# Ray Mort

Joseph Raymond "Ray" Mort (10 January 1926 - 4 July 1994) was an English actor. He was best known for his roles as Ray in the sitcom Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt, and Ern in the trilogy of television plays for Play for Today that included The Fishing Party (1972), Shakespeare or Bust (1973) and Three for the Fancy (1974). He was best known best known for playing character roles in television and theatre. Active from the early fifties onwards, he was equally adept at both drama and comedy parts.

## Career

Mort began his career working in repetory companies in Yorkshire and Lancashire. In 1950, he joined the Saxon Players, who performed shows at the Theatre Royal, Leicester; in 1954 he departed from the group and moved to London, where he worked in stock with the Theatre Royal Company appearing in Croydon and Chatham. Later in August 1955, he briefly returned to the Saxon Players, appearing in Seagulls Over Sorrento as Badger. In 1956, he joined the newly formed Windsor Players, a repetory company based at The Windsor, Salford. Later the same year he made his television debut appearing in ITV's Play of the Week. In 1957, he was among the original cast members in the Granada sitcom The Army Game. Between December 1960 - January 1961 he appeared as insurance agent Ron Bailey in several early episodes of Coronation Street, he later returned in December 1962, playing Harry Bailey, a near identical character. During the 1960's, he appeared in a number of television shows including Armchair Theatre, Z-Cars, No Hiding Place, Taxi!, The Plane Makers, Dixon of Dock Green, The Wednesday Play, Mogul and Softly Softly. In 1965, he joined the cast of Spring and Port Wine as Arthur, intially shown at The Alexandra, Birmingham, it later transferred to the West End in November 1965, showing at the Mermaid Theatre and subsequently at The Apollo Theatre in January 1966, he stayed with the cast until the end of its Apollo run in July 1967. In 1968, he appeared in the ATV crime-drama series Crime Buster as Jimmy Vine, which ran for a single series.
In 1970, he featured in the Doomwatch episode "The Battery People" as Jones. Later in 1972, he played Ern in The Fishing Party, alongside Brian Glover and Douglas Livingstone, a comedy about three Derbyshire miners who go on a fishing holiday to Whitby, he would subsequently reprise the role in Shakespeare or Bust and Three for the Fancy respectively. In 1975, he featured in It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow as family patriarch John Bell, a docu-drama that charts the events of the Bethnal Green disaster where 173 people were killed in a stampede at Bethnal Green Station on the night of 3 March 1943. The same year, he also appeared in The Evacuees as Louis, a television play written by Jack Rosenthal, a semi autobiographical story about two Jewish boys who are sent to lodge with a non-Jewish family in Blackpool at the beginning of World War Two, which later gained an International Emmy award in fiction and drama. Mort's best known television role was as Ray in the Yorkshire Television sitcom Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt, where he worked as barman and club steward of the Scarsdale Social Club, he appeared in three series broadcast between 1976-1977. In 1978, he appeared as Mr. Wiggins in an episode of All Creatures Great and Small, he would go onto reprise the same role a decade later.
Mort has featured in a number of supporting roles in a number of comedy series, including The Good Life, The Cuckoo Waltz, The Other 'Arf, Give Us a Break, Only Fools and Horses, Hallelujah! and Duty Free. He has also appeared in a number of drama series including Owen M.D., Follyfoot, Shabby Tiger, South Riding, Churchill's People, The Sweeney, Esther Walters, Survivors, The XYY Man, All Creatures Great and Small, Crown Court, Dick Turpin, Juliet Bravo, When the Boat Comes In, The Chinese Detective, Bergerac, The Good Companions, Lytton's Diary, Casualty and The Bill.
In 1980, he played George Willis in the Play for Today film Thicker Than Water about a group of black pudding makers who compete in the annual Foire au Bodin (blood sausage) festival in Normandy, the play was written by his former co-star Brian Glover. Later that same year, he appeared with Glover in the ATV comedy-drama series Sounding Brass, that charts the misadventures of the Debryshire based Ettaswell brass band, which ran for one series. In 1982, he appeared in the musical film Pink Floyd – The Wall, by Alan Parker, based on Pink Floyd's album The Wall. In 1983, Mort briefly appeared as a police officer in the Only Fools and Horses episode "Friday the 14th". In 1986, he featured in the two-part Lovejoy episode "Death and Venice" as Campie; later the same year he appeared as Norman in the Thames Television sitcom We'll Think of Something. In 1987, he featured as Raggles in several episodes of the 16-part BBC adaption of the novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.
In one of his final acting roles, in 1989, Mort briefly featured in the Minder episode "The Wrong Goodbye" as Billy, who is coerced into receiving a consignment of dolls by Arthur Daley, before the bank seizes Daley's business for non-payment.

## Selected Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1956 | Play of the Week | Reporter | Story: "Shooting Star" |
| 1960 | Armchair Theatre | Corporal Tomkins | Story: "Hail the Conquering Hero" |
| 1960 | Skyport | Jack | Episode: "Landfall" |
| 1960-1 | Coronation Street | Ron Bailey | 5 episodes |
| 1961 | Armchair Theatre | Tubbs | Story: "Looking for Frankie" |
| 1961 | No Hiding Place | Gobbo Smith | Episode: "Explosion Underground" |
| 1962 | Z-Cars | Felix | Episode: "Sudden Death" |
| 1962 | Z-Cars | Man | Episode: "Johnny Sailor" |
| 1962-4 | Coronation Street | Harry Bailey | 6 episodes |
| 1963 | No Hiding Place | Postman | Episode: "Four Faces of Clare" |
| 1963 | Taxi! | Bernard | Episode: "Don't Do as I Do" |
| 1963-4 | The Plane Makers | Sam/ Jack Brough | 4 episodes |
| 1964 | Dixon of Dock Green | Mr. Arkwright | Episode: "The Witness" |
| 1964 | No Hiding Place | Bert Lane | Episode: "Rogue's Gallery" |
| 1964 | The Wednesday Play | Peasant | Story: A Crack in the Ice" |
| 1965 | Dixon of Dock Green | Charlie | Episode: "Other People's Lives" |
| 1965 | Mogul | Jack Hartley | Episode: "Safety Man" |
| 1965 | Z-Cars | Dodds | Episode: "Another Fairytale" |
| 1968 | Crime Buster | Jimmy Vine | 13 episodes |
| 1968 | Softly Softly | Bob Spender | Episode: "Quicker by Rail" |
| 1968 | Z-Cars | Collinstone | Episode: "Collinstone" (2 parts) |
| 1970 | Doomwatch | Jones | Episode: "The Battery People" |
| 1971 | Softy Softy Taskforce | Dent | Episode: "An Inside Job" |
| 1972 | Owen M.D. | Harry Spence | 2 episodes |
| 1973 | Follyfoot | Policeman | Episode: "Sell the Tiger" |
| 1973 | Shabby Tiger | Joe Kepple | 4 episodes |
| 1972-4 | Play for Today | Ern | 3 episodes |
| 1974 | Justice | Ted Watson | Episode: "Under Suspicion" |
| 1974 | Special Branch | Ron Murray | Episode: "Stand and Deliver" |
| 1974 | South Riding | Barney Holly | 7 episodes |
| 1975 | The Evacuees | Louis | TV Movie |
| 1975 | Churchill's People | Church Comissioner | Episode: "America!, America!" |
| 1975 | The Cuckoo Waltz | Truscott | Episode: "House for Sale" |
| 1975 | The Good Life | Angler | Episode: "The Thing in the Cellar" |
| 1975 | It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow | John Bell | TV Movie |
| 1975 | The Sweeney | Driscoll | Episode: "Ringer" |
| 1976 | Our Mutual Friend | Mr. Wilfer | 4 episodes |
| 1976 | Softy Softy Taskforce | George Barton | Episode: "As Good Cooks Go..." |
| 1976-7 | Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt | Ray | 21 episodes |
| 1977 | Esther Waters | Jim Saunders | 1 episode |
| 1977 | Survivors | Joe Briggs | Episode: "Long Live The King" |
| 1977 | The XYY Man | DS King | 2 episodes |
| 1978-88 | All Creatures Great and Small | Mr. Wiggins | 2 episodes |
| 1979 | Crown Court | Tommy Weekes | Episode: "The Irish Connection" (2 parts) |
| 1980 | Dick Turpin | Radstock | Episode: "The Judge" |
| 1980 | Play for Today | George Willis | Story: "Thicker than Water" |
| 1980 | Juliet Bravo | Walter Pengally | Episode: "Oscar" |
| 1980 | The Other 'Arf | Stan | Episode: "Never the Twain" |
| 1980 | Sounding Brass | Gerry Thompson | 6 episodes |
| 1981 | Bergerac | Kranski | Episode: "See You in Moscow" |
| 1981 | The Chinese Detective | Polish Caretaker | 2 episodes |
| 1981 | Crown Court | John Winder | Episode: "Proof Spirits" (2 parts) |
| 1981 | The Good Companions | Pitsner | Episode: "Salvage Work" |
| 1981 | Juliet Bravo | Jack Willis | Episode: "Party Fun" |
| 1981 | When the Boat Comes In | Manny Goldstein | Episode: "Action!" |
| 1982 | Pink Floyd - The Wall | Playground Father | Film |
| 1983 | Give Us a Break | Solly Goldstein | Episode: "When It Rains, It Pours" |
| 1983 | Only Fools and Horses | Policeman | Episode: "Friday the 14th" |
| 1983-4 | Hallelujah! | Benge/ Harold Marshall | 2 episodes |
| 1984 | Duty Free | George | 2 episodes |
| 1985 | Lytton's Diary | Porter | Episode: "The Lady in the Mask" |
| 1986 | Lovejoy | Campie | Episode: "Death and Venice" (2 parts) |
| 1986 | We'll Think of Something | Norman | 6 episodes |
| 1987 | Casualty | Albie Monday | Episode: "Hooked" |
| 1987 | Vanity Fair | Raggles | 7 episodes |
| 1988 | The Bill | Mr. Baxter | Episode: "Stop and Search" |
| 1989 | Minder | Billy | Episode: "The Wrong Goodbye" |
| 1989 | Young Charlie Chaplin | William Jackson | 1 episode (final role) |