Keep on Escaping! Comedian movie star Peter Butterworth was rejected for half taking part in himself in prisoner of struggle film The Picket Horse as a result of he was too fats
- Petter Butterworth was concerned in two escapes from Stalag Luft III PoW camp
- Actor was informed he wasn’t ‘convincingly heroic or athletic sufficient’ to play himself
- Butterworth had vaulted over gymnastic vaulting horse as British officers fled
A Carry On actor was rejected for an element taking part in himself in prisoner of struggle film The Picket Horse as a result of he was ‘too fats’ for the movie.
Peter Butterworth was concerned in an escape try on the Stalag Luft III camp in October 1943, throughout which prisoners had been hid in a gymnastic vaulting horse as they dug a tunnel beneath the fence.
The escape impressed the 1950 movie The Picket Horse, however when Butterworth auditioned for a job taking part in himself, the casting director mentioned he was not ‘convincingly heroic or athletic sufficient.’
The actor then requested what the issue was, and was informed: ‘You are too fats.’
Butterworth, who died in 1979 aged 63, went on to star in additional than a dozen Carry On movies, together with Carry On Cowboy, Carry On Overseas and Carry On Emmannuelle.
Peter Butterworth (left in Carry On: Do not Lose Your Head) was concerned in an escape try on the Stalag Luft III camp in October 1943
He additionally appeared in three Richard Lester movies together with The Ritz and Robin and Marian with Audrey Hepburn and Sean Connery.
Forward of his performing profession, Butterworth served as a lieutenant within the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm through the Second World Battle.
However whereas flying in an assault over the Dutch coast close to Den Helder in 1940, his airplane was shot down and he was captured on the island of Texel.
The actor was initially despatched to a PoW camp at Oberursel close to Frankfurt beneath armed guard.
He later escaped in June 1941 alongside 17 different captives by digging a tunnel beneath a mattress with soup spoons.
The Picket Horse starred Anthony Metal (left) and Bryan Forbes. It informed the story of three British officers who escaped beneath a PoW camp hid in a gymnastic vaulting horse
Butterwoth’s PoW document (pictured) has now been digitised as a part of a challenge undertaken by volunteers at The Nationwide Archives
Butterworth travelled 27 miles however was captured once more by a member of the Hitler Youth six weeks later, and was taken to Stalag Luft III, close to Sagan in Poland.
It was right here he was concerned in an escape try wherein three British officers dug a tunnel beneath a gymnastics horse.
The actor had vaulted over the horse and remained close by whereas the route was constructed to make sure it didn’t fall from its place and destroy the plot.
Butterworth was later concerned within the ‘Nice Escape’ in 1944, which was masterminded by Royal Air Power Squadron Chief Roger Bushell.
Within the operation three tunnels often called Tom, Dick and Harry had been dug within the North Compound, and 76 escaped earlier than the plan was foiled by a watching guard.
The actor had vaulted over the horse and remained close by whereas the route was constructed to make sure it didn’t fall from its place and destroy the plot
Butterworth was later concerned within the ‘Nice Escape’ in 1944, which was masterminded by Royal Air Power Squadron Chief Roger Bushell
The actor had organised camp singalongs and comedy routines at evening to drown out the noise of the digging.
It was at Stalag Luft III the place Butterworth met Talbot Rothwell, who later went on to put in writing lots of the Carry On movies wherein the actor would seem.
His PoW document has now been digitised as a part of a challenge undertaken by volunteers at The Nationwide Archives.
Roger Kershaw, of the Nationwide Archives, informed the Mirror: ‘One of many first objects we catalogued was for the movie actor Peter Butterworth, who would later turn into well-known for starring in a variety of movies, together with the Carry On sequence.
‘Butterworth performed his half in serving to prisoners escape however when he later auditioned for an element within the 1950 movie The Picket Horse, the film-makers thought-about him ‘unconvincingly heroic or athletic sufficient’.
‘This assortment enhances different sequence of data held at The Nationwide Archives and helps paint a vivid image of what life was like as a prisoner of struggle.’