Richard Goolden

Goolden, circa late 1930s

Richard Percy Herbert Goolden,OBE(23 February 1895 – 18 June 1981) was a British actor, most famous for his portrayal of Mole fromKenneth Grahame's 1908 children's bookThe Wind in the WillowsinA A Milne's 1929 stage adaptation,Toad of Toad Hall.

Goolden took up the stage after serving in the army in the First World War. From the start of his career he was cast in character parts, usually elderly. He played more than 500 roles in a career that lasted more than fifty years, and embraced the classics,farce,opera bouffe,radio, films and television. He first played Mole in 1930 and took the part in numerous revivals until his retirement in 1980. He created roles in new plays bySamuel BeckettandTom Stoppard,and, in his last year, in the radio seriesThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxyand the television dramaCribb.

Life and career

Early years

Goolden was born in London, the son of abarrister,Percy Pugh Goolden Goolden [sic], and his wife Margarida,néeda Costa Ricci.He was educated atCharterhouse,where his impersonation of the headmaster delighted the headmaster's wife and everybody except possibly the headmaster, who counselled him to "aim at good taste in the use of his gifts".From Charterhouse he went up toNew College, Oxford;his university career was interrupted by the First World War. From 1915 to 1918 he was a private in theRoyal Army Medical Corpsin France (serving in the same unit asRalph Vaughan Williams), ending the war as acting unpaid lance corporal.Returning to Oxford at the end of the war he took an honours degree in French literature in 1923.He was appointed secretary of theOxford University Dramatic Society,with whom he visited Scandinavia, appearing inGalsworthy'sLoyaltiesandA A Milne'sMr Pim Passes By.He counted the role of Mr Pim as one of his three favourites, together with Mole inToad of Toad Halland the Fool inKing Lear.He appeared as Dolon in Cyril Bailey's production (in the original Greek) of theEuripidestragedyRhesus.

In October 1923 Goolden made his first professional appearance on stage. ForJ B Fagan's company at theOxford Playhousehe played Mazzini Dunn inBernard Shaw'sHeartbreak House.He later commented, "Shaw was a bloody nuisance; he used to read all the parts himself, convulsed by his own wit – especially the women's parts; he loved mincing up and down."Goolden was a member of Fagan's company for seven years, playing fifty characters.While still a member of the Oxford company he appeared inStratford-upon-Avonand in theWest End.At Stratford in 1925 he played Clown (Young Shepherd) inThe Winter's Talewith the youngJohn Laurieas Autolycus.In London, in the same year, he played Owain Flatfish in Fagan's production ofRichard Hughes'sA Comedy of Good and Evilat theAmbassadors.Praising his performance,The Timescalled him "a fishmonger, a guardian angel and a solemn jester rolled generously into one."In the same year he played the aged butler Firs in Fagan's production ofThe Cherry Orchardat theRoyalty,London.The Timeslater noted that he was only thirty when he played the role, and in his early years was usually happier when cast as characters twice his age. In this role Goolden had, said the paper, "an inspired rightness".

Hammersmith, West End and Mr Mole

Nigel Playfairhad seen Goolden's performances at Stratford, on the strength of which he invited him to appear with his company at theLyric, Hammersmith.He was in the Lyric'srevue,Riverside Nights(1926) and played the professor of philosophy inMolière'sThe Would-Be Gentleman(1926) in a cast headed by Playfair and includingSydney Fairbrother,Miles MallesonandJames Whale.

Over the next three decades Goolden generally divided his theatrical career between Shakespeare and more recent classics, new plays – mostly ephemeral, and his perennial role of Mole inA A Milne'sToad of Toad Hall,based onKenneth Grahame'sThe Wind in the Willows.His Shakespeare roles included Costard (Love's Labours Lost,1932), Aguecheek (Twelfth Night,1933), Quince (A Midsummer Night's Dream,1938), Fool (King Lear,1943), Young Gobbo (The Merchant of Venice,1944), Roderigo (Othello,1944), Polonius (Hamlet,1944) and Lepidus (Anthony and Cleopatra,1951), Shallow (The Merry Wives of Windsor,1968), Old Gobbo (The Merchant of Venice,1969), Verges (Much Ado About Nothing,1970), the Pedant (The Taming of the Shrew,1975), Sir Nathaniel (Love's Labour's Lost,1976), and the King of France (Henry V,1977).

Goolden first played Mole in 1930.In his later years he was so closely associated with the part that many assumed he had created it.In fact it had been created byAlan Webbat the premiere inLiverpoolthe previous year; Goolden said of Webb, "He was very good, but felt foolish playing an animal."At Milne's recommendation Goolden auditioned for the role of Badger in the first London production; he then auditioned for Ratty, and only after that was he cast in the role that became synonymous with his name.He played the part in revivals from the 1930s to the end of the 1970s. Among those with whom he appeared in the play wereWendy Toye,Leslie Henson.Michael Blakemore,Ian Wallace,Michael Bates,andNicky Henson,The Variety Club of Great Britain gave him a special award in 1976 for his appearances as Mole.He commented, "The last thing I ever won was a medal for running when I was a youth. Today I feel less like a mole and really rather more like an elderly chimpanzee."

Other roles

Goolden appeared in more than 500 stage roles. He attributed this large total to his habit of getting himself cast in plays that failed. He recalled one of the worst: "It lasted five nights and [we] were given notice after the first. One matinée was cancelled because they had sold no tickets at all for that performance. Still, [we] had two nice parties, one to open and one to close, within a week."

On radio Goolden played the part ofMr Chips,adapted from the novel byJames Hilton.He then achieved popularity as the comic character Mr Penny, "a timid fellow, who went quietly off to the office each morning only to be involved in some extraordinary adventure".Goolden appeared in films includingWhom the Gods Love(1936),In the Doghouse(1961),It's All Happening(1963),The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders(1965),It!(1967), andJoseph Andrews(1977).ForBBCtelevision he played a range of roles, including Pond, the headmaster, inThe Happiest Days of Your Life(1947), the title role inThe Magistrate(1951), Mr Dick inDavid Copperfield(1956), Cinna the poet inJulius Caesar(1959), and Albert inThe Flaxton Boys(1970).

In his entry inWho's Who,Goolden wrote that he had played "a diversity of parts ranging from traditional classical repertoire to Farce, Opera Bouffe, Revue, Single Act Variety and Seaside Piers." One of thefarceswasCharley's Aunt,in which he played the principal role of Babbs in 1938 at theHaymarket;another wasLook After Lulu,byGeorges Feydeauadapted byNoël Coward,in 1959.Theopera bouffewasOffenbach'sThe Grand DuchessatDaly's Theatrein 1937.One of his less typical roles was Nagg in the premiere ofEndgame,Beckett's English version of his playFin de partie.A lasting friendship grew between the playwright and the actor.

Goolden's last new stage role of note was inStoppard'sDirty Linen and New-Found-Landin 1976. He played Bernard, a very senior civil servant who rambles reminiscently aboutLloyd GeorgeandGeneral Haigbefore dozing off while his younger colleague (Arthur, played byStephen Moore) extols the beauties of America at mesmeric length.WhenToad of Toad Hallwas revived during the Christmas season, Goolden, by then in his early eighties, played three performances a day: two matinées as Mole and the evening show as Bernard.

Goolden's last role was on radio as Zaphod Beeblebrox IV inThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,broadcast in January 1980. In November 1980, following a stay in hospital, he appeared as a guest on an episode ofThis Is Your Lifefor actorPeter Bowles.That same year Goolden announced his retirement.He died the following year inSt Stephen's Hospital,Fulham, near the Chelsea house in which he had lived since 1924. He was unmarried.

References

• Gaye, Freda, ed. (1967).Who's Who in the Theatre(fourteenth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons.OCLC5997224.