Allô Allô, uma retrospectiva... (XII) - Sam Kelly

Sam Kelly interpretou uma das personagens que mas me fazem rir, agora que estou a rever as primeiras temporadas. O desajeitado e ingénuo Captain Hans Geerring. Participou na série até à quarta temporada e reapareceu num episódio da temporada sete.

Da Wikipédia em Inglês:

Sam Kelly (born 19 December 1943, Manchester) is an English actor. He has had innumerable roles in British sitcoms such as Porridge (Bunny Warren), 'Allo 'Allo! (Captain Hans Geering) leaving after series three, On the Up (as Dennis Waterman's chauffeur) and We'll Think of Something (Les Brooks). From 1995 to 2003, he played Barbara's husband Ted in sitcom Barbara.

He also appeared in the Doctor Who audio dramas The Holy Terror and Return to the Web Planet by Big Finish Productions. He played Bernard in Holding On (1997) and Carl Langbehn in the 1999 four part television drama Christabel. He appeared in Midsomer Murders: down among the dead men as Jack Fothergill and as Majors in the Inspector Morse (TV series) episode Second Time Around.

In the 1990s he co-starred in the comedy television series Haggard, and the miniseries Martin Chuzzlewit. He also performed in H.M.S. Pinafore with the new D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 2002.^[1]

In 1998, Kelly appeared in an episode of the first series of Cold Feet, playing Algernon Gifford.

In radio he played the part of Carter Brandon in the BBC's Radio4 series of the continuing adventures of Uncle Mort and Carter Brandon in Uncle Mort's South Country and Uncle Mort's Celtic Fringe. These were written by Peter Tinniswood.

In 2004, he appeared in EastEnders playing Stan Porter; and he also appeared in the comedy series Black Books as the father of Manny.

Sam has starred in Jean-Paul Sartre's play Kean alongside Antony Sher at the Theatre Royal, Bath and in the West End in May 2007.

In December 2007, Kelly was hit by a car in the West End area, injuring him. The status of his role in Kean is unknown but a character he was to play in the episode "Midnight", of the television series, Doctor Who, filmed that month, was played by a late replacement, David Troughton.

In 2008, he guest starred in the Sapphire and Steel audio drama Remember Me.

In November 2008, he starred in the title role of Christopher Reason's radio dramatisation of Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk, broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

He is currently starring in the West End musical, Wicked as The Wizard of Oz. He began performances on May 11, 2009 replacing Desmond Barrit.^[2] He took a break from Wicked on July 13, 2009 and returned August 19, 2009. During this period the role of the Wizard was played by understudy Sean Needham with former Wizard, Desmond Barrit playing the role at certain performances.

Captain Han Geering

First episode

Hans is Colonel Kurt Von Strohm's assistant and usually comes with him to the café. (Although not stated on screen, the screenplay says Hans is the Colonel's brother-in-law.) His rank is that of Captain, which is equal to Hauptmann in the Wehrmacht. The rank is denoted by two gilted stars, and the white band around the epaulette gives his arm of service as infantry. In the first episode, however, his uniform is that of a lieutenant, one rank junior to Captain, although he is still referred to as Captain Geering. Hans likes to fool around with the waitress Maria Recamier - while the Colonel prefers Yvette Carte-Blanche - of which he partakes preferentially with egg whisk and/or wet celery (these of course constitute sex toys) for which it is not uncommon to pay extra.

In Episode 1 Hans and the Colonel get their uniforms stolen by René in order to help the British Airmen. They are forced to hide in the waitresses' bedroom.

Development

Hans develops the habit of greeting other officers with the abbreviated line "-tler" (for 'Heil Hitler'). When Hans says this line, many viewers unaccustomed to the programme perceive him as saying 'clop', however this is not the case. He also seems to easily slip into Anti-German thinking as on more than one occasion after learning of something bad another German has done or Germans have done in general he will exclaim "German swine!"

Leaving the series

In the opening episode of Series 4, René, Edith, the waitresses, the Colonel, the British Airmen and Hans are trying to escape a prisoner-of-war camp (Stalag Luft IV, although that camp is actually in Poland). Hans is used for the first test of their escape mechanism, a wooden see-saw. After René jumps from the roof of a hut onto one end, Hans is propelled from the other over the fence, where Communist Resistance girls pick him up and disappear into the woods.

It emerges (via a radio conversation in the following episode) that Hans was mistaken for a British airman by the Communist Resistance and sent to Britain, where he is now working for British Intelligence. The war is over for Hans, and also his role as a main character in 'Allo 'Allo!

Reappearing

In Season 7, René and Yvette are planning to make their way to England in an aeroplane, originally destined for the British airmen. However, it is Edith that accidentally goes with René. They land in London, and Winston Churchill requests their presence. However, they are taken to Intelligence first. Seeing that they are not the airmen, the Intelligence boss calls his interpreter, Captain Hans Geering. However, upon entering the room, he doesn't seem to have gotten rid of the habit of raising his hand and greeting them with a loud 'tler!'. When alone with René and Edith, he explains how he became an English citizen and an ally (as he revealed in "The Great Unescape", he was sent to school in Coventry). He also reveals that he found out, while working with the Intelligence, that René is a Resistance activist.

Hans, a naturalised British citizen, speaks English with an upper-class, "old-chap" British accent. It is revealed that he knew how to speak English even back in Nouvion. (Ironically enough, despite its phonetic similarity to "Göring," Geering is actually an English surname) He takes René and Edith to some important places in London. By night, René and Edith return home.