Noel Howlett
Noel Howlett was an English actor, principally remembered as the incompetent headmaster, Morris Cromwell, in the ITV 1970s cult television programme Please Sir! He was the subject of infatuation by Deputy Head Doris Ewell, played by Joan Sanderson.
Career
Howlett was born in Bexley, Kent, and began his career as Richard Greatham in Noël Coward's Hay Fever. At Northampton Repertory Theatre in 1930 he played Sherlock Holmes. He also appeared as Mr Williams in the 1948 film The Winslow Boy, starring Robert Donat. At Stratford-on-Avon in 1953, he played Old Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, Edward IV, Baptista in The Taming of the Shrew and Gloucester in King Lear.
An early TV role was portraying a vicar in the 1958/59 BBC series Quatermass and the Pit. He appeared as Professor Rushton in a one-off 1967 edition of The Avengers and as the Reverend Simon Blanding in a one-off 1967 edition of Man in a Suitcase. Other screen appearances include the 1960s TV shows Softly, Softly and Danger Man. He also appeared in one 1976 episode of the BBC situation comedy The Good Life as slightly eccentric allotment gardener Mr Wakeley.
He also frequently broadcast and did a spell for the BBC as a member of their Drama Repertory Company, one of his appearances being as Inspector Walter Neider in the 1965 Paul Temple radio episode, "Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery".
Selected filmography
Men Are Not Gods – Cashier A Yank at Oxford – Tom CraddockThe Proud Valley – Company Clerk George and Margaret – MalcolmJassy – Court Usher The White Unicorn – Sir Humphrey Webster When the Bough Breaks – JudgeThe Mark of Cain – Judge This Was a Woman – Chief Surgeon BarclayCorridor of Mirrors – Psychiatrist The Calendar – LawyerGood-Time Girl – ClerkThe Winslow Boy – Mr. Williams Saraband for Dead Lovers – Count PlatenThe Blind Goddess – Court UsherScott of the Antarctic – First QuestionerOnce Upon a Dream – SolicitorThe Perfect Woman – ScientistYour Witness – Martin Foxglove K.C. – Sam's BarristerThe Reluctant Widow Laughter in Paradise – Clerk of the CourtCloudburst – JohnsonScrooge – First CollectorFather Brown – AuctioneerOne Good Turn – JewellerHandcuffs, London – Jeremiah RugeleyLust for Life – Commissioner Van Den BergheNowhere to Go – Uncle Tom Howard Serious Charge – Mr. PetersThe Scapegoat – Dr. AloinThe Battle of the Sexes – Mr. WhiteMary Had a Little... – PottleVictim – PattersonLawrence of Arabia – Vicar at St. Paul's Tomorrow at Ten – Brain SpecialistMurder at the Gallop – Mr. TrundellThe Kiss of the Vampire – Father XavierWoman of Straw – Assistant SolicitorThe Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders – BishopQuatermass and the Pit – Abbey LibrarianThe Bushbaby – Rev. BarlowSome Will, Some Won't – EndicottPlease Sir! – Mr. CromwellMr. Selkie – Grandpa RossJohn Wycliffe: The Morning Star – Archbishop Sudbury