- published: 06 May 2016
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Ballard Berkeley (born Ballard Blascheck; 6 August 1904 – 16 January 1988) was an English actor, remembered for his role in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, in which he played the character of Major Gowen.
Born in 1904 in Margate, Kent, Berkeley served as a Special Constable with the Metropolitan Police during World War II, witnessing the Blitz at first hand.
Ballard played the role of the bumbling Major Gowen in the BBC TV comedy classic Fawlty Towers. He had played a similar role in 1969 in the legal drama The Main Chance. He portrayed a retired military man (Colonel Freddie Danby) in BBC Radio 4's The Archers, taking over the role from Norman Shelley.
He played a starring role in Fresh Fields as main character Hester's father Guy, was Uncle Greville in To the Manor Born, he played Colonel Culpepper in Terry and June and had a small role in the 1980 adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy, and appeared once in The Avengers.[citation needed]
During the 1930s, he performed regularly in the so-called "quota quickies". One of his earliest roles was as the heroic lead in the 1937 film The Last Adventurers. He appeared in the 1942 film In Which We Serve – he also appeared in the Hitchcock film Stage Fright. He made a brief appearance in the American film National Lampoon's European Vacation which starred Chevy Chase. In this film, Berkeley played a British man who is involved in a minor road accident with the Griswalds.