Background
The son of Joseph and Beatrice Blascheck, he was born in Margate, Kent.
The son of Joseph and Beatrice Blascheck, he was born in Margate, Kent.
He played Major Gowen in the British television sitcom Fawlty Towers. He served as a Special Constable with the Metropolitan Police during World World War II, witnessing the Blitz at first hand. Berkeley played the role of the bumbling Major Gowen in the British Broadcasting Corporation television comedy Fawlty Towers.
He had played a similar role in 1969 in the legal drama The Main Chance.
He portrayed another retired military man (Colonel Freddie Danby) in British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4"s The Archers, taking over the role from Norman Shelley. He had small roles in a 1977 episode of Citizen Smith and the 1980 adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy, and appeared once in The New Avengers as Colonel Foster in the episode "Dirtier by the Dozen".
He had a small role in the British Broadcasting Corporation sitcom "Hi de Hi" series 5 "Empty Saddles" During the 1930s, he performed regularly in the so-called "quota quickies". One of his earliest roles was as the heroic lead in the 1937 film The Last Adventurers.
He appeared in the 1942 film In Which We Serve – he also appeared in the Hitchcock film Stage Fright.
In 1956, he starred as Detective Inspector Berkeley in one episode of Edgar Lustgarten"s drama series, Scotland Yard, "Person Unknown". He made a brief appearance in the American film National Lampoon"s European Vacation which starred Chevy Chase. In this film, Berkeley played a British man who is involved in a minor road accident with the Griswalds.
Berkeley later performed the role of Winston - a similar character to "The Major" - in the radio comedy Wrinkles by Doug Naylor and Rob Grant.
He played Badedas the Blue, a wizard in the radio comedy series Hordes of the Things. His last role was as the Head of the Army in the animated film version of Roald Dahl"s The BFG. He died in 1988, and the film was released the following year.
