Arthur Lowe's sleepy ruse

Dad’s Army star Arthur Lowe played on a sleeping condition to avoid the paparazzi and ‘over-zealous’ fans, his co-star Ian Lavender has revealed.

Lowe, who played Captain Mainwaring, pretended to nod off whenever press photographers or autograph-seekers approached, even snoring to protect his privacy.

But the ploy didn’t always work. He was caught out ‘a few times’, Lavender said, when he attempted to stifle a giggle or opened one eye to check his pursuers had gone.

Lowe, who died in 1982 aged 66, was long known to have suffered from a form of narcolepsy, and had to give up driving because of the condition, which involves unexpected episodes of deep sleep lasting up to 30 seconds.

Speaking yesterday to mark AudioGO’s release of the new Mr Men audiobook cartoon series, which Lowe narrated, Lavender described his friend as a real-life ‘Mr Lazy’.

‘Arthur was really friendly when he let you in, but was very protective of his privacy and used his narcolepsy to protect it,’ he said.

‘Arthur would even fall asleep standing up, like a horse, but because he was always being pestered by fans and photographers, if he didn't want to be bothered by them then he would feign falling asleep.

‘He “fell asleep” an awful lot but you'd see him with one eye open to see if they'd gone. He couldn't always feign being asleep though, as some fans used to push and prod him to wake him up.’

Away from the spotlight, Lowe was described as a ‘pompous man’ whose personality was not too dissimilar to the love-hate character he played on screen.

But Lavender said Lowe also had a ‘warm, human and cheeky side’ and hoped his revelation would help people to understand the comic’s ‘complexities’.

‘People thought that as a celebrity he belonged to them and that he was public property, and that's where his reputation for being pompous comes from,’ he added.

‘He was often construed as a pompous man, but Arthur knew this and often played up to it. It was his way of constructing up a protective wall.’

In the Seventies Lowe became the voice of the BBC cartoon series Mr Men, in which he was the narrator and its characters.

And Lavender said his co-star relished working on the series, adding: ‘Arthur really enjoyed the fame as it got him being asked to do things that you don't expect to do when become an actor.

‘You'd expect to read children's books to your own children and grandchildren but narrating a series such as Mr Men wouldn't have been on the horizon when Arthur started out. They were sort of the perks of the job and he really loved them.’

Lavender, who is set to make his Edinburgh Festival debut this summer in a new adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption, is one of the few surviving members of the Dad’s Army team after Bill Pertwee, who played the argumentative air raid warden Hodges, died last month aged 86. Lowe died in 1982.

Mr Men (Vintage Beeb) is available now from AudioGO, priced £5.99.

Published: 5 Jun 2013