David Tomlinson

David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000) was an English stage, film and television actor and comedian. Having been described as both a leading man and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug. In 2002, two years after his death, Tomlinson was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend.

Early life
Tomlinson was born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on 7 May 1917, to Florence Elizabeth Tomlinson (née Sinclair-Thomsona) (1890-1986) and a well-respected London solicitor father Clarence Samuel Tomlinson (1883-1978). He attended Tonbridge School and left to join the Grenadier Guards for 16 months. His father then secured him a job as a clerk at Shell Mex House.

His stage career grew from amateur stage productions to his 1940 film debut in Quiet Wedding. His career was interrupted when he entered Second World War service as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF. During the war, he served as a flight instructor in Canada and made three films. His flying days continued after the war and he crashed a Tiger Moth plane near his back garden after he lost consciousness while flying.

Film career
David Tomlinson was best known for his role as George Banks, head of the Banks family, in the Disney film Mary Poppins (1964). Mary Poppins brought Tomlinson continued work with Disney, asking him to appear in The Love Bug (1968) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Throughout the rest of Tomlinson's film career, he never steered far from comedies. His final acting appearance was in The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), which was also the final film of Peter Sellers, who died shortly prior to its release. Tomlinson retired from acting at age 63 to spend more time with his family.

Personal life and death
Tomlinson was first married to Mary Lindsay Hiddingh, daughter of L. Seton Lindsay, the vice president of the New York Life Insurance Company. She had been widowed in 1941 when her husband, Major A.G. Hiddingh, was killed in action, leaving her to care for their two young sons. Tomlinson married Mary in September 1943. On 2 December 1943, Hiddingh killed herself and her two sons in a murder-suicide by jumping from a hotel in New York City.

Tomlinson's second wife was actress Audrey Freeman (born 12 November 1931), whom he married on 17 May 1953, and the couple remained together for 47 years until his death. They had four sons: David Jr. (born 1954), William (born 1959), Henry (born 1963) and James (born 1956).

Tomlinson died peacefully in his sleep at King Edward VII's Hospital, Westminster, at 4 a.m. on 24 June 2000, after suffering from a sudden stroke. He was 83 years old. He was interred at his estate grounds in Mursley, Buckinghamshire.

Filmography
• 2

Television

 * The Birdcage Room (TV Film) (1954) - Lord Tempest
 * All for Mary (Ooutside Broadcast of the theatre production, 1954) - Clive Norton
 * Theatre Royal (1955) - episode - The No Man - Tom Pettigo
 * Theatre Night (1957) - episode - Dear Delinquent - David Warren
 * ITV Play of the Week (1960) - episode - The Happy Man - Tom Swinley
 * Comedy Playhouse (1967) - episode - Loitering With Intent - Charles Pinfold
 * Hawaii Five-O (1976) - episode - Nine Dragons - Blake