David Croft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Croft OBE (born September 7, 1922 in Sandbanks, Dorset, England) is an English writer, producer and actor. He was born into a showbiz family: his mother, Anne, was a famous stage actress while his father, Reginald, had a successful career as a radio actor in Hollywood. He married his wife, also called Anne, on 29 June 1952, and they have seven children.
During World War II he rose to the rank of Major, serving in North Africa, India and Singapore, though as soon as he was de-mobbed he began working in the entertainment industry, following in his parents footsteps. He worked as an actor, singer and writer, eventually settling as a TV producer.
He is famous for his writing on British sitcoms such as Dad's Army, Are You Being Served?, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi!, 'Allo 'Allo!, and You Rang, M'Lord?. Allegedly it was his wife, a former theatrical agent, who introduced him to then actor Jimmy Perry in the mid-1960s. It was Perry who originally had the idea for a comedy based on the Home Guard during World War II, and the pair ended up co-writing Dad's Army.
His co-writers were often Jeremy Lloyd and Jimmy Perry. His partnership with Perry proved so successful that the pair subsequently created and co-wrote It Ain't Half Hot Mum as well as Hi-de-Hi!.
As a producer, his trademark was to signal the end of an episode with the caption "You have been watching", followed by vignettes of the main cast.
He was awarded an OBE in 1978 for services to television. He worked well into his seventies, with his last series, Oh Doctor Beeching, being completed in 1998.
