Larry Lamb

Lawrence Douglas Lamb (born (1947-10-01)1 October 1947)[1] is an English actor and radio presenter. He played Archie Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, Mick Shipman in the BBC comedy series Gavin & Stacey and Ted Case in the final series of the BBC drama New Tricks. He also appeared on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! 2016.

For other uses, see Larry Lamb (disambiguation).
Larry Lamb
Born
Lawrence Douglas Lamb

(1947-10-01) 1 October 1947
Edmonton, Middlesex, England
Occupation
  • Actor
  • radio presenter
Years active1977–present
Spouse(s)
    Anita Wisbey
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1969; div. 1970)​
      Linda Martin
      ​
      ​
      (m. 1979; div. 1996)​
      Partner(s)
      • Clare Burt (1996–2016)
      • Marie Victorine (2016–present)
      Children4

      Early life

      Lamb was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, to Jessie White and Ronald Douglas Lamb, the eldest of four including his brother, Wesley, and a sister. Lamb had a turbulent childhood; he was verbally abused by his father and often had to keep his parents from fighting.[2]

      In 2011, Lamb participated in the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered that he is descended from a line of proprietors of a well-known travelling menagerie, Day's Menagerie, and a lion tamer named Martini Bartlett.[3]

      Lamb attended Edmonton County School and later joined the oil industry, which resulted in his working in Libya and Canada, where he attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. This developed his amateur interest in acting to a professional level, and he performed at Canada's Stratford Festival in 1975–1976. Lamb is distantly related to Edward Buckton Lamb (1806–1869), a Victorian architect who designed St Martin's Gospel Oak and St Mary Addiscombe.

      Career

      Acting

      After returning to Britain from Canada, Lamb became a regular cast member, along with Kate O'Mara, in the BBC's North Sea ferry-based soap Triangle (1981–83), in which he played Matt Taylor, the ship's Chief Engineer.

      Other credits include The New Avengers, The Professionals, Fox, Minder, Lovejoy, Get Back, A Touch of Frost, Our Friends in the North, Taggart, Casualty, Kavanagh QC, Spooks, Midsomer Murders, and The Bill.

      Between 2007 and 2010, Lamb appeared in Gavin & Stacey playing Gavin's father, Michael "Mick" Shipman.

      In 2008, Lamb began playing Archie Mitchell, the father of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders. He based his portrayal of Archie on his own father.[4] He left the show in April, 2009, but returned in July the same year, around the same time that Danniella Westbrook returned to her role of Archie's niece, Sam Mitchell. Archie was killed off in a murder story line at Christmas, 2009. In 2009, Lamb starred alongside Liam Cunningham in Blood: The Last Vampire, in the role of General McKee. On 19 February 2010, Lamb appeared with his son, George Lamb, in EastEnders Live: The Aftermath, after Stacey Branning was revealed to be Archie's killer in the closing moments of the 25th-anniversary live episode.

      In April, 2011, BBC Learning launched "Off By Heart Shakespeare", a school-recital contest for secondary school pupils. For the project, Larry took on the role of Jaques from the play As You Like It and delivered the speech: "All the world's a stage".[5]

      It was announced that Lamb would join the cast of New Tricks as Ted Case in series 12, taking over from Gerry Standing, played by Dennis Waterman.

      Lamb's films include Buster and Essex Boys. In 1983, he had a small speaking role in Superman III.

      Theatre
      • Theatre work includes Educating Rita 'Frank' Dir. Jeremy Sams [Chocolate Factory];
      • The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder 'Maurice' Dir. Sarah Frankcom [National Theatre];
      • Fool for Love 'Old Man' Dir. Lindsay Posner [Apollo West End/NIMAX];
      • The Price 'Victor' Dir. Sean Holmes [Tricycle/Apollo West End/National Tour];
      • Hamlet 'Claudius' Dir. Steven Pimlott [RSC];
      • The Prisoner's Dilemma 'The Professor' Dir. Michael Attenborough [RSC];
      • Art 'Marc' Dir. Rachel Kavanaugh [Wyndhams West End];
      • Inherit the Wind 'Drummond' Dir. Dan Crawford [King's Head];
      • Nine 'Guido' Dir. David Leveaux [Donmar];
      • The Sisters Rosensweig 'Kantlowitz' Dir. Michael Blakemore [Old Vic/Greenwich];
      • Butterfly Kiss 'Teddy' Dir Steven Pimlott [Almeida];
      • Lulu 'Rodrigo' Dir. Jonathan Kent [Almeida];
      • La Musica 'Him' Dir. Joseph Blatchley [Hampstead];
      • Making It Better 'The Husband' Dir. Michael Rudman [Hampstead/Criterion West End];
      • A Madhouse in Goa 'Niko/Oliver' Dir. Robert Alan Ackerman [Hammersmith/Apollo West End];
      • Greenland 'Brian' Dir. Simon Curtis [Royal Court];
      • Insignificance 'The Ball Player' Dir. Max Stafford-Clark [Royal Court];
      • Seduced 'Raul' Dir. Les Waters [Royal Court];
      • Filomena 'The Plumber' Dir. Franco Zefirelli [Lyric West End];
      • Comedians 'George McBrian' Dir. Mike Nicholls [Music Box/Broadway].[6]

      Other work

      In 2013, Lamb began presenting a regular Sunday morning show on LBC. He is an occasional reporter for the BBC programme The One Show. Lamb took part in Gareth's All Star Choir in 2014, as part of the BBC's Children in Need appeal.

      In 2016, he appeared in the sixteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.[7] He became the 6th celebrity to be voted out of the jungle in the 2016 series.

      Personal life

      Lamb has a daughter Vanessa Lamb (born 1969) with his first wife Anita Wisbey. He is also the father of radio DJ and television presenter George Lamb, from his second marriage to Linda Martin. Lamb recently split up with his partner Clare Burt, with whom he has two daughters: Eloise Alexandra (born 1998), and Eva-Mathilde Lamb (born 2003).[8] Lamb has one granddaughter from his daughter Vanessa, as revealed on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

      In 2011, Lamb's autobiography Mummy's Boy was published by Coronet.

      Larry has a sister who works in a supported living for the elderly accommodation in Brighton.

      Larry Lamb is a supporter of the Labour Party.

      Awards and nominations

      Lamb won the award for Best Villain at the 2010 British Soap Awards.[9]

      Filmography
      Film
      Year Title Role Notes
      1978 Superman Reporter 1
      1983 Superman III Miner 2
      1984 Mon ami Washington English title: My Friend Washington
      Flight to Berlin Specialist Dale Sizemore
      1985 Shadey Dick Darnley
      Underworld Roy Bain
      1987 Ubac Larry
      Hearts of Fire Jack Rosner
      1988 Buster Bruce Reynolds
      1998 Place Vendôme Christopher Makos
      2000 Essex Boys Peter Chase
      One of the Hollywood Ten Will Geer
      2004 Deadlines Paul Baker
      Fakers Harvey Steed
      2009 Blood: The Last Vampire General McKee
      2011 Two Minutes William Short Film
      2012 Rose, Mary and Time Barneys Dad Short Film
      2017 The Hatton Garden Job Brian Reader Based on the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary
      2017 Rise of the Footsoldier 3 Mr. Harris
      Television

      References
      1. Lamb, Larry [@larrylamb47] (10 October 2016). "It's such a joy to get these birthday greetings but to put everyone in the clear my DOB was 01/10/47 not 10/01 ..but many thanks anyway!!LL" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
      2. Colin Daniels and Paul Millar (20 June 2010). "Larry Lamb: 'I ran away from my daughter'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
      3. "Who Do You Think You Are?". National Fairground Archive. University of Sheffield. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
      4. "Larry Lamb inspired by 'evil' dad". Metro. 2 December 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
      5. "Schools – Teachers – Off By Heart Shakespeare: As You Like It "All the world's a stage"". BBC. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
      6. Other works for Larry Lamb IMDb
      7. Who is Larry Lamb? Everything you need to know about the I'm A Celebrity 2016 contestant Archived 1 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
      8. George Lamb: My dad's not evil! This is Hull and East Riding, 8 April 2009
      9. "Villain of the Year – British Soap Awards 2010 – Pictures – Tvradio". Retrieved 8 July 2011.
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