- published: 27 Sep 2014
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David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000) was an English film actor. He is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug.
Born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England on 7 May 1917, Tomlinson attended the Tonbridge School, but left to join the Grenadier Guards. His introduction to the working world was as a clerk for London's Shell Mex House. His stage career grew from amateur stage productions to his 1940 film debut in Quiet Wedding. His career was interrupted when he entered World War II service as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF. His flying days continued after the war and he crashed a Tiger Moth plane near his backyard much to the chagrin of his neighbours. His father Clarence, a prominent London lawyer, defended him at his subsequent trial (for flying too low).
David Tomlinson was known to generations of children for his role as George Banks, head of the Banks family, in the 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins.