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British actor, pantomime
star John Inman dies
08 Mar 2007 - John Inman, best known
for his campy sales assistant role in the long-running British comedy series
Are You Being Served?, died Thursday.
Inman, 71, died in hospital in London after
having been ill for some time, according to his manager, Phil Dale.
"John was known for his comedy plays and
farces, which were enjoyed from London's West End throughout the country and as
far as Australia, Canada and the U.S.A.," Dale said in a statement.
Originally from Lancashire in northwestern
England, Inman envisioned a career as an actor early on. He made his TV debut in
a sitcom called Two In Clover in 1970. Just two years later, he was
asked to participate in a broad, scatological comedy pilot centred around the
staff of a department store.
Broadcast by the BBC beginning in 1973,
Are You Being Served? eventually ran until 1985 and also spawned a
feature-length film.
However, Inman occasionally drew criticism for
what some viewers felt was a stereotypical, over-the-top portrayal of
homosexuality with his character, Mr. Humphries.
In the 1990s, Inman and several other cast
members reprised their Are You Being Served? characters for an
ultimately short-lived sitcom called Grace & Favour.
More recently, Inman gained a reputation as a
regular on the U.K. pantomime scene, appearing in more than 40 productions.
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