Leonard Rossiter

Leonard Rossiter (21 October 1926 – 5 October 1984) was an English actor. He had a long career in the theatre but achieved his greatest fame for his television comedy roles, most notably starring as Rupert Rigsby in the ITV series Rising Damp from 1974 to 1978, and Reginald Perrin in the BBC's The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin from 1976 to 1979.[1]

Leonard Rossiter
Rossiter as Reginald Perrin[1]
Born	21 October 1926 Wavertree, Liverpool, England
Died	5 October 1984 (aged 57) Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–1984
Spouse(s)	Josephine Tewson ​ ​ (m. 1959; div. 1961)​ Gillian Raine ​ ​ (m. 1972)​
Children	1

Early life and stage work

Rossiter was born on 21 October 1926 in Wavertree, Liverpool, the second son of John and Elizabeth (née Howell) Rossiter.[2][3] The family lived over the barber shop owned by his father. He was educated at the Liverpool Collegiate School (1939–46).[4] In September 1939, when the Second World War began, Rossiter was evacuated along with his schoolmates to Bangor in North Wales, where he stayed for 18 months.[5] While at school, his ambition was to go to university to read modern languages and become a teacher. However, his father, who served as a voluntary ambulanceman during the war, was killed in the May Blitz air raid in 1941[6] and Rossiter had to support his mother. He therefore could not take up the place he had been offered at Liverpool University.[7] Instead he did his National Service as a sergeant, initially in the Intelligence Corps, then in the Army Education Corps, spending much of the time in Germany writing letters home for other soldiers.[8] After being demobbed he worked for six years as an insurance clerk in the claims and accident departments of the Commercial Union Insurance Company.[9]

From childhood he was an apparently unlikely but in fact enthusiastic and capable sportsman in football, cricket, tennis and later squash.

Rossiter started acting after his actress girlfriend challenged him to try it, after he had scoffed at the performances of the amateur group she was in.[10] He joined the Wavertree Community Centre Drama Group and made his first appearance with the Adastra Players in Terence Rattigan's Flare Path. The local critic said that he "was particularly outstanding, his one fault being a tendency to speak too fast on one or two occasions".[11] He gave up his insurance job to enrol in Preston repertory theatre and became a professional actor at the comparatively late age of 27. He made his professional stage debut in Joseph Colton's The Gay Dog in Preston on 6 September 1954.[12]

He later became assistant stage manager there, and then went on to Wolverhampton and Salisbury repertory companies. In his first 19 months in the business he played some 75 roles. He said later: "There was no time to discuss the finer points of interpretation. You studied the part, you did it and then you studied the next part. I developed a frightening capacity for learning lines. The plays became like Elastoplast, which you just stuck on and then tore off. It was the perfect preparation for rehearsing situation comedy on television at the rate of one episode a week."[13]

In 1957–58 he played in the musical Free as Air and then toured in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. He joined the Bristol Old Vic and was there for two years, from 1959 to 1961, a time he described as "the bedrock of his career", followed by other stage work, in, among other plays, The Strange Case of Martin Richter, Disabled, The Heretic, The Caretaker and Semi-Detached (in New York). His performance in the premiere of Michael Blakemore's stage production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui in 1969 met with critical acclaim.[14]

Film and television career

Rossiter soon established himself as a respected character actor in films and television, as well as on stage. He stated: "I think I sensed fairly early on that I was not physically or facially built in the way that would ever fit even remotely into heroic or what used to be called juvenile parts. I always played character parts - right from the start."[15] His first film role was in A Kind of Loving (1962). In Billy Liar (1963) he played the title character's boss. His first major television role was as Detective-Inspector Bamber in the long-running police television series Z-Cars.[16] He also had guest roles in series as diverse as Steptoe and Son ("The Lead Man Cometh", 1964; "The Desperate Hours", 1972) and The Avengers ("Dressed to Kill", 1963). Among his early film credits were four films directed by Bryan Forbes, namely King Rat (1965), The Wrong Box (1966), The Whisperers (1967) and Deadfall (1968).

In 1968 he played Mr Sowerberry in the film version of Lionel Bart's musical Oliver! and took one of the few speaking supporting roles in 2001: A Space Odyssey as the Russian scientist Smyslov. He worked with Stanley Kubrick again in Barry Lyndon (1975), in which he appeared as Captain John Quin. In the same year as 2001 he appeared in Nigel Kneale's television play The Year of the Sex Olympics, part of BBC 2's Theatre 625, one of his four appearances in the series.

In Rising Damp, on ITV, Rossiter played Rigsby, the lecherous landlord of a house converted into seedy bedsits, reprising the role from the successful stage version, The Banana Box. While he was in Rising Damp he also took the lead role in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, adapted by David Nobbs from his own comic novels and broadcast on the BBC. Rossiter was given a surprise tribute on This Is Your Life in 1975.[17] He appeared in I Tell You It’s Burt Reynolds, an episode of the 1977 Yorkshire Television series The Galton & Simpson Playhouse,[18] as well as the short films The Waterloo Bridge Handicap (1978), and the Galton and Simpson-scripted Le Pétomane (1979). After his portrayal of Reginald Perrin, Rossiter's non-comedy roles on television became less frequent, although there were exceptions such as a debt collector in the one-off HTV thriller Machinegunner (1976), and Frank Harris in Fearless Frank, or Tit-bits from the Life of an Adventurer (1978), a BBC Play of the Week.[19]

From 1978–83, Rossiter performed in ten commercials for Cinzano. The iconic series of adverts was created by film director Alan Parker and, at Rossiter's suggestion, used an old music hall joke where he spills a drink over his wife (played by Joan Collins). In the Channel 4 programme The 100 Greatest TV Ads (2000) Terry Lovelock, the director of two of the commercials, said that Rossiter used to refer jokingly to Collins as "The Prop".[3][20]

Rossiter reprised Rigsby for a film version of Rising Damp in 1980, thus achieving the distinction of playing the same role on stage, television and film. His last television role was as the supermarket manager in another ITV sitcom, Tripper's Day (1984).[21] He continued to make a steady stream of film appearances, including a role in Lindsay Anderson's Britannia Hospital (1982).[22]

Rossiter also played the title role in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of The Life and Death of King John (1984). His last film appearance was in Water (1985).

Radio and voice work

In the animated adaptation of The Perishers (1979), Rossiter provided the voice for Boot the dog.[23] He narrated an abridged version of the Charles Dickens book A Christmas Carol, which was released on cassette in 1979. He appeared on the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs in 1980.[24] In 1981, he hosted an episode of the BBC Radio 4 show With Great Pleasure in which he recited some of his favorite poetry and prose alongside his wife, Gillian Raine and friend, actor James Grout.[25] Also in 1981, he narrated a seven-part series of five-minute episodes, written by Barry Pilton for BBC Radio 4, titled In a Nutshell.[26] Rossiter narrated a three-part series of the children's story Harlequin and Columbine for Story Teller magazine in 1984.[27] He voiced the King of Hearts in two episodes of Anglia Television's version of Alice In Wonderland, which was broadcast in April 1985, six months after Rossiter's death.

Writing

Rossiter displayed his acid wit in two books: The Devil's Bedside Book (1980),[28] a collection of cynical dictionary definitions in the style of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, and The Lowest Form of Wit (1981),[29] a collection of biting bons mots, stinging retorts, and insults divided into six main sections, illustrated with cartoons by Honeysett and including a definitive guide and a history of sarcasm.

Personal life

Rossiter's first marriage was to the actress Josephine Tewson, with whom he had worked many times in repertory theatre in the 1950s. The marriage ended in divorce in 1961. His second wife was the actress Gillian Raine, with whom he had a daughter, Camilla, and to whom he was still married at the time of his death.[30] Rossiter had met Gillian Raine when he played the lead role of Fred Midway in David Turner's play Semi-Detached, in a production directed by Tony Richardson. The play opened on 8 June 1962 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry and ran for a week. During the play's second run at the Belgrade, in September 1963, the couple fell in love and moved in together, but they did not marry until 1972.[31]

Rossiter was an Everton F.C. fan.[32][33] He was also a wine connoisseur, and converted his attic into a sort of wine cellar.[34]

After his death it was revealed that during the early 1980s Rossiter had had a five-year relationship with the broadcaster Sue MacGregor.[35] His wife had not been aware of the affair until she received a letter from MacGregor breaking the news that her memoirs, which were about to be published, would include an account of the affair.[3]

Death

On 5 October 1984, Rossiter died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy while waiting to go onstage at the Lyric Theatre, London, where he was performing in Joe Orton's play Loot.[1] His funeral took place at St. Mary's Church, The Boltons, London. A memorial service was held on 15 November 1984 at St Paul's, Covent Garden.[36] Attendees included Rossiter's Loot castmates, as well as Derek Nimmo, Fulton Mackay, and Ned Sherrin.[37] Loot director, Jonathan Lynn, gave a eulogy in which he said of Rossiter: "Now that Leonard is up there, things had better be properly managed: I hope that the Heavenly Gates opened on cue and that the Choir of Angels is singing in tune. They had better be professional in Paradise. Because, if not, they'll certainly hear about it from Leonard."[38]

Legacy and tributes

Rossiter was posthumously nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for "Comedy Performance of the Year," for his role as Inspector Truscott in Loot.[39]

In 1985, the book Leonard Rossiter by author Robert Tanitch was published. The book featured a collection of rare photos and reminiscences from friends and colleagues of Rossiter's.[40][41]

In 2000, the ITV biography series The Unforgettable broadcast an episode about Rossiter's life. His wife and daughter were interviewed, as well as former colleagues, including Don Warrington, Joan Collins, and Sue Nicholls.

A biography of Rossiter, titled Leonard Rossiter: Character Driven was published in 2010 by author Guy Adams.[42][3]

TV and Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	A Kind of Loving	Whymper
1963	This Sporting Life	Phillips, sports writer
1963	Billy Liar	Mr Shadrack
1964	The Long Ships	Persian Soldier	Uncredited
1964	A Jolly Bad Fellow	Dr. Fisher
1965	King Rat	McCoy
1966	Hotel Paradiso	Inspector
1966	The Wrong Box	Vyvyan Montague
1966	The Witches	Dr. Wallis
1967	Deadlier Than the Male	Henry Bridgenorth
1967	The Whisperers	Assistance Board Officer
1968	2001: A Space Odyssey	Dr. Andrei Smyslov
1968	Oliver!	Mr. Sowerberry
1968	Deadfall	Fillmore
1968	Diamonds for Breakfast	Inspector Dudley
1968	The Year of the Sex Olympics	Ugo Priest
1968	Otley	Johnson
1968	Theatre 625: The Fanatics	Voltaire
1973	Luther	Brother Weinand
1974–1978	Rising Damp	Rigsby	TV Series
1974	If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have To Invent Them	Blind Man
1975	Barry Lyndon	Capt. John Quin
1976	The Pink Panther Strikes Again	Superintendent Quinlan
1976	Voyage of the Damned	Commander Von Bonin
1976	Machinegunner
1976–1979	The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin	Reginald Perrin	TV Series
1978	The Losers	Sydney Foskett
1978	The Waterloo Bridge Handicap	Charles Barker
1979	Le Pétomane	Joseph Pujol
1980	Rising Damp	Rigsby
1982	Britannia Hospital	Vincent Potter
1984	Tripper's Day	Norman Tripper
1984	Play for Today: Dog Ends
1984	The Life and Death of King John (BBC Shakespeare)	King John
1985	Water	Sir Malcolm Leveridge

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Director	Playwright(s)	Theatre
1959	The Clandestine Marriage	Canton	John Hale	George Colman and David Garrick	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1959	Romeo and Juliet	Sampson & Friar John	John Hale	William Shakespeare	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1959	The Silent Woman	Sir John Daw	John Hale	Ben Jonson	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1959	The Long and the Short and the Tall	Private Bamforth	David Scase	Willis Hall	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1959	Hooray for Daisy!	Harry Tuck	Denis Carey	Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	A Taste of Honey	Peter	John Hale	Shelagh Delaney	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	Mary Stuart	Lord Burleigh	John Hale	Friedrich Schiller (adapted by Stephen Spender)	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	The Woodcarver	Griff	Prunella Scales	Morris Brown	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	She Stoops to Conquer	Tony Lumpkin	Dudley Jones	Oliver Goldsmith	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	The Hostage	Pat	John Hale	Brendan Behan	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	The Comedy of Errors	Dromio of Syracuse	John Hale	William Shakespeare	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	Romeo and Juliet	Friar Lawrence	John Hale	William Shakespeare	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	Rhinoceros	The Logician	John Hale	Eugène Ionesco	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	The Tempest	Stephano	John Hale	William Shakespeare	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	Caesar and Cleopatra	Rufio	Tony Robertson	George Bernard Shaw	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	One Way Pendulum	Arthur Groomkirby	Alan Bridges	N.F. Simpson	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1960	Dick Whittington	Cicely Suett	Frank Dunlop	V.C. Clinton-Baddeley and Gavin Gordon	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1961	Roots	Mr. Bryant	Duncan Ross	Arnold Wesker	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1961	A Passage to India	Richard Fielding	Alan Bridges	Santha Rama Rau (based on the novel by E.M. Forster)	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1961	Richard II	Henry Bolingbroke	John Hale	William Shakespeare	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1961	The Killer	The Architect & Second Policeman	John Hale	Eugène Ionesco	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1961	A Man for All Seasons	The Common Man	Warren Jenkins	Robert Bolt	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1961	Goat Song	Celestino	John Hale	Martin Shuttleworth	Theatre Royal, Bristol
1961	North City Traffic Straight Ahead	Harry Hopkins	Alan Simpson	James Douglas	Gaiety Theatre, Dublin
1961	The Caretaker	Davies	Gareth Davies	Harold Pinter	The Leatherhead Theatre Club
1962	The Recruiting Officer	Sergeant Kite	Frank Dunlop	George Farquhar	Nottingham Playhouse
1962	Arms and the Man	Sergius Saranoff	David Forder	George Bernard Shaw	Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
1962	Red Roses for Me	Brennan o' the Moor	Julius Gellner	Seán O'Casey	Mermaid Theatre, London
1962–1963	Semi-Detached	Fred Midway	Tony Richardson	David Turner	Belgrade Theatre, Coventry; Music Box Theatre, New York
1964	Hamp	Lieutenant Tom Webb	John Gibson	John Wilson	Theatre Royal, Newcastle
1965	Ghosts	Pastor Menders	Adrian Rendle	Henrik Ibsen	Theatre Royal Stratford East
1966	Volpone	Corvino	Frank Hauser	Ben Jonson	Oxford Playhouse
1967–1968	The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui	Arturo Ui	Michael Blakemore	Bertolt Brecht (adapted by George Tabori)	Citizens Theatre, Glasgow; Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
1968	The Strange Case of Martin Richter	Martin Richter	Michael Blakemore	Stanley Eveling	Hampstead Theatre, London
1969	The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui	Arturo Ui	Michael Blakemore	Bertolt Brecht (adapted by George Tabori)	Nottingham Playhouse; Saville Theatre, London
1970	The Heretic	Giordano Bruno	Morris West and Joseph O'Connor	Morris West	Duke of York's Theatre, London
1971	Disabled	Barker	Vivian Matalon	Peter Ransley	Hampstead Theatre, London
1971	Richard III	Richard III	Peter McEnery	William Shakespeare	Nottingham Playhouse
1972	The Caretaker	Davies	Christopher Morahan	Harold Pinter	Mermaid Theatre, London
1973	The Banana Box	Rooksby	David Scase	Eric Chappell	Adeline Genée Theatre, East Grinstead; Apollo Theatre, London
1974	Abel, Where Is Your Brother?	The Narrator & I	Amos Mokadi	Julius Edliss (translated by Ariadne Nicolaeff)	Act-In Theatre Club, Piccadilly, London
1974	The Looneys	Brian	Michael Rudman	John Antrobus	Hampstead Theatre, London
1975	A Christmas Carol	Scrooge	Michael Fabian	Charles Dickens	Touring production
1976–1977	The Frontiers of Farce (adaptation of the plays The Purging by Georges Feydeau & The Singer by Frank Wedekind)	Follavoine & Dhuring	Peter Barnes	George Feydeau & Frank Wedekind (adapted by Peter Barnes)	Theatre Royal, Bristol; Criterion Theatre, London
1976	Tartuffe	Tartuffe	David Thompson	Molière (translated by David Thompson)	Greenwich Theatre, London
1977–1978	The Immortal Haydon (one-man show)	Haydon	Alan Strachan	John Wells	Mermaid Theatre, London; Greenwich Theatre, London
1979	Semi-Detached	Fred Midway	Leonard Rossiter & Alan Strachan	David Turner	Greenwich Theatre, London and toured
1980	Make and Break	Garrard	Michael Blakemore	Michael Frayn	Lyric Theatre, London; Theatre Royal Haymarket
1982	The Rules of the Game	Leone Gala	Anthony Quayle	Luigi Pirandello (translated by Robert Rietti & Noel Gregeen)	Theatre Royal, Nottingham; Theatre Royal Haymarket; Phoenix Theatre, London
1983–1984	Tartuffe	Tartuffe	Peter Coe	Molière (adapted by Miles Malleson)	Churchill Theatre, Bromley
1984	Loot	Truscott	Jonathan Lynn	Joe Orton	Ambassadors Theatre, London; Lyric Theatre, London

References

1. Shawn G. Kennedy (October 7, 1984). "Leonard Rossiter, Actor Dies". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-09-13. Leonard Rossiter, one of Britain's most popular comic actors, collapsed during a performance in London and died Friday night, apparently of a heart attack. Mr. Rossiter, who was 57 years old, was declared dead at Middlesex Hospital. ...
2. Rossiter profile at FilmReference.com
3. "Leonard Rossiter, Character Driven: review". Retrieved 29 December 2014.
4. R. Tanitch Leonard Rossiter p. 149
5. Coslett, Paul. "Leonard Rossiter". BBC. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
6. "Mums and babies among victims of Liverpool's Mill Road Hospital raids during May Blitz". Liverpool Echo. 7 May 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
7. Leonard Rossiter by Robert Tanitch; ISBN 0-947728-19-8
8. Knight, Val (1 April 1978). "The joke that led Leonard Rossiter to stardom...and Rigsby". TVTimes. I was in just before the end of the Japanese war. The war in Germany was over, clearly why I went to Germany at that time...to teach soldiers, most of whom had missed schooling during the war, to read and write. It was weird really. I was immediately made a sergeant. Well you had to have some sort of rank because as a private in the classroom, teaching old soldiers their A, B, C, you'd soon have been given the brush off. I spent most of the time writing their letters home, you know 'Dear Mum...'
9. Interview on BBC R4 Desert Island Discs 12 April 1980
10. "Rossiter revels in Rising Damp". TVTimes. 7 November 1975. Having Rossiter in the part, incidentally, is all down to a former girlfriend who is called Ida. She was in an amateur group and when the young Rossiter watched her at rehearsals he told her he thought he could do better. 'I suppose you could do better!' she snapped. 'I couldn't do worse,' he said. So he joined the group.
11. Tanitch, p. 8
12. "Change of Policy". The Stage. 18 November 1954. Twenty-seven year-old Leonard Rossiter, Reginald Salberg's latest 'find' at Preston, was an insurance inspector in Liverpool until about three months ago. For years before he nursed an ambition to become an actor, and it was only the stress of domestic circumstances that baulked earlier efforts to reach his goal. Last August his family responsibilities were considerably relieved and he sought an interview with Mr. Salberg. As it happened, the application that got him his first small part (in 'The Gay Dog') was most opportunely timed. If it had been made a week before, or a week later, he would probably be still carrying out duties as an insurance claims assessor...
13. Tanitch, p. 25
14. Tanitch, p. 47
15. Sutcliffe, Tom (4 September 1982). "Rossiter's irresistible rise". The Guardian.
16. Slide, Anthony (1996). Some Joe You Don't Know: An American Biographical Guide to 100 British Television Personalities. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 213. ISBN 9780313295508.
17. "Rossiter revels in Rising Damp". TVTimes. 7 November 1975. Having Rossiter in the part, incidentally, is all down to a former girlfriend who is called Ida. She was in an amateur group and when the young Rossiter watched her at rehearsals he told her he thought he could do better. 'I suppose you could do better!' she snapped. 'I couldn't do worse,' he said. So he joined the group. When 'This Is Your Life' descended on Rossiter who do you think was one of the surprise guests? That's right. Ida.
18. Gary Mills (4 March 2015). "Leonard Rossiter: a conviction in comedy". British Film Institute. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
19. John Oliver. "Rossiter, Leonard (1926-1984)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
20. The Cinzano commercials, LeonardRossiter.com. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
21. Knowles, Stewart (22 September 1984). "Rossiter's hated hair apparent". TVTimes. When I was offered Tripper, it was pointed out that it wasn't terribly deep stuff, just smash-bang basic comedy in short, sharp scenes. I said I wasn't averse to doing anything if I liked it, and this is fast and funny, very well written by Brian Cooke.
22. Utting, David (23 November 1981). "Mr. Rossiter is anxious not to bore the kids". Liverpool Echo.
23. "The Perishers have Rossiter". The Stage and Television Today. 15 March 1979.
24. "Desert Island Discs: Leonard Rossiter". BBC Radio 4. 12 April 1980. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
25. "With Great Pleasure". BBC Genome. 28 August 1981. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
26. "Leonard Rossiter - In a Nutshell". BBC Radio 4. 1981. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
27. "Story Teller 2". Story Teller Website.
28. Leonard Rossiter, Devil's Bedside Book, Littlehampton: 1980; ISBN 0-600-20105-8
29. Rossiter, Leonard (1981). The Lowest Form of Wit. Great Britain: Michael Joseph Ltd. ISBN 0-7221-7513-2.
30. "Personal Remembrances, includes many pictures with Raine and his daughter". Retrieved 2 February 2009.
31. "Personal Remembrances, includes many pictures with Raine in Semi-Detached". Retrieved 2009-02-02.
32. Macdonald, Neil (2014-10-04). "Pics and video: Remembering Leonard Rossiter". Retrieved 2016-09-30.
33. Knight, Val (1 April 1978). "The joke that led Leonard Rossiter to stardom...and Rigsby". TVTimes. Of course I'm an Evertonian by tradition and so is my family. Tommy Lawton was my hero.
34. Knight, Val (1 April 1978). "The joke that led Leonard Rossiter to stardom...and Rigsby". TVTimes. Wine connoisseur Rossiter keeps his several hundred bottles of vintage wine, rather surprisingly, in his attic in the pleasant once two-up-two down cottage he has converted.
35. MacGregor, Sue (2002). Woman of Today. London: Headline Book Publishing. pp. 194–198. ISBN 0-7472-4989-X.
36. "Memorial Service to Leonard Rossiter at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden yesterday". The Daily Telegraph. 16 November 1984.
37. "Last tribute to Rossiter". Liverpool Echo. 15 November 1984.
38. Lynn, Jonathan (2011). Comedy Rules: From the Cambridge Footlights to Yes Prime Minister. Faber and Faber. pp. 173–174. ISBN 978-0571277957.
39. "Rossiter in line for 'Larry' award". The Stage. 29 November 1984.
40. Tanitch, Robert (1985). Leonard Rossiter. Robert Royce Ltd. ISBN 0-947728-19-8.
41. "Leonard Rossiter". www.tanitch.co.uk.
42. Adams, Guy (2010). Leonard Rossiter: Character Driven. Aurum Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84513-596-6.

Further reading

• Tanitch, Robert (1985), Leonard Rossiter, Robert Royce Ltd. ISBN 0-947728-19-8
• Adams, Guy (2010), Leonard Rossiter: Character Driven, Aurum Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84513-596-6
• Lynn, Jonathan (2011), Comedy Rules: From the Cambridge Footlights to Yes Prime Minister, Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571277950

External links

• Leonard Rossiter at IMDb
• Leonard Rossiter at the BFI's Screenonline
• Performances listed in the Theatre Archive University of Bristol
• LeonardRossiter.com: Authorised Web Site
• Leonard Rossiter at Find a Grave