Insektors Godfrey / Bentley / Fugg / Queen Katheter
(voices)
1996 Casualty Ray Hyams Episode: "Relative Valueso"
1997 Peak Practice Alan Stark
2010 The Unforgettable Harry Secombe Himself TV movie documentary
2014 Spike Milligan: Love, Light and Peace TV movie documentary
2015 Supreme Tweeter Gerald Episode: "#TheRedScare"
2019 Killing Eve Eric Episode: "Smell Ya Later"
Britannia Tribal Elder Season 2 Episode 1
2020 Coronation Street Judge Episodes: 9970, 9971
2022 Kate & Koji Twitcher 4 Episode: "Memories"

Short films

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Year Title Role Notes
1978 Twenty Times More Likely
2012 Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out Watto (voice) TV Short
2015 The Roaring Frank
2017 Captain Baylety's Heir Himself / John Tall

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
1999 Star Wars: Episode I - Racer Watto (voice)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
2002 Star Wars: Racer Revenge
2003 Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon Flap / Alphonse (voices)
2004 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords Quello (voice)
2005 Lego Star Wars: The Video Game Watto (voice) Uncredited, archival audio
2006 Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (voice)
2007 Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga Watto (voice) Uncredited, archival audio
2012 Kinect Star Wars
2016 Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet Dr Periwig (voice)
2022 Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Watto (voice) [6]

Writing credits

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Year Title Notes
1999 The Three Friends... and Jerry Episode: "Dirty Älgers/Överlevnadslägret" (storyline)
2000–2002 Bob the Builder 2 episodes: "Spud and Squawk" & "Bob and the Bandstand"

References

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  1. ^ Andy Secombe at IMDb
  2. ^ "Secombe replaces 'Tony Hancock'". Chortle. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  3. ^ "How Radio 4 is bringing Tony Hancock back to life". Radio Times. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  4. ^ "Looking for Mr Piggy-Wig". The Guardian. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Endgame". Publishers Weekly. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  6. ^ WingedRobot #BlackLivesMatter [@WingedRobot] (6 April 2022). "Started Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga last night. My partner and I wanted to know who voices young Anikin, so we decided to watch the credits. Fast forward what felt like 15 minutes or so later, and this is what we got. What the hell, @wbgames, @TTGames, @Disney? https://t.co/5rVjChULBc" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 December 2022 – via Twitter.
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