Jimmy Hanley

Jimmy Hanley
Born	(1918-10-22)22 October 1918 Norwich, Norfolk, England
Died	13 January 1970(1970-01-13) (aged 51) Fetcham, Surrey, England

Jimmy Hanley (22 October 1918 – 13 January 1970) was a British actor.

Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Hanley began his career as a child actor before becoming popular in juvenile roles. He was groomed by the Rank Studio system during his teenage years and earned film stardom as a "boy-next-door" type.

He won a gramophone contest when eight years old as a singer of comedy songs. The young star-struck actor attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and made his stage debut at a charity show followed by several children's revues. His professional debut was at the London Palladium, as John Darling in Peter Pan.

During the Second World War he served as an officer with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, during a commando raid in Norway he was wounded in the leg and was invalided out of the service.

He later worked on TV, hosting the ITV series Jim's Inn, which combined advertising messages with the plot of a soap opera.

Hanley was married twice:

• Dinah Sheridan (1942–1953, three children, including Jenny Hanley and the Conservative politician Sir Jeremy Hanley)
• Margaret Avery (1955–1970, three daughters: Jane, Sarah and Katy)

Hanley died from pancreatic cancer in Fetcham, Surrey, aged 51.

Selected filmography

As Leonard Parry in Little Friend (1934)

• Those Were the Days (1933) (uncredited)
• Royal Cavalcade (1935)
• Brown on Resolution (1935)
• Boys Will Be Boys (1935)
• The Tunnel (1935)
• Housemaster (1938)
• Gaslight (The Murder in Thornton Square) (1940)
• Salute John Citizen (1942)
• The Gentle Sex (1943)
• Henry V (1944)
• The Way Ahead (1944)
• Kiss the Bride Goodbye (1945)
• For You Alone (1945)
• 29 Acacia Avenue (1945)
• The Captive Heart (1946)
• It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
• Holiday Camp (1947
• Master of Bankdam (1947)
• Here Come the Huggetts (1948))
• It's Hard to Be Good (1948)
• The Huggetts Abroad (1949)
• Don't Ever Leave Me (1949)
• Boys in Brown (1949)
• The Blue Lamp (1950)
• Room to Let (1950)
• The Galloping Major (1951)
• The Black Rider (1954)
• Radio Cab Murder (1954)
• The Deep Blue Sea (1955)
• Satellite in the Sky (1956)
• The Lost Continent (1968)

Television series

• Jim's Inn (1957–1963, ITV advertising programme) as host
• Five O'Clock Club (1963–1966, ITV children's programme) as host
• Futurama (1964, ITV children's science programme) as host
• Crossroads (1966, ITV soap) as Jimmy Gudgeon, old friend of central character Meg Richardson (played by Noele Gordon)

External links

• Jimmy Hanley at IMDb
• Biography at BFI Screenonline