Career
After attending art college and doing his national service in the army, Beck took up acting. His early roles included Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 1963, earning positive reviews. Moving to London, he concentrated on television, and was as a policeman in an episode of Coronation Street involving a train crash. He also appeared in an uncredited policeman in Gideon's Way in 1965, and was regularly seen in TV drama, with one-off roles in series such as The Troubleshooters (1965, 1967, 1970) and the BBC's Sherlock Holmes series ("The Blue Carbuncle", 1968).
In 1968 he was offered the role of Private Walker in Dad's Army, originally written by Jimmy Perry for himself. His performance as the thorn in Captain Mainwaring's side was perfect for Dad's Army. While popular, Beck yearned for the challenge of other roles.
Always in demand, he continued to work on TV programmes including A Family at War (1970) and Romany Jones (1972-73), in which he played the lead character of Bert Jones. He also recorded an unbroadcast remake of a Hancock's Half Hour episode ("The Economy Drive"), performing with Arthur Lowe.
Read more about this topic: James Beck
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)
“John Brown’s career for the last six weeks of his life was meteor-like, flashing through the darkness in which we live. I know of nothing so miraculous in our history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)