Peter Gilmore

He even made Follow That Girl seem sexy

Peter Gilmore should have been summoned to Buckingham Palace and awarded a chest-full of medals for his work in a host of British musicals. They were mostly flops. He was one of the youngest, brightest, least boring of leading men in British musical theatre of the 1950s and 60s. He even made Follow That Girl seem sexy. Born 25 August 1931, he was educated at Friend's School, Great Ayton in Yorkshire, and trained for the stage at RADA. His first professional appearance was as a stooge in variety in 1952. His London debut (missed by Who's Who In The Theatre) was in a variety revue You'll Be Lucky at the Adelphi Theatre in February 1954 in a cast led by the under-rated Al Read, Lauri Lupino Lane and Sally Barnes. Two years later he toured as Tom in a Cicely Courtneidge-Jack Hulbert vehicle Star Maker, but the show closed on the road en route to London. In September 1956 he opened in Glasgow as the Police Sergeant in Harmony Close, a show that would eventually reach London

With Susan Hampshire in Follow That Girl

with a totally different cast. Who's Who also misses his role as Peter Haines in Lady At The Wheel, a musical about motor-racing that didn't fire on all cylinders, at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith and subsequently briefly at the Westminster in 1958. In October of that year he opened as Ronald Firbank's sexually-innocent shepherd David Tooke in Sandy Wilson's musical Valmouth, singing 'What Do I Want With Love?'. He transferred with the show from the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith to the Saville Theatre.

In October 1959 he was Leander in The Love Doctor, an American musical (seen only in Britain) based on Moliere, at the Piccadilly Theatre. Despite a good cast led by Ian Carmichael and Joan Heal, The Love Doctor was a dismal experience for everybody concerned, closing after only 16 performances. But Gilmore was getting used to not settling in to his dressing-rooms. At the Bristol Old Vic he played the leading role of the Stranger in the Julian Slade-Dorothy Reynolds' musical about a pantomime cow, Hooray For Daisy!, but he didn't get into the revival at Hammersmith. His first major London lead came in March 1960 with another Slade-Reynolds' show, Follow That Girl, at the Vaudeville Theatre, in which he played Tom (and Constable Blenkinsop) opposite Susan Hampshire. Gilmore's strong performance was a godsend to the production. There was something easy and effortlessly charming about his singing of the title song, and his youthful masculinity distinguished him from many leading men.

If there was justice, the British production of the hugely successful off-Broadway The Fantasticks should have been a hit, but it only stayed a month at the Apollo Theatre in September 1961. Gilmore was ideally cast as one of the young lovers, Matt (his leading lady Stephanie Voss could hardly have been bettered either) and the score made it worth his while. Alas, it didn't get recorded. He was cast as Ramble in a revival of Lock Up Your Daughters at the Mermaid Theatre in May 1962, and then went with the show for a successful run to Her Majesty's Theatre. For another American effort in 1964, All In Love (an adaptation of Sheridan's The Rivals), he played Sir Lucius O'Trigger, but the piece was handicapped by being at the May Fair Theatre, and the insipid notices wiped it out. The following year he did a revue, Nymphs and Satires , at the Apollo Theatre, but it was another non-runner.

There seemed no reason to dispute his casting as Prince Charming in the Palladium's pantomime Cinderella (Christmas 1966). It had music and lyrics by The Shadows. One of his meatiest parts seems also to have been his last in a musical - Captain Macheath in Prospect Theatre's revival of The Beggar's Opera at the Apollo in September 1968.

British musicals (and the odd American) didn't bring fame to Peter Gilmore. That came with The Onedin Line, a hugely successful TV series with which he will be forever identified. But he should be wearing that chestful of medals for what he did in musicals.

Discography
Valmouth Original London cast
Follow That Girl Original London cast
Follow That Girl: title song ['pop' version single]
The Beggar's Opera Apollo Theatre September 1968 cast

 

RETURN TO STOUT-HEARTED MEN